Surrealist Games

The idea of play is an important aspect for students to begin thinking in different ways.  It allows a no consequence way for them to express themselves and harness their true creativity.  Established artists such as Salvador Dali utilized play in many of his artworks.

"Automatism is the primary method of surrealism.  Solitary and collective automatic techniques, and the exploitation of chance are central to many surrealist games.  Surrealists soon came to realize the limitations of 'pure automatism.'" Spiral Workshop 2008.  

In beginning a lesson with play, in the form of a game, creative minds will be sparked into action and through the outcomes of such games, springs fourth many different and creative ideas that can be used in image making.  I find that chance is a great way for students to be able to create something.  Torn paper collages allow for chance to play a role in the image making process.  This is an example of Hans Arp's torn paper collage.  Different sizes of torn paper are dropped onto a sheet of paper where they are fixed with glue.

Different ways of using this technique allow for the artist to re-arrange and re-interpret the image and maneuver around the pieces to form an image.

Lesson plans can be derived from Surrealism Games utilizing chance.  The Torn Paper Collage allows students to use imagination for ideas of a project.  Drawing things other than reality can be hard for many students, however with this game, students are able to see that not all artworks are realistic and can be rendered and drawn from the imagination.

This is a drawing that taps into the imagination of the artist.  Although there are realistic qualities, the figure depicted is a creation of the imagination.