User Testing
The year 10 Fine Art students were shown a range of examples of surrealist paintings, along with an example of surrealist animation created by Salvador Dali. Metamorphosis and its representation was a common feature in all the examples shown. The learners were able to recognise in these examples the concepts and approaches used by surrealist artists to create a sense of metamorphosis.
The learners, in turn, were able to apply these concepts to their own work. The range of responses varied. Some learners were able to produce well-thought out responses that displayed a clear understanding of how to visually represent metamorphosis. The outcomes produced by some other learners struggled with the representation of metamorphosis. These outcomes tended to be straightforward interpretations of the concept, with little or no regard for the techniques displayed in the examples they were given as reference material.
After completing the task, the learners were invited to critique each other’s work. Learners were asked to explain how they incorporated a sense of metamorphosis into the work they had created and what concepts did they apply and which artists did they reference. The critique process helped those who had struggled with the task understand how they could improve their work. The exemplar work produced by the more able learners together with their explanations helped the less able learners recognise what they needed to do in order to improve their own work.
After explaining the concepts and approaches employed by surrealist artists to create a sense of metamorphosis in their work, particular reference was made to the new meanings and associations that the metamorphic outcomes created by these artists suggested. The work of Salvador Dali was used to explain how metamorphosis was employed by surrealist artists to create works that had their own visually metaphoric language.
With the help of specific examples and research, the students were able to identify how Salvador Dali used metamorphosis and juxtaposition to create his own visually metaphoric language. These specific examples in Salvador Dali’s work were in many instances metaphors for events that happened during his childhood. The process of identification was one the learners were able to engage with, but their ability to apply metaphoric meaning to their own work proved too difficult as the process was clearly a sophisticated one that in many instances referenced memoirs that were re-interpreted philosophically and psychologically.
Experimentation
The production of four comic strip frames that visually deconstructed the process learners used to create their examples of metamorphosis was a demanding task. The link between this task and comic strip storyboarding was difficult for the students to identify. In order to successfully complete this deconstruction process the students would have had to employ traditional hand-drawn animation techniques. Each comic strip frame would have had to focus on changing the details and positions of key components within the morphing image.
Examples of dynamic comic strip layouts were analysed by all learners. The learners easily identified the techniques used by cartoonists to create layouts that emphasise one scene within a sequence of scenes. The range of examples used as reference material included work produced by fine artists and cartoonists. Some learners produced comic strip layouts that indirectly referenced the examples they were given. These layouts were generally more inventive and creative than those produced by those students who tended to copy the layouts they were given.
To overcome the problem of learners directly referencing source material without developing it and transforming it into their own idea, the learners were encouraged to solve the composition problems they were encountering by researching the work of surrealist artists who combined significant numbers of images in their work. This additional research helped learners solve the problems they had with their compositions. The layout of their work was no longer necessarily within the confines of a comic strip layout but was still required to visually record a process of metamorphosis. Some learners further defined that process by adding a narrative to their work.
Realisation
Self evaluation, peer evaluation and critique processes were used to help learners explain the thoughts and processes they have used in their work. Some learners were able to produce articulate responses that clearly defined the creative process they had worked through. Other learners found it difficult to transfer their thoughts into words and describe what they had set out to achieve. These learners tended to produce work that was not as realised and individualised as the work of those learners who had produced articulate responses.
Learners success with the set task was measured by their ability to produce a final piece that had clear surrealist qualities and showed evidence of their understanding of metamorphosis. The range of techniques that were used by students to create convincing surrealist images was often referenced to the research they had completed. Those learners who created more personalised responses combined this research with their own inventive but clearly informed ideas.
Conclusion
The approach to teaching and learning adopted by this project is driven by Bruner's constructivist theory and its study of cognition. The fact that children learn more and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved rather than just being passive listeners of information is a constructivist learning principle that has been continually referred to when writing the project learning objectives and the methodology used by the teachers and learners to achieve the learning outcomes.Constructivism concentrates on teaching children how to think and understand (Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2004). It promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that enables students to collaborate and exchange ideas. Visual arts in a secondary school students’ education is more than learning how to use a paint-brush or pencil. It is about developing strategies of thinking, ways of seeing, analysing, recording and evaluating.
The surrealism/metamorphosis project is a unit of work that is well suited to a constructivist approach to learning. The students had to learn how to articulate their ideas clearly, along with how to collaborate on tasks effectively when completing group projects. They needed to recognise processes, explain approaches, exchange ideas and produce well-thought out and personalised responses.
One of the first writers to insist that art is a process important to individual development was the philosopher Hubert Spencer (1911, ix). He said: ‘The question is not whether the child is producing good drawings. The question is whether it is developing its faculties.’