Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Carter, and we're going to be looking today at how we can create relief with collage through the lens of looking at landscapes.

It's going to be a fantastic lesson today, and we're gonna try lots of different techniques.

You're gonna get a chance to make some different surfaces that we're gonna work with, as well as finding different imagery to input into your work, and then create not only a collage, but then build it into a three dimensional form.

So there's gonna be lots for you to do, so you're gonna need to put plenty of effort in and have a go at all of the tasks.

Let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to say, "I can create a surreal collage landscape by combining found images, textures, and 3D elements to tell a story." It's a lot of different steps, and I'm sure you can imagine how effectively we're going to be able to do this.

To get the most out of our lesson today, there are a few keywords that we need to feel very comfortable with.

The first is juxtaposition: this is when very different images are brought together to create new or surprising ideas.

Texture: how something feels when it's touched, or the feel or appearance of a surface.

Manipulate: to handle or control something like a material or an object in a skillful manner to alter it.

So you might say that you manipulate some things like clay to turn it from a blob of clay into some sort of piece of ceramic work.

And depth: where an artwork looks like it's three dimensional.

Our lesson's got three learning cycles today.

We're gonna start by gathering and creating materials.

We're then gonna look at composing a story through collage.

And finally we're gonna add depth with 3D elements.

Let's get started gathering and creating materials.

How do you think this artwork was created? This is a collage.

Collages often combine imagery from multiple sources to create considered compositions.

Andeep and Sofia are discussing how artists gather imagery for their collage artworks.

Andeep says, "Artists can use found images from books, newspapers, or magazines." Sofia adds, "Artists can use found objects which might be discarded waste or treasured items." Andeep adds, "You can create your own imagery, but found sources are quicker to generate." Can you think of any other sources that artists use to gather images from? Okay, check for understanding time.

True or false: Artists must create all of their imagery for their collages? Pause the video and decide if you think that is a true or a false statement.

Well done if you said false.

Artists can find imagery from all sorts of sources for their artwork, including magazines, books, newspapers, posters, tickets, or adverts, just to name a few.

Images from magazines can be used to shape initial story ideas in an artwork.

Images, which are very different, can create new ideas when combined and they can be juxtaposed, where the contrast between them sparks new thoughts and interpretations to the audience.

Martha Rosler juxtaposed domestic imagery with imagery of war in her series, "The House Beautiful: Bringing War Home" in 1967 to '72.

This combination of imagery brought the Vietnam War to domestic setting, highlighting the relevance to everyday people in the USA.

Some other artists who've used juxtaposition in their work include: Ian Dawson, who creates landscapes using juxtaposed layers in his work "National Geographic October 2004," which was actually made in 2006.

I wonder if you can see from the title where he's gathered his imagery.

If you don't know, "National Geographic" is a magazine publication.

Philip Estlund created "Frigid Return" in 2007, which juxtaposes imagery of an expedition with domestic spaces.

Look at this image.

What imagery has been juxtaposed in this digital collage and what might it be trying to communicate? Izzy shares, "I see a space nebula, a parachute and wind turbines juxtaposed with flowers." And Jun adds, "It makes me think about travel and our environmental impact on the planet." Did you think similar things? Artists can create textured surfaces to add to into their artwork.

They might use textures such as: crumpled or ripped paper, card or tissue, inked and painted papers or canvas, fabric, embroidery or quilting, layered cardboard, wood and metal.

Can you think of any other types of surfaces an artist might use? Okay, true or false: Artists must use images only in their collage artworks? Pause the video and decide if you think that that is true or false.

Did you say false? Well done.

Artists can create textured surfaces to add into their artwork.

Collage is a flexible process where artists can gather, create, and use a wide range of sources for their work.

Some artists who combine found imagery with manipulated textured surfaces include: Wangechi Mutu who utilises a range of inked surfaces to make up the figures in "Riding Death In My Sleep" from 2002, Ellen Gallagher created "DeLuxe: the Millie Christine Detail" in 2004/2005, with artist-created papers collaged over found imagery.

Mark Bradford created "Across 110th Street" in 2008, and it makes use of collage and painted elements.

Can you think of any other examples? So for our first task, we're going to be gathering found imagery to start shaping a story to connect landscape and location.

You could gather images that you like.

You don't need to have a clear idea of where you'll use them yet as we'll manipulate them in a later task.

Consider images which will create a texture or pattern that you like as well as images that could be a focal point of your work.

Pause the video and gather your work now.

How did you get on? You might have found some things like this.

