Digital Art: Landscape Collage

Grade Level: 6-8^th Grade

Time Needed: 5 classes

Focus: This lesson is for students to learn and get hands on experience with Photoshop, and to experience the combination of traditional art and digital art.

Objectives:

A. (6.1.1.2.2) Students will analyze how the principles of media arts such as repetition, unity and contrast are used in the creation, presentation or response to media artworks.

B. (6.1.2.2.1) Students will demonstrate use of a variety of tools, materials and techniques in media arts based on the characteristics of the hardware and software.

C. I want my students to learn how digital media can be mixed with other mediums in art.

Motivational Resources:

• Tour of a Museum of Art (ideal) or images of landscapes and a look out the window
• Images of Collage artworks, focus on landscapes in particular (see bibliography for great references)
• Examples from previous classes or teacher sample
• Collage books
• Digital Art books

Art Materials:

• Classroom equipped with computers that contain the Adobe Photoshop CS3 program
• Will use selection tool, paint tool, layers, swatches, Edit : Transform, File : Save, File : Open
• Magazines, newspaper or decorative paper with a mixture of images and text
• Camera (one for teacher) or scanner (both must be able to transfer images to computer)
• White table top to take pictures (if using camera)
• Flash drives or disks to save work
• Color printer
• Printer paper
• Poster board (for matting)
• Glue sticks (for matting)

Introduction to the Lesson:

The term collage comes from the French verb coller, which means to paste, stick, or glue. It is an art form of assembling cut pieces onto a surface and tacking them down with glue or tape Collage came from the Cubist Movement. This movement was named based on artists such as, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. These artists would break up their images into shapes. Some images got to the point that they were unrecognizable. Collage flourished during the Dada movement, which occurred primarily in Europe from 1915-1923. Collage artists, Max Ernst and Kurt Schwitters, both found their art during this time (Hutton, 9). Another great artist in art history is Henri Matisse. Matisse was famous for his cut paper. He would cut out fantastic shapes of all sorts of colors and paste them on a large piece of paper. Now collage is an accepted art form that can be fun and beautiful.

            Computers are not only for communication but it has become a universal tool. It is a medium that can stimulate the details of any other medium (Youngblood, 10). Programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator allow artists to venture into the world of digital art. "The term 'digital art' has itself become an umbrella for such a broad range of artistic works and practices that it does not describe one unified set of aesthetics" (Paul, 7). Digital art can be used as a tool to create traditional art, such as, photography, illustrating, painting and sculpting, it is also used as a medium on its own. We will be combining digital art with the traditional art of collage. Students are to create digital landscapes by creating a collage of scanned magazine images.

Instructional Procedure for Art Making:

Class 1: We will hopefully start by having a tour in a Museum of Art. Here, we will look at some collage pieces, landscapes, and any digital artworks if present. Otherwise images of landscapes or a simple look out the widow will give the students an idea on what is common in a landscape. The students will be asked to take reflection notes while viewing the landscapes. We will discuss these notes in the classroom and start explaining the project. We will further explore the art of collage by showing example slides and posters. Particular areas we will cover are landscape collages (see bibliography for example artists). Also, there will be a discussion on digital art and how we will be combining these two elements for our project. Students are assigned to collect magazines, newspapers, and decorative paper from home to bring to next class.

Class 2: As students bring in the papers the teacher and/or some students can either scan or photograph the papers to bring them into the computer. Be sure to have the paper zoomed in to fit the photograph. The teacher will then compile these images in an image bank folder, which will be accessible on all student's computers by either a public folder or saved on flash drives or disks. Students are to gather in the front of the class to watch a quick demo by the teacher on the Photoshop tools we will use. In particular, the selection tool, arrow tool, paint tool, swatches, layers, and how to save the file. Students will go to individual computers and open Photoshop. We will create an 8X10 landscape image. Have the students name and save their image promptly onto the desktop. Students will go through the image bank and select pieces from different images. They will combine these pieces to create a landscape collage. This first day is primarily for practice. If a student is excelling he/she can move onto their actual project. Be sure to save every once in a while. When class is done, save the work in progress onto flash drives or disks.

