Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about dream portraits through drawing and digital design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to identify, discuss and visually respond to the work of a surrealist artist.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The key words we'll be using today are surrealism, dreams, subconscious.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Surrealism, dreams, subconscious.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

Surrealism is an art movement that began in the 1920s, known for its strange and unusual art.

Dreams are the ideas we have while we are sleeping, and subconscious is the part of our mind that makes decisions instinctively without actively thinking.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

Now, here are two more of our keywords we're going to be using today.

We have opinion and visual response.

I'm gonna say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Opinion, visual response.

Good job.

Now, opinion, that's what you think about something.

And visual response is to use images to express what you think or feel.

So pause the video here and make a note of these two extra keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Who were the surrealists? Respond verbally to surrealist art, and respond visually to surrealist art.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore who the surrealists were.

Imagine that you woke up one morning and everything in your house was strange.

Your bed was floating, your pet could talk, and the sky was made of strange clocks.

Imagine that, hmm.

Maybe it'll look a bit like this? The surrealist artists are a group of artists who use different art forms such as paintings, poetry and sculpture to make work that felt like dreams or strange stories from imagination.

The surrealists took everyday items like apples, clocks, or animals and changed them in strange ways to create dreamlike art.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Is this statement true or false? The surrealists took everyday items like apples, clocks, or animals and changed them in strange ways to create dreamlike art.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that that was true, you're absolutely right.

But why is that statement true? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about why this statement is true, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, surrealist artists wanted to surprise people and make them think differently about the world.

They took everyday things like apples, clocks, or animals and changed them in strange ways so that they could create that dreamlike art.

The surrealist art movement grew in the 1920s.

This was after World War I, when many people wanted change and to not be governed by the rules that had gone before.

The surrealist movement was started by a writer called Andre Breton.

Some of the surrealist artists had fought in the war.

They used art to help them deal with the difficult things they had experienced.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

The surrealist art movement grew in the 1920s after World War I, in the 1950s after World War II, or in the 1900s during the Industrial Revolution? Pause the video here and think about how to finish this sentence, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that the surrealist art movement grew in the 1920s after World War I, then you're right.

Well done.

The features of the surrealist style are putting unusual objects together in one artwork.

So can you see here, we've got a jug? What would a jug normally pour? Maybe water or some kind of liquid.

And can you see here that they're pouring Lego bricks? They also change the scale of some objects within their artwork.

So can you see here how large these Lego bricks are compared to Alex here? Also, they include strange or unusual things happening within their artwork.

So what's happening here? We've got things that are placed upside down.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

The features of the surrealist style are super realistic images, everyday objects, in correct proportion, being used, or images with unusual objects in strange scale and strange things happening.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said images with unusual objects in strange scale and strange things happening, you're right.

Those are the features of the surrealist style.

There are two main types of surrealism.

We have automatism.

This means work created without consciously making decisions.

Artists use their subconscious mind.

Or we have dreamlike, ideas and work inspired by dreams or sometimes nightmares.

The artwork often contains images of things you wouldn't normally find together, in sizes you would not expect.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

In this statement, surrealism was always inspired by dreams. Is this true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you're absolutely right.

Sometimes work was created without consciously making decisions.

Artists used their subconscious for ideas.

Salvador Dali is one of the most well-known surrealist artists.

He painted soft, melting clocks in "The Persistence of Memory" as if time was dripping like cheese.

Rene Magritte created puzzling pictures, like a man with an apple floating in front of his face in "The Son of Man." Leonora Carrington painted mysterious creatures and castles, making her art look like a fantasy world.

Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, painted pictures of herself, but with magical and unusual details, like animals as friends and two versions of her herself connected by a red thread in "The Two Fridas." Surrealism was not just about the well-known artists.

Many others around the world created dreamlike art too.

Wilfredo Lam from Cuba mixed African and Chinese influences in his paintings, filling them with ghostly creatures and jungle plants.

Toyen from the Czech Republic painted strange and shadowy worlds, often making people wonder what secrets were hidden inside.

Fahrelnissa Zeid from Turkey used bright colours and swirling shapes to make art that felt like a dream.

And Gertrude Abercrombie, an African American artist, painted quiet, spooky pictures that make you feel like something magical was about to happen.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to create your own surrealist-inspired artwork.

You could draw your bedroom or a room with surreal changes.

You could mix animals with everyday objects, for example, a cat with butterfly wings.

Or you could take inspiration from other surrealist work.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at creating your own surrealist-inspired artwork, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, there are many possible outcomes, but you might have looked at the work of other surrealist artists and made your own version.

Can you see here in this example, we've got a a clock that's all out of shape.

We seem to have ants everywhere.

Or maybe you drew a room with some surreal features.

