The first and second years (and some TYs) are working on a project at the moment which is designed to explore the world of art from ancient mythology to modern day film and to challenge notions of what constitutes good art. Inspiration for the brief came from the Tim Burton exhibition that I visited in July (see earlier post). His teenage sketches helped him cope with the isolation he felt living in suburbia and later developed into concepts for his film characters and sets. We have looked at early drawings for Edward Scissorshands, The Joker from Batman, The Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, as well as other fantasy creatures and concept sketches. We linked this with ancient mythology (Aztec, Inca, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, African, North American and Australian) and artists such as Bosch, Dali and Francis Bacon. We are still at the research stage, but I'm looking forward to showcasing some of the work here later. The final task will be to create a fantasy creature, machine, building, plant or other lifeform combining any to these.
As part of the challange of thinking in different ways, here are a few samples of one of last week's research tasks - a sheet of paper was taken apart and put back together any way the students decided. They then had to write the story of their creation - What is it? How does it feel? Where is it? Where is it going? What is it doing? The results were interesting - a sad giant in a barren wasteland, left behind after the Giant's Causeway broke; a bat who had been raised by ailens; a mutated pac-man who was just dumped by his girlfriend and a stairs that goes nowhere in a confusing bungalow are a few examples.
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