Description of the Unit – Observing the work of several Surrealist collage artists, like Julien Pacaud, students will learn about the meaning of the term Surrealism, and how it is used in collage art. They will then go on to create their own weird, wild and wonderful collages, using varied sources such as books, magazines, and hand-made paper, while also including an image of themselves within the composition.

Activity statement – Surrealism sources its subjects from the subconscious and from dreams, rejecting the reality of the everyday and instead embracing the strange and the unexpected, creating magical, fantastical and uncanny worlds that live deep in the imagination. Students delight in the endless possibilities Surrealism offers, using found images to create a collage limited only by the confines of their own imaginations. The whole exercise becomes even more exciting when they find interesting ways for their own portrait to interact with the imagery.

Evaluation for this unit is based primarily on how imaginative the work is, and how well they cut and arrange all their imagery. Great care must be taken to maintain the illusion of the surreal world they created.

Goals – Students should…

Understand:

• The term Surrealism

Know:

• What a collage is

Be able to:

• Manipulate scissors effectively enough to make precise cuts to the images they will use in collage
• Apply their imaginations to a creative Surrealist collage

Resources and materials –

• Examples of surrealist collage art, from a variety of artists
• Photos of themselves (I have them each pose in dynamic and funny poses, and later print the photos for them)
• 12 x 18” heavyweight white paper
• Magazines, books, and other material from which students can pick images for the collage
• Scissors
• Glue
• Mod Podge (to brush over the finished work so as to “set” it
• Brushes for coating the collages with Mod Podge

Questions –

• (While looking at Surrealist art) What do you notice?
• What do you think of this kind of art?
• Is this art realistic? Why or why not?
• What words would you use to describe this kind of art?
• Can you imagine some images that you can put together in weird or silly ways? Describe
• What is a collage? What do you do when you make a collage?

Evaluation – Did students:

• Effectively cut the images they used?
• Push their imaginations to their limit?

Informal:

• Student questions
• Group discussions
• Oral responses to essential questions
• Elaboration and risk-taking
• One finished Surrealist collage

*Please note: since the students coat their collages with Mod Podge in order to set the images, the collages often display a sheen when I take pictures of them. So some of the images below have this sheen, making it difficult to discern the images. My apologies!

• 4th grade
• collage