So can you see on here, we've got quite a lot of cereal involved in this room here where we've got a normal-ish looking sofa, and then we've got those funny clocks on the ceiling.

Well done for having a go at creating our own surrealist-inspired artwork.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to respond verbally to surrealist art.

Verbally sharing your opinions in response to art means to use words to express what you think or feel.

When we share a verbal opinion about an artwork, remember, your opinion may be different to others.

We should listen to the opinion of others in a respectful way.

Andeep is verbally sharing his opinion of Leonora Carrington's artwork.

"I think her work is strange and dreamlike.

I find it funny that the figure is part human and part butterfly and that the creatures in the painting are perhaps sharing some food." So that's what Andeep thinks.

That's his opinion of Leonora Carrington's work.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of these statements is an opinion of an artwork? There is a cliff in the painting.

The artwork is creepy.

The clocks are melting.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the artwork is creepy, you're absolutely right.

That's an opinion.

Some people might find the artwork creepy, but others might find it exciting or intriguing.

Every opinion should be respected.

There is a cliff in the painting and the clocks are melting are both statements, not opinion.

This brings us to our second learning task.

I'd like you to look at and respond verbally to a piece of surreal art.

You could use the sentence starters to verbally share your opinion.

I noticed that, in the picture, I can see.

I like or dislike the artwork because, it is unusual as, the artwork makes me feel.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to take a look at some surreal art and respond verbally to it, and use those sentence starters to help you share your opinion.

And press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, there are many possible outcomes, but maybe you said, I noticed that there was an apple where a face should be.

In the picture, I can see a man in a smart suit.

I dislike the artwork because I feel uncomfortable when I look at it.

It is unusual as apples don't usually float in front of faces.

The artwork makes me feel like I should laugh.

The serious suit with the apple for a face is really funny.

So well done if you are able to look at and respond verbally to a piece of surreal art.

This brings us to the final part of our lesson.

We're going to respond visually to surrealist art.

Visually sharing your opinions in response to art means to use images, drawings, or other visual ways to express what you think or feel.

When we share a visual opinion about an artwork, remember, your opinion may be different from others.

We should look at and appreciate the visual opinions of others in a respectful way.

Jacob is verbally sharing his opinion.

Jacob says, "I really like the way the ants were clustered around a clock.

I thought they should be on the other clocks too." So Jacob could also represent what he liked with a visual response, like this here.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

We can show what we like about an artwork using a verbal and what? Surrealism, a visual response, ideas? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about how we can finish this sentence, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a visual response, you're right.

We can respond to an artwork using both words and drawings to show what we like and dislike about it.

Sam looked at a painting by Leonora Carrington and shared a verbal and visual response.

Sam says, "I really like the way the creature was eating from a spoon.

He seemed cheeky.

I thought I could represent him using a mixture of different materials." So that's Sam's verbal response.

Her visual response is this one here.

Can you see that creature eating from the spoon and how she's used different materials to create a texture there? Let's pause here.

Is this statement true or false? Opinions about an artwork can only be shared through words.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that that's false, you're absolutely right.

Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Why is this statement false? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that we can share our opinions about an artwork with both a verbal and a visual response, it's another way of telling others what interests us most about an artwork, then you're absolutely right, well done.

Jacob has shared a different verbal and visual response to Sam.

Jacob says, "The main figure with wings interested me most.

Is she a moth? I thought I would explore the patterns on her wings and in her hair in my visual response." So this is what Jacob has created.

This is his visual response.

So it's a bit different to Sam's, but that's okay, because we can have lots of different verbal and visual responses.

Laura shares what she likes most about Carrington's painting.

That's Laura's visual response there.

Laura says, "I was interested in the creature who looks like a turtle.

Does it belong to the figure with wings?" I'd like you to now have a go at sharing what you like most about a surrealist painting.

So pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Well, you might have focused on a particular area or object and created a quick sketch, and maybe you shared your opinion verbally through discussion.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to select and create a visual response to some of your favourite parts of a surrealist artwork.

You might think about using different materials and repeating an image.

You might play with scale by drawing some items to fill a space.

And you might use the images and patterns from the painting in a different way.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this learning task, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, maybe you've got something like this where you've repeated an image while exploring different materials.

Maybe you've changed the size by playing with the scale, like the surrealists do.

And maybe you used colours or objects from the painting in a new way.

Well done for having a go at responding to a surrealist art through a visual response.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about art and dreams. Some surrealist artworks are inspired by dreams and the subconscious of the artist.

Surrealist artworks are distinctive because they often contain images that don't belong together.

Strange or unusual things often happen in surrealist artworks.

We can share our opinions about an artwork with a verbal and a visual response.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.