Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling good.

My name's Ms. Afzal.

I'm feeling pretty good today because I'm gonna be your art teacher.

I love teaching art, and also, I'm especially interested in collage.

Our lesson comes from the unit of work "Being curious about collage and assemblage." So, I hope you're all set for investigating collages, creating your own collages.

It's all about the collage.

If you are ready, got some focus, enthusiasm, we will gather some materials together in due course.

Let's begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can create a collage portrait by selecting and collaging imagery to achieve a balanced composition.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

Variety, balance, and composition.

Variety is the use of different elements to create visual interest and complexity in a work.

It can also be created by contrasting elements such as light versus dark.

Balance is how the visual weight of each element is distributed to make the composition feel stable.

And composition is the arrangement of imagery, shapes, colours, textures, marks, and lines in an artwork.

These are our three keywords, variety, balance, and composition.

Let's look out and listen out for them.

Our lesson today is called "Exploring collage and composition through portraits." It has two parts to it, exploring identity through collage imagery and testing composition and visual balance.

Let's begin by exploring identity through collage imagery.

Sofia, Jacob, and Jun are deep in discussion.

They are discussing collage.

"Collaging is about glueing and sticking papers and images.

It's fun and creative but can get sticky and messy if you're not careful," says Jacob.

Sofia says, "I think some artists use digital programmes to create collages using their photos." And Jun says that "some artists use images in their collages, but others use colours or textures only." So, that's what Sofia, Jacob, and Jun have to say about collages.

Do you agree with all of these statements? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

A collage combines varied materials like photos, paper, and textures to build layers and create visual depth.

Artists can select imagery which creates associations or acts as a symbol to convey meaning with the audience.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? A collage always combines materials and images which are similar to deepen the meaning of the work.

Pause the video while you decide if this statement is true or false.

Well done if you selected false, and now I'd like you to say a little more about your answer.

Share with someone nearby, and pause the video here.

Perhaps you said something like this: Artists might choose to select imagery or materials that are similar, but they can select a variety of materials like photos, paper, and textures to build layers and create visual depth in their collage.

Thanks for sharing your answers.

All right, take a look at this very surreal collage portrait.

Pause the video, have a good look at this image, and then share your impressions of it with someone nearby.

What stands out for you? What do you like, dislike? Any questions you have about it.

Thanks for sharing your first impressions.

Collage can be used to create portraiture which discuss social histories, identity, or emotions.

Artists use the associations with a variety of imagery or symbols in their collage to convey meaning.

What do you think? Do you think an artist has to use a realistic image of their subject in a collage portrait? Pause the video, share with someone nearby.

Here's Aisha, "No, if we're using images to associate meaning, we could also adapt the face to add meaning." Good point.

Here's Laura, "I agree, Aisha.

The artist could hide the face to link to hidden identity or collage onto the face using different images." Yeah, I love these ideas.

Thanks for sharing your answers too.

Artists who make collage portraits that convey meaning include Johanna Goodman and Guy Catling, who replace or overlay patterns and imagery into the clothing of their subjects to shift our understanding of the subject's identity.

Lorna Simpson adapts the appearance of hair in her work, which is a commentary on Black women's identities.

Zak Ove layered crochet doilies in his works "DP32," 2017, and "Figure rendered in yellows" to create abstract portraits.

So we can see there are a number of artists who use collage portraits to convey meaning.

And you may find local artists who use these skills too.

Check for understanding.

How can artists use collage to create portraiture that explores social histories, identity, or emotions? A, by avoiding any symbols or imagery and focusing only on the portrait's structure, B, by selecting imagery and symbols that represent themes such as identity, emotions, or social histories, C, by using abstract shapes and colours to focus solely on the physical appearance of the subject, or D, by using photography exclusively to represent real-life subjects.

Pause the video while you select your answer.

Well done if you selected answer B.

Indeed.

Artists select imagery and symbols that represent themes such as identity, emotions, or social history to create portraiture.

What do the imagery, symbols, and patterns in this collage make you think of? Have a good look at it.

Pause the video, and tell someone nearby.

Well, there are a few things going on in this image.

Perhaps the map suggests information about a place.

The guitar and the sheet music link to music.

Spoons might be about cooking.

The collaged apron links to cooking or making.

I wonder if these were some of the things you were thinking of, maybe other things too.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to discuss the imagery, symbols, or patterns that could represent your identity.

Try answering these questions.

Where do you feel most at home, and why? What imagery, symbols, or patterns link to that place? What hobbies, books, films, music, or art feel important to you? If you could describe yourself using three symbols or objects, what would they be, and why? Really fascinating exploration here.

Enjoy this task, and I'll see you when you finish reflecting on these questions about which images, symbols, or patterns could represent your identity.

Great to be back with you.

I wonder how that was to reflect on the images, symbols, or patterns that could represent your identity.

You may have said something like this, here's Alex, "I feel most at home with my cricket team.

Maybe I could use a cricket bat." Here's Izzy, "I love Afrobeats dancing.

My troupe wears sunglasses for performances.

I also love gaming at weekends." Some great ideas there from Izzy.

