Dali & Surrealism
The Persistence of Memory, 1931
Date: 12 May 2013
Time: 2-3pm
Age: 7-10 years old
Location: Lake County Discovery Museum
Objectives:
This was a fun lesson because the students hadn't encountered Dali and/or Surrealist works before. We started with a short intro about Dali and Surrealism. It was interesting that none of the students could recall a dream that they've had. So I encouraged them to do what Dali did: keep a pad of paper and some colored pencils/markers/crayons by your bedside. Since dreams disappear within a few minutes of waking up, draw it as quickly as you can before it vanishes. The students were intrigued--I wonder if they'll really try it at home!
Time: 2-3pm
Age: 7-10 years old
Location: Lake County Discovery Museum
Objectives:
- Connect Salvador Dali and the Surrealist movement
- Observe and interpret works of art through close looking
- Create artwork inspired by Dali and Surrealism
This was a fun lesson because the students hadn't encountered Dali and/or Surrealist works before. We started with a short intro about Dali and Surrealism. It was interesting that none of the students could recall a dream that they've had. So I encouraged them to do what Dali did: keep a pad of paper and some colored pencils/markers/crayons by your bedside. Since dreams disappear within a few minutes of waking up, draw it as quickly as you can before it vanishes. The students were intrigued--I wonder if they'll really try it at home!
"Spending mother's day @lake county discovery museum learning about Dali and Surrealism in the Look, Learn, Create class. Awesome class! Highly recommended."
The first activity was from a book called
Salvador Dali and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas by Michael Elsohn Ross. This book is full of great activities that can be adapted for all ages. The activity was called the "Exquisite Corpse". The premise was that Surrealists played games and activities to share their creativity. I also wanted the students to feel comfortable in drawing something that might not look realistic. The result was one of the pencil drawings below. We did some close looking in the gallery but also looked at some of Dali's more recognizable works of art. To make dreams more understandable and tangible to elementary students, we identified nouns (things), places, and verbs. The second activity involved creating a dreamscape. I prepared strips of paper that had a mix of nouns (things), places, and verbs. Students chose two nouns, one place, and one verb. They closed their eyes and thought about their dreamscape for a few minutes, then drew straight from their imagination. The third activity involved attributing human characteristics on inanimate objects such as Dali's Mae West Lips Sofa. One student drew a face on a tree trunk and branches as arms. Another student drew a mailbox with a glum face (pictured below, right). |
Overall, it was a fun lesson and I hope that the students were encouraged to draw not just from reality, but also from their imagination and dreams.