6th Grade Trimester 1

Surrealist inspired art

6^th Grade – Trimester 1

Surrealism was a literary and artistic movement that began in the 1920s in Europe.  Surrealist artists were upset with the reality of their world and were more interested in their dreams.  These artists developed techniques for accessing their unconscious and created many dreamlike images. 

Salvador Dali is the famous surrealist artist who painted the above painting .  He developed the “paranoiac critical method” as a way to create artworks.  In this method, Dali would “look into” a photo, stain, or other images and turn it into something new.  

6^th graders used this process as well, by staining paper with tea and finding images in the stains.

Students spent a class period playing with different games and surrealist techniques to think of ideas for their work.

One of the favorite games was the “exquisite corpse” game.  This is a game invented by surrealists that combines the drawings of 3 or more artists into a creature.

After experimenting and playing with the stations, students developed their own idea for a surrealist inspired artwork.   Students then completed the trimester by developing fantasy creatures and experimenting with texture and value.