Class 3: Students will start or continue to work on their final landscapes. Students are encouraged to keep looking at the landscape examples when making their own. Remind them about the use of light and dark as well as different textures. When class is done, save the work in progress onto flash drives or disks.

Class 4: We will have two critiques. The first one will be a progress critique on the computers in the beginning of this class. Students can listen to their peers' input and make any changes if they choose. When class is done, save the work in progress onto flash drives or disks.

Class 5: Once the piece is finalized we will print them out and matte them on poster board with glue sticks. We will gather in a circle to have our final critique. Students will talk about their work, the process they went through and their thoughts on the combination of digital and traditional art. Students will say one thing about another's work and, as a group, we will discuss the similarities and differences of each work focusing on the fact that we used the same technique and initial imagery.

Evaluation/Assessment:

The students will be graded based on a rubric. They will be observed throughout the lesson on how they worked with the computers, listened to directions, made their collages, respected the computers and other classmates, contributed during critique and their attitude towards the project as a whole.

DBAE

Art Production: We made collages with traditional and digital mediums.

Aesthetics: We discussed how collage is an art form and that digital art can be mixed with traditional art.

Art History: Discussed the use of collage in art history as well as the growth of digital art now.

Art Criticism: We looked in the Tweed Museum, saw examples of digital imagery and talked about well known collage artists as well as an in class critique.

Bibliography

Hutton, Helen. The Technique of Collage.

New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1968. Print.

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. Revised and Expanded edition. London:

Thames & Hudson, 2008. Print.

Youngblood, Gene. The Computer Revolution and the Arts. Tampa, FL:

University Presses of Florida, 1989. 8-20. Print.

Links to Collage Artists

Sally Bassett - Collage landscape artist

http://www.island-of-art.com/bassett/land-collages/index.htm

Dedicated to the Art of Collage

http://www.collageart.org/

Artworks by Theme: Collage > Landscape

http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolio/media/static_files/Collage_Landscape.html

Ferrofluids, the shape-changing material used in my works, were invented in the late 1960s in the Apollo Program of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and are known to be used for forming liquid seals and in electronic devices for computers, AV equipments, and other industrial applications. Recently they have been employed in medicine research.

Basically, ferrofluids appear as a black fluid. They are prepared by dissolving nanoscale ferromagnetic particles in a solvent such as water or oil and remain strongly magnetic even in a fluid condition. Therefore, they are more flexibly transformable as compared to iron sand. It is well known that ferrofluids form spikes along magnetic field lines when the magnetic surface force exceeds the stabilizing effects of the fluid weight and surface tension [1]. In my work, organic shapes are produced by these spikes under a magnetic field that is controlled by electromagnets. Sensing technology and computers are used to make the fluid change its shape according to environmental information. The transformation of the shape and rhythm of the movement is an important aspect of the work.

My first project "Protrude, Flow" used six electromagnets. In this work, the electromagnets sometimes prevented people from viewing the moving liquid. To solve this problem and to simplify the work, I discovered a new technique called "Ferrofluid Sculpture." This technique enables artists to create more dynamic sculptures with fluid materials. One electromagnet is used, with an extended iron core that is sculpted into a particular shape. The ferrofluid covers the sculpted surface of the three-dimensional iron shape. The movement of the spikes in the fluid is controlled dynamically on the surface by adjusting the power of the electromagnet.

Check out it out...

PUPPET ANIMATION

Animated sequence with characters that have been designed and built as freestanding 3-D objects.

Starts with:

Armature: flexible skeleton-like structure

• Wire
• Polymorph (plastic substance for strength i.e. "bones" of puppet)
• "Tie-down" - nut and screw used to attach puppet to set

**Puppet can later be formed with clay, foam, and cloth to give characteristics

Puppets Must Have:

• Freestanding able to support own weight
• Movable body joints; hold any position
• Well executed; remarkable detail
• Viewed 360 degrees

Types:

• Carved wooden doll with movable parts
• Plastic-jointed dolls
• Covered armature w/ padded and costumed body
• Any figurines i.e. Barbies, Legos, GI Joe

Vietnam ~ Hanoi Water Puppets

ACTIVITY:

Pipe-cleaner Armatures w/ Stop Motion Animation!!