And Laura shares, "I gathered four background patterns as well as two parrots, a car and a ladder.

I like how they're connected with very different locations.

Some are rural and others are more urban." I think it's interesting as well that there seems to be almost a colour theme coming through her work.

There's some bright spots of either very vibrant red or pinks, or she's used either neutral colours or that lovely kind of yellow green that comes through with the cactus and the parrots.

So for the second part of Task A, we're going to manipulate materials to create four textured papers to use with your landscape and location collage.

You could: create painted or inked textures.

Use monoprint to create repeated patterns.

Draw or write to create texture.

or crumple or rip some paper to create texture.

Pause the video now and create your four textured papers.

How did you get on? You might have created something that looks a little bit like these.

And Jacob said, "This is a wide range of different surfaces Laura's created.

I like how she's used coffee granules to create texture by crushing it into wet paper." And I think that's the image that's closest to him.

The other image looks like she's used jelly printing, where she's actually layered up different kinds of colours and textures to produce a really interesting textured surface.

I wonder what techniques you used.

So moving on to our next learning cycle, we're going to be looking at how we can compose a story through collage.

Aisha, Sam and Alex are discussing the art term "surreal." Aisha says, "Wasn't that an art movement in France?" And Sam adds, "Surreal means things that are not real." And Alex says, "Yes, everything is odd or dreamlike." And they're exactly right.

Artists can use collage to create surreal landscapes.

Surreal is a term taken from an art movement that originated in France in the 1920s.

It was influenced by the development in the study of psychology and sought to represent the subconscious and the world of dreams and visions.

Surrealism is characterised by the juxtaposition of clashing objects.

Surrealism still influences many artists and designers today.

True or false: Artists always use collage to create lifelike landscape artworks? Pause the video and decide if you think that this is true or false.

Well done if you said false.

Artists can use collage to create surreal landscapes.

And this means that the landscape can be dreamlike or fantastical and does not need to follow real world conventions.

Artists can identify shapes in landscapes to translate into their collages.

Urban landscapes might have more geometric shapes, and you can see in green those that I've highlighted.

We've got squares, we've got strong, diagonal, straight lines.

Rural landscapes can have irregular and geometric shapes.

So you can see there we've got those regular shapes of the lines of the field.

And then those irregular shapes of the top of the hedge.

Natural landscapes can have more irregular shapes.

And if you look at the top of that mountain range, it really creates that irregular shape.

How could you use these kind of shapes in your collage? Can you think of any other patterns or shapes linked to landscapes or places? Lucas shares, "We could look at the shapes and patterns in maps." And Sam answered, "Looking closely at textures can create patterns like paving stones or twigs." Alex adds, "Stairs create a strong pattern which we could use." Artists who use patterns or shapes which link to different types of landscape include: Mark Bradford, who makes use of grid shapes, which call to mind aerial maps in his work "Speak, Birdman" from 2018.

Liaqat Rasul created "Boundary Estate Collage" in 2019, and it uses vibrant colours and busy patterns to demark the busy urban spaces.

Darlene Charneco combines patterns and shapes found in maps with microscopic images of bacteria.

Collage allows us to create landscapes that don't follow real-world rules.

By juxtaposing unexpected images, altering scale, adding textures, artists can create dreamlike or symbolic scenes that tell deeper stories.

Surreal landscapes encourage imagination and creativity beyond what we see in everyday life.

So for Task B, we're going to explore compositional ideas that tell a story for your surreal landscape collage.

You should: combine your found imagery and textured papers from Task A; arrange and rearrange your collage pieces to find the most effective composition; think about perspective, scale, and juxtaposition.

Only tack in place your most successful composition.

Do not glue it.

We're going to be looking at securing things in learning cycle three.

Pause the video now and get started testing your ideas.

How did you get on? Did you find you generated lots and lots of ideas? You might have something that looks like this, and actually you can see that we've got lots of different versions of this collage using some of the same elements, but not always using all of them.

Sometimes the background has been altered.

You might notice that the parrots have been moved constantly in all of the different pieces.

Did you find you had the same amount of variety in your examples? You should have then selected your most preferred outcome.

And this is the one that Laura's chosen.

Aisha says, "Laura's used lots of natural patterns, which juxtapose the checkerboard pattern.

I wonder why the birds are facing away from each other and what their relationship is?" Feels like her collage is already starting to create a narrative for us as we are looking at it.

So we're now moving on to learning cycle three: Adding depth with 3D elements.

How could depth be added to this work? Sofia shares, "Depth is when an art looks 3D." This collage could be even more effective if it actually was 3D.

