Pablo Picasso, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbede la Famille Soler, 1903
Lesson #3 - Save it for the Future Mixed Media Collage and Assemblage
Overview:
Many artists use art to tell stories about personal and cultural memory. Art allows us to think about our own history and how it has been shaped, and how we might be able to document those memories. Some artists create artworks meant to convey a personal memory or evoke shared cultural memories.
Essential Questions:
- In what ways can art go beyond documentation and foster inspiration?
- How do archived materials not only trace the creative process but also become part of that process itself?
- What might the value be of including personal memorabilia to an artwork?
- Does our personal experience influence the way we view an artwork?
- How do artists engage with memory?
- How can history inspire us to make art in new ways?
National Core Art Standards:
VA:Cr1.2.Ia: Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present-day life using a contemporary practice of art or design.
VA:Cr2.1.Ia: Engage in making a work of art or design without having a preconceived plan.
VA:Re.7.1.Ia: Hypothesize ways in which art influences perception and understanding of human experiences.
VA:Re.7.2.Ia: Analyze how one’s understanding of the world is affected by experiencing visual imagery.
VA:Cn11.1.Ia: Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art.
VA:Cr2.1.Ia: Engage in making a work of art or design without having a preconceived plan.
VA:Re.7.1.Ia: Hypothesize ways in which art influences perception and understanding of human experiences.
VA:Re.7.2.Ia: Analyze how one’s understanding of the world is affected by experiencing visual imagery.
VA:Cn11.1.Ia: Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art.
Objectives
In this lesson students will connect personal memories to their present lives, and create a collage and assemblage piece based on archived memories from their past.
Tools and Materials:
- Canvas, Illustration Board or Heavy Weight paper
- Photos, photocopies, or magazine cutouts of personal memorabilia
- Bits and pieces of things or objects that somehow connect to the students personal history
- Glue
- String
- Paint
- Brushes
- Pencil
Inquiry:
- Students will make a list of things that are connected to their identity (people, experiences, race, religious values, interests, objects, places), and answer the questions: What makes you, you?
- Students will view the Metropolitan Museum's Connection video, Survival, the Tate Museum Animating Archives video, and explore the Ilya Kabakov's, The Boat of My Life, 1994, and review Trenton Doyle Hancock's studio mounds.
- As a group students will discuss and explore the following questions: What are some things in your home that have sentimental value and a connection to the past? Are any of those things displayed in a place of honor? What is an archive? How does material become inspiration for art?
- Students will write about five things that are worth remembering and saving from their childhood, and answer: Why is it worth saving, and remembering?, Can it help tell my story for future generations?
- Students will view Julie Peppito's work. Students will also view various examples of collage and assemblage artwork. Collage and assemblage techniques and ideas will be looked at and discussed while viewing the various artwork.
Activity:
Students will create their own collage and assemblage piece using photocopies and photos of things they wish to remember, things of historical family reference, and items that remind them of their childhood, using various techniques of collage and assemblage. Students will present their finished work to the class.
Students will create their own collage and assemblage piece using photocopies and photos of things they wish to remember, things of historical family reference, and items that remind them of their childhood, using various techniques of collage and assemblage. Students will present their finished work to the class.
Resources:
- Video about archives at the Tate Museum (http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/archive-access-project-animating-archives)
- Met staff video interview about survival (http://www.metmuseum.org/connections/survival)
- Julie Peppito's website (http://juliepeppito.com/connected-portrait-images)
Artists: Pinterest page
- Ilya Kabakov, The Boat Of My Life, 1994
- Julie Peppito
- Colin Johnson
- Joseph Cornell
- Monica Canilao
- Robert Rauchenburg
Assessments:
Students will be expected to make connections to themselves, their ancestry, their past, present, and future through their art work. Students will show personal experience in their artwork. Students will be expected to use historical inspiration in new and unique ways in their artwork, and will capture personal memory. Students will make thoughtful memory lists, and will respectfully add to class discussions.
Unit Rubric
Unit Rubric