What is Identity?
What do you think it is?
• identity is a person's conception and
expression of their individuality or group
affiliations (such as national
identity and cultural identity).
So it is….?
Who we are and the ideas that make up “me”
This can be who we like who we don’t like.
( an example is democrats and republicans)
It is also who we associate with.
I hang out with _____________?
When I am not in school I hang out with?
How I act when I hang out with them.
• Your PERSONAL Identity is that part of
you that only you know about.
• You might have a secret love for
something.
• Your favorite food, show, song, type of
music. Things nobody really knows
about.
How do you express your personal Identity?
What we are going to do?
We are going to make Identity boxes.
The outside will reflect what we show
others about ourselves.
The inside will be how we see ourselves,
or express a secret that you keep inside
that you want to share.
In your sketch books answer
the following.
1.Are some parts of your personal
identity completely private?
2.What are some things about you that
your friends or peers would be
surprised to know?
3.How do you express your personal
identity?
Joseph Cornell
(1903 - 1972)
Joseph Cornell was a rather solitary figure in
both the Art World and the world-at-large. He
lived his entire life in the same house in
Queens, surviving his mother / housemate by
mere months. Wonderfully untrained, his
trinket-filled, nostalgic, whimsical boxes were
a never-before-seen medium (which lacked
the descriptive name "assemblages" until a
MoMA show in 1961). Rightfully best known
for his constructions, Cornell also wrote
poetry and created quite a number of short,
experimental films.
He started:
• Assemblage is an artistic process. In
the visual arts, it consists of making
three-dimensional or two-dimensional
artistic compositions by putting together
found objects.
L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode Cours Elementaire d'Histoire Naturelle
1940
‘Little Bear, etc.’
‘Andromeda:
Grand Hotel de
l’Observatoire’
‘Setting for a Fairytale’
‘Fortune Telling
Parrot (Parrot
Music Box)
‘Untitled (Grand
Owl Habitat)’
‘Untitled (The Hotel Eden)’
‘Untitled (Cockatoos and
Corks)’
‘A Parrot for Juan Gris’
‘Habitat for a Shooting Gallery’
‘Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)’
1. What is the central figure to
Joseph Cornell’s Medici Slot
Machine?
Answer:
A young boy dressed in
costume of a renaissance
prince or nobleman.
2. What kinds of found
objects has Cornell
included in this work?
Medici Slot Machine
Answer:
He included pieces associated
with childhood games, such as
jacks & marbles. (bingo game,
compass, clock spring)
3. How does Dressing Room for
Gille reflect Cornell’s fascination
with the theater?
Answer:
The “sad clown” figure resembles a
stock character in the Commedia
Dell’ Arte, a 16th Century Italian
entertainment.
4. What is the significance
of boxes and caged birds
in Joseph Cornell’s work?
Answer:
Cornell’s own life was very
restricted and “boxed in.”
Because of his family
responsibilities, he had few
opportunities to travel or
socialize. Instead, he placed
his dreams into his boxlike
assemblages. (Maybe for safe
keeping?)
Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery,
1943
5. How does Forgotten Game resemble a dovecote or
birdhouse?
Answer:
A dovecote is a large bird house designed for keeping
domestic pigeons or doves. Forgotten Game is a wooden
box with round holes, inside each hole is the image of a bird
on a perch.
6. What game, or toy-like element, has Cornell added to
Forgotten Game?
Answer:
A ball can be made to roll down a ramp inside the box and
strike a bell.
7. How has Cornell
created a sense of
escape in Toward the
Blue Peninsula?
Answer:
The setting suggests
an empty cage, or a
recently vacated
prison cell. The
perch is empty, the
framed area
resembles an open
window.
Toward the Blue Peninsula (for Emily
Dickinson), 1953
8. In Habitat Group for a
shooting Gallery, how as
Cornell represented
senseless cruelty and
Violence?
Answer:
The four images of tropical
birds are numbered as
though indicating how many
points will be earned for
killing them. The shattered
glass suggests invasion by a
bullet or a thrown rock.
Spatters of red suggest
blood. Bits of feathers are
strewn on the bottom of the
box.
9. What devices has Cornell used to give Pink Palace a festive,
fairy-tale atmosphere?
Answer:
The elegant Renaissance palace has been placed in a nighttime
setting, surrounded by a glittering frame resembling snow. Lights
seem to shine from within the windows, while people and
carriages line up in front.
10. What type of mood has Cornell created in
Hotel du Nord? What kind of imagery has
he used to create this mood?
Answer:
Cornell creates a sense of the isolation and alienation of
being alone in a hotel room in an unfamiliar city.
11. In Penny Arcade
Portrait how has
Cornell depicted the
remote nature of a
film star who is
admired by millions,
but remains
inaccessible to most?
Answer:
Cornell makes Bacall’s
portrait the focal point, but
places it behind glass. It is
visible but untouchable. He
uses images most people
have access to only
through fan magazines.
DO NOW
-Plan out how you want to use identity in your own box
-Sketch out ideas you might have for your identity box.
-Make a list of small objects you want to use in your identity box.
-Start to cut out pictures and colors you want to use on and in
your box.
-If you have a box at home you want to use bring it in!
Pete the crow.