The layers could be added to create relief, like Wesley Clark's 'My Big Black America,' where different thicknesses of wood create depth in the work." True or false: A collage must always be two dimensional? Pause the video and decide if you think that statement is true or false.

What did you say? Great work if you said false.

A collage can take many forms including being three dimensional and working in relief.

Artists can choose the format for their artwork.

Artists can manipulate paper collages to develop depth in three dimensions through: building up depth with cardboard, supporting small layers with wire, cutting through the background, rolling elements to create columns and using thread to hang elements.

Can you think of any other methods that an artist might be able to use? Okay, check for understanding time.

Fill the gap in this statement, using the word bank.

Artists can manipulate paper collages to develop depth in three dimensions through: building up depth with cardboard, supporting small layers with blank, something through the background, something elements to create columns, and using thread to something elements.

And your word bank words are: cutting, hang, rolling and wire.

Pause the video and decide where those words fit.

How did you get on? Well done if you said that supporting small layers with wire, cutting through the background, rolling elements to create columns, and using thread to hang elements.

Artists who manipulate collages to develop depth in three dimensions include: Leyla Cardena's "Excision" from 2021 sees her hold layers apart with wire rods, which creates a sculptural work.

Noriko Ambe cut into books about famous artists to create sculptural landscapes in the series "Cut" with ED Ruscha Books & Co which are Various Small Books from 2013.

Petrit Halilaj created "Very volcanic over this green feather" in 2021, and it creates human sized landscapes using hung painted elements.

When manipulating 3D elements, you might consider: layering cardboard for strength and depth, using concertina folded card for small elements, and employing an L bracket to make something 3D.

You might score card to allow for a curved shape.

And if you look closely there, you can see that the score marks don't go all the way through the card, which means that you've still got that structure and strength at the front of the card.

But what's then at the back is actually bendable and movable, so you can create that curved line.

The lines have also been cut in the same direction as the lines that would appear in the corrugation in the centre of the card, so you're working with material rather than against it.

You can also use thin card to create a stronger structure without covering the whole of the back of the surface.

And if you combine these two together, you can construct things in three dimensions, which actually have a slightly more natural shape to them.

So for the first part of Task C, we're going to be adding 3D elements to create depth in your collage composition from Task B.

You should use a combination of building up depth with cardboard, holding small layers with wire, cutting through the background, rolling elements to create columns, and using thread to hang elements.

You're going to need to give yourself plenty of time for this and decide how you want to construct it.

You may want to give yourself a structure within which to work, or you may want to have it completely freestanding.

Take your time so that you can construct this work effectively.

How did you get on? Did you find it was really engaging and exciting as you got started? You might have produced something that looks a little bit like this.

And this one's been produced inside of a box.

You can see that some of the elements like the parrot have been created using an L bracket, which has positioned it stood sort of quite high up.

I can also see some thread there in the middle, and I wonder if some of the elements are actually held up maybe rather than hung, but you can't quite see it because of it being a landscape.

It also looks to me that some of the elements aren't completely flat and they curve slightly forward using that scored technique.

You also might have tested lighting, and here's the same work with lighting in different places.

The image on the left, I can see the shadow of that very rigid, cut shape creating those bars in the background, which really adds something new to the work.

In the second image, there's a shape in the middle that feels like it's more clear because the contrast with the dark shadow and the light on that surface really make it stand out or effectively.

Did you try anything with lighting? So for the second part of Task C, I'd like you to review your work and discuss the success of your 3D elements.

Consider the following: How does the 3D element create depth in your collage? How do the 3D elements enhance the engagement of your work? Do they create more story in your work? Pause the video and take the time now to review the successes of your piece.

How did you get on? You might have said something a little bit like this.

And Laura shares, "I've been able to create depth with built up cardboard as well as adding images on concertina folded card so that they can move more gently and stand up higher in the collage." Izzy adds, "I found I was looking at your work for such a long time, Laura.

You manipulated materials to create many 3D elements and texture, and I loved the way it created shadows." I wonder if your conversations were similar.

In summary of our lesson: Playing with collage and relief through landscape, images from magazines can be used to shape initial story ideas in an artwork.

Artists can use textured surfaces in their designs.

Artists can use collaging to create surreal landscapes, juxtaposing images to tell a story.

Artists can manipulate 3D materials and skills to add interest and depth to a collage.

Well done for all of your work today.

We've gone through lots of different stages and really built on our understanding at each different learning cycle.

You've worked really hard and should be so proud of what you've been able to achieve.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.