Surrealism is an art movement from the early 20th century that stemmed from the non-sensical atrocities of the World Wars. Artists used dreamlike imagery to create realistic looking artwork that had a bizarre twist. Artists like Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte headed the movement, and created works that are both thought provoking and puzzling.
After being introduced to some key pieces in Surrealist history, students were exposed to the idea of one point perspective. One point perspective drawings are a way to show distance and perspective of an image where all lines converge at one single point. The most simple example of one point perspective is to imagine a set of railroad tracks disappearing into the distance. As things get further away, they appear to get smaller and eventually disappear at the vanishing point.
Using surrealism and one point perspective together, students were asked to take a square template and create a room with a five walls. Their task was to create imagery that interacted with each different wall and create a scene that was logically impossible.
After sketching out ideas with things from their life, hobbies, and popular culture, students will be coloring their drawings with a variety of materials like colored pencils, oil pastels, and chalk pastels. Below you can see some of the works in progress that demonstrate amazing creativity and imagination.
