Surreal Symmetry

Students use symmetry to create bizarre creatures around a self-portrait and then write a poem about the surreal image they have created.

Engage

Set the stage for the project by reading Nancy Willard's Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch to your students. Much of Bosch's artwork may be inappropriate for young viewers, and this book provides a fun introduction to his work, while avoiding some of the darker themes.

In this story, Bosch's housekeeper becomes tired of encountering surreal objects and critters in the house, sharing:

"How can I cook for you? How can I bake?
When the oven keeps turning itself to a rake?
And a beehive in boots and a pear-headed priest
Call monkeys to order and lizards to feast."

After reading the story, work as a class to develop a definition for surreal.

Let students know that you will be challenging them to use one of their fears to help them create their own surrealist art.

Create

Ask each student to choose a fear they will use as inspiration for their surrealist illustration. Students can use a cluster graphic organizer to name their fear in the center and add adjectives and attributes in the surrounding boxes to describe it.

Cluster Organizer

Next, have students open a new project and use the symmetry option to paint an outline for their scary/nice juxtaposition by dragging the Pencil tool from the top middle of the page down toward the outside edges at the bottom.

After students turn the symmetry options off, they can use the Paint tools to add details that both transform the space on the outside of these lines into a creature representing their fear, as well as create a picture of themselves impervious to this fear in the middle of the two symmetrical creatures.

Then, have students write a quatrain or other rhyming poem describing their fear. A quatrain is a four-line poem that includes rhyme on lines 2 and 4.

Share

Print the images to display them as an art exhibit in your classroom.

Create a digital art installation using the Project Wizard feature, combining individual work into a slideshow. You can also export the class book as a PDF or an ePub, so students can read and enjoy on their devices at home.

Standards

National Core Arts Standards:

Creating
1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
3. Refine and complete artistic work.

Performing/Presenting/Producing
5. Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Responding
7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.
9. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

Connecting
10. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.