Unit Summary based on class discussion on Claud Oldenbourg

Objectives

Psychomotor and Cognitive

To teach representational drawing skills using contour, value, texture, form, dynamics,
emphasis, composition, scale, perspective (spatial relationships of objects on the picture
plane).

To understand that there is a multitude of ways to play with ideas and representational
space and objects. In short to understand the complexity of the interplay and relationship
of objects. (Cognitive)

To expand the students range of materials.

To shift the focus back and forth between skills and concepts, to teach the relationship of
skills, materials, and ideas.

Affective
To go beyond the mimetic (surface description) to involve a sense of play (affective0
in the use of imagination.

To build confidence and a sense of play in the depiction of objects in a realistic space.

To compare the cut and paste collage to the digital (photoshop). To focus on the unique
properties of materials and understand that tools have different functions.

Rationale

This could be taught with varying degrees of complexity and emphasis to grades 7 12.
Adolescents have a desire to represent reality, yet they are interested in surreal ideas and
space. They like to show mastery of technique, yet they often lack the skills and dont
identify themselves as artists. Therefore, some will need to be motivated by the idea to
help them over this mental block. Some will require more structure then others and more
assistance in learning to draw realistically. Therefore, I will work around the room with
individual students and will encourage idiosyncratic responses. Adolescents become
motivated when they are given a structure but allowed the freedom to interpret. They are
motivated to create an outcome that they can share with peers.

Lesson one

Choose from my assortment of everyday objects: screws, seed pods, In front of the class
the teacher will demonstrate how to draw a blind contour. The emphasis is on a slow
hand-eye coordination. Pretend the eye is drawing the line. Play music. Feel the
pressure on the page. Talk about the dynamics of line in relation to music.
After several exercises on newsprint one after the other overlapping, filling the page.
Analyze in terms of abstract markmaking. Look at the difference between a cartooned
line and an expressive line that is drawn from observation. Connect this with the concept
of empathy both to the object drawn, the music and the thoughts while one was
drawing.

Lesson two
On 42x18 newsprint, with three pencils of varying soft to hardness, create rubbings of
different values.
On small pieces of mayfair fold and tear a 18x20 paper into 8 pieces. On each one
draw the simple outline of the object. Fill the page. In each one make it look 3-D by
creating different marks. Eg: cross-hatching, shading, dots, textures This exercise can
be tried on varied papers and with different tools to show how materials change an image.

Lesson three
Draw the object to fill a 8x10 sheet of manila or mayfair. Start with the contour,
focusing on the shape and edges of the object. Using your value samples, use different
marks to add texture and form to the object.

Lesson four
Look at slides of Claud Oldenbourg. Ask questions for active viewing. Start generally:
what do you like about these drawings? How is he using his imagination? How are the
objects transformed or changed/? What is common between the examples? How can
someone make the ordinary extraordinary?
Cut out this object and put it on a background collaged from a magazine. The collage
with the drawing must create a foreground, middle ground and background. Begin to
erase and transform the drawing to fit into the collaged background.

Lesson five
Draw the collage, using pencil, then pencil crayon. Emphasize the use of different marks
to create textures and value. Feel free to deviate from the collage using it as a reference
but allowing the drawing to take on a life of its own. For example, you can change the
scale of objects and the emphasis. Show examples of how to create emphasis with detail
and shading, allowing other areas to have less detail and contrast. Explain how the
foreground has more detail and value contrast. objects in the foreground are larger in real
life. Therefore if your object is higher in the picture plane and larger than everything
else, it will look extremely large. Use these perceptual relations to enlarge the scale of
the object even more.

Lesson six (will probably take more than one lesson)

Digital collage: Scan the drawing and different pictures into the computer. Manipulate
the drawing: bend, enlarge, change textures and colors with filters. Cut and paste a
background (digitally). Paste in drawing. Move it around the picture plane to see how
placement changes scale. Play with the drawing in the space to make it look more real.
Play with the different tools for varying surreal effects. Remind to save the copy you like
that you can always revert back to. Therefore there is no risk in trying things, unlike the
material cut and paste where once something is cut, it cannot be whole again.

Lesson seven
Draw the digital collage. Talk about how the computer can be a catalyst to try new
effects in drawing in black and white and color. Talk about how working with different
materials will take you in different directions. Always be sensitive to the unique qualities
of varying materials.

Follow-up
This unit could lead into a sculptural unit. Look at Oldenbourgs soft sculptures and
inflatables by Christo and
Make inflatable sculptures using plastic bags, based on a real object from their everyday
lives.