Year 8 - Art and design
Exploring collage and composition through portraits
Collage and Assemblage: sustainable materials
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
Pupils will develop their collaging skills and showcase their strengths. They will learn about the different between using the metholody as part of the process or as the technique. They will explore how to place images together and develop compositional skills as well as be playful with ideas.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to create a collage portrait by selecting and collaging imagery to achieve a balanced composition.
Key Notes
- A collage combines varied materials like photos, paper and textures to build layers and create visual depth
- Experimenting with composition by arranging and rearranging elements until the layout feels balanced
- Collage can be used to explore portraiture which discuss social histories
Vocabulary To Learn
- variety: the use of different elements to create visual interest and complexity in a work, it can can also be created by contrasting elements such as light versus dark
- balance: how the visual weight of each element is distributed to make the composition feel stable
- composition: the arrangement of, imagery, shapes, colours, textures, marks and lines in an artwork
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Collage is just about sticking random images together.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
A collage combines varied materials like photos, paper and textures to build layers and create visual depth. Experimenting with composition by arranging and rearranging elements until the layout feels balanced.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'variety'
the use of different elements to create visual interest and complexity in a work, it can can also be created by contrasting elements such as light versus dark.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Collage is just about sticking random images together. Correction: Collage is about careful selection, layering and composition to create meaning, tell stories, represent identity and explore social themes.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Creating and refining an abstract collage Study Guide
- Developing and refining collages to represent home. Study Guide
- Exploring memory through the world of assemblage Study Guide
- Planning and developing collage inspired by our hobbies and interests Study Guide
- Playing with collaging and relief through landscape Study Guide
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