And Andeep says, "My three things are a chocolate bar, my pagri, and comic books.

I write my own." Fantastic.

I hope you enjoyed sharing the imagery, symbols, and patterns that represent your identity, because guess what? We're gonna be using those soon.

So, for the next part of your task, now I'd like you to gather a variety of collage elements to create your collage self-portrait.

So thinking about some of those images, symbols, or patterns that you just discussed.

You could use old newspapers, magazines, or books to find images, print images from the internet, create patterns or images by cutting up other images, draw images or symbols to add into your work.

So, how will we go about this? First of all, lightly draw the shape of the image or symbol.

Transfer a shape with oil pastel and pressure.

Repeat for the required number of layers.

And then reveal the image or symbol in various patterns.

So pause the video here while you have a go now at creating your collage self-portrait.

Enjoy your task.

All right, it's good to be back with you.

How did you get on at gathering your variety of collage elements and creating your collage self-portrait? These ones are looking so interesting.

You may have a variety of elements which link to your past, culture, or interests, such as images of faces or facial features, pages with colours or patterns, images or symbols you found, images or symbols you created.

Well done for gathering together this variety of collage elements.

And now we're onto the next part of our lesson, testing composition and visual balance.

What might balance refer to in art? Pause the video, share with someone nearby any ideas you have about this.

Here's Aisha, "It might be about how we spread out imagery in our collage." Indeed, balance in art is how the visual weight of each element is distributed to make the composition feel stable.

It is a consideration of composition.

Check for understanding.

True or false? Balance in art refers to way visual weight is distributed to create a sense of stability in a composition.

Pause the video while you decide if that's true or false.

Well done if you selected true.

Now I'd like you to say a little more about your answer.

Pause the video while you do this.

Perhaps you said something like this: Balance in art means arranging elements so that no part of the artwork feels too heavy or overwhelming.

It helps create a sense of stability, making the composition look and feel visually comfortable.

Visual weight means the amount of attention something commands from the audience.

Something with a lot of visual weight is something that attracts a lot of attention.

So in this image, we can see that a pyramid has a lot of visual weight and is attracting attention.

Different visual elements create different visual weight, even if they're the same size.

Artists can use this to help them compose their work to create balance.

These compositions use the same visual elements.

The composition of the elements is balanced, the image on the left.

The composition of the elements is unbalanced in the image on the right.

Visual weight is even across the whole composition on the left.

There's a greater visual weight at the top of the image on the right, which makes it feel a little unbalanced.

This composition has a calm background with low visual weight.

This allows the audience to focus on the figure.

The high contrast in the dress, moth, and around the facial features catch attention with high visual weight.

Johanna Goodman also employs calm backgrounds to allow her subject to stand out.

This composition has a lot of visual elements competing for attention, especially around the face, which can make it unbalanced.

The artists might have the intention to make the work busy as they may want to show that their personality is extrovert and lively.

Check for understanding.

True or false? Balance in art means that every object must be evenly spaced out and symmetrical.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false, and now could you say a little more about your answer? Pause the video while you do this.

You may have said something like this: Different visual elements create different visual weight, even if they are the same size.

Artists can use this to help them compose their work to create balance.

When developing collages, there are a variety of ways to shape your collage elements.

Free hand cutting with scissors, following the shape of the object closely, using a template or drawn element, controlled tearing, or uncontrolled ripping.

Sounds fun.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to test compositions using your variety of collage elements from task A to create a portrait with visual balance.

You should create 8 to 10 different compositions, test layering your elements so that they overlap, try to notice which elements have a high visual weight, and you could photograph each composition to keep a record.

So pause the video here while you have a go at this task.

Good to be back with you.

So how did you get on with testing your compositions using your variety of collage elements with visual balance? You may have created something like this.

Really, really looking fab.

And now for the next part of your task, I would like you to review and discuss which composition is the most successful and then secure it with glue.

You should select the composition with the best visual balance, add more elements to balance your composition if you need to, and add a small amount of glue to secure it.

So pause here while you have a go at this task.

How did you get on with reviewing and discussing which composition is the most successful and then securing it with glue? You may have said something like this, here's Lucas, "Sam created this composition.

I think it has the best balance due to the strong diagonal composition." Good choice, Lucas.

And here's Sam, "Some elements tell me about identity, like the sheet music and guitar suggests someone musical and the controller suggests they are a gamer.

The balance of the features, figure, and background make this a pleasing composition." I agree, Sam.

I hope you enjoyed reviewing, discussing, sharing your compositions.

In our lesson "Exploring collage and composition through portraits," we have covered the following.

A collage combines varied materials like photos, paper, and textures to build layers and create visual depth.

Artists can select imagery which creates associations or acts as a symbol to convey meaning with the audience.

Balance in art is how the visual weight of each element is distributed to make the composition feel stable.

Different visual elements create different visual weight, even if they're the same size.

Artists can use this to help them compose their work to create balance.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to explore collage with you, to select different images, patterns, to represent something about your identity, and then thinking about balance and visual weight in your final composition.

I hope you're proud of what you've created, and I look forward to seeing you at another art lesson soon.

Stay creative.