Visual Arts Students Explore Surrealism

During their first semester, Mrs. Moody's Gr. 9 Visual Arts class showed off their artistic abilities with a project on surrealism focusing on subjects such as visual puns or collagraphs. In this project the students had to choose an artist to research that used certain techniques in their work, providing an artistic informational page along side their curated art piece(s).

"Mood Swings" by Tara Martin and Amber Hambrook

Taking approximately two weeks to complete, the goal was for the students to experience and appreciate artwork, to learn how artists unleash their subconscious through the art of realism, and of course to have fun.

Mrs. Moody was very pleased with the results. "The students did very well with this project. I love to be able to showcase our talent here at Blackville School and this project did just that. Some of our artist pages were of professional quality. It was neat to watch my students take risks with their work, fail along the way and be proud of their final products, " she said. 
Grade 9 student Tara Martin worked with another student, Amber Hambrook, focusing on visual puns to create "Mood Swings," "French Fries," "Hot Dog," and "Cool as a Cucumber."

"We wanted to create pieces that were fun and that everyone could understand. We did a lot of researching online and got a lot of inspiration from the examples we found, then created our own," she explained.

"English Muffin" by Tyra Martin, Olivia Donahue, and Nathan Gillespie

Tyra Martin worked with classmates Olivia Donahue and Nathan Gillespie to create "English Muffin," "Hairspray," "Superbowl," and "Soap Opera."

These three students also focused on visual puns.

"While creating our pieces, I learned to slow down and take my time with everything. Our project took a little longer than expected, but we were all very happy with the result. Teamwork was a huge part of this project and that taught me a lot about how to work efficiently in a group and involve everyone's ideas in the pieces, " explained Tyra.

"I learned to just be myself and try new designs and to be creative," says Layne Jardine, another Visual Arts student.

Art can be a very connective learning experience from working together on creating an art piece, to sharing the outcome and feeling proud of your efforts. You can learn about more than just art from a Visual Arts class.

To view more of the Visual Arts projects, click here.

Article by Abby Keenan
Photos by Robyn Stewart