Interpretive Guide & Hands-on Activities
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Travelling Exhibition Program 2013-2016
Storytellers
....We need stories to provide us with a sense of wonder, to help us
learn courage and compassion, to affirm and connect us to life.
George Webber, artist
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
The Interpretive Guide
The Art Gallery of Alberta is pleased to present your community with a selection from its Travelling
Exhibition Program. This is one of several exhibitions distributed by the Art Gallery of Alberta as part
of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program. This Interpretive Guide has been
specifically designed to complement the exhibition you are now hosting. The suggested topics for
discussion and accompanying activities can act as a guide to increase your viewers’ enjoyment and to
assist you in developing programs to complement the exhibition. Questions and activities have been
included at both elementary and advanced levels for younger and older visitors.
At the Elementary School Level the Alberta Art Curriculum includes four components to provide
students with a variety of experiences. These are:
Reflection: Responses to visual forms in nature, designed objects and artworks
Depiction: Development of imagery based on notions of realism
Composition: Organization of images and their qualities in the creation of visual art
Expression: Use of art materials as a vehicle for expressing statements
The Secondary Level focuses on three major components of visual learning. These are:
Drawings: Examining the ways we record visual information and discoveries
Encounters: Meeting and responding to visual imagery
Composition: Analyzing the ways images are put together to create meaning
The activities in the Interpretive Guide address one or more of the above components and are
generally suited for adaptation to a range of grade levels. As well, this guide contains coloured images
of the artworks in the exhibition which can be used for review and discussion at any time. Please be
aware that copyright restrictions apply to unauthorized use or reproduction of artists’ images.
The Travelling Exhibition Program, funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, is designed to bring
you closer to Alberta’s artists and collections. We welcome your comments and suggestions and invite
you to contact:
Shane Golby, Manager/Curator
Travelling Exhibition Program
Ph: 780.428.3830; Fax: 780.421.0479
Email: shane.golby@youraga.ca
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Table of Contents
This Package Contains
Curatorial Statement
Visual Inventory - List of Works
Visual Inventory - Images
Artist Biographies/Statements
Talking Art
- Curriculum Connections
- Story-telling and Narrative Art: An Introduction
- History Painting: A Survey
- Genre Painting: A Survey
- Styles of Artistic Expression:
- Realism
- Expressionism
- Surrealism: An Art Historical Survey
- Pop Art: A Brief Analysis
- Outsider Art
- Art History: The Development and Art of Photography
- Word and Image - A Brief Survey
- Art Processes - Printmaking Techniques
- Watercolour
Visual Learning and Hands-on Art Projects
What is Visual Learning?
Elements and Principles of Design Tour
Reading Picture Tour
Perusing Paintings: An Art-ful Scavenger Hunt
Exhibition Related Art Projects
Glossary
Credits
The AFA and AGA
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479 youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Curatorial Statement
Storytellers
A need to tell and hear stories is essential to
the species Homo sapiens - second in
necessity apparently after nourishment and
before love and shelter. Millions survive
without love or home, almost none in silence;
the opposite of silence leads quickly to
narrative, and the sound of story is the
dominant sound of our lives, from the small
accounts of our day’s events to the vast
incommunicable constructs of psychopaths.
Reynolds Price (American author 1933-2011)
Who doesn’t love a good story? Our entire
lives are bound by the relating of events:
what happened? where did it happen? how
did it happen? who did it happen to? how did
it end? These are the questions, and it is the
answers to these questions, that teach us;
that guide our relationships with others; and
that form the memories we either cherish…or
that haunt us to the end of our days.
According to most historians and
psychologists storytelling - the conveying of
events in words, images and sounds - is one
of the things that define and bind humanity.
Storytelling is a means for sharing and
interpreting experiences and has been used
for millennia for entertainment, education,
cultural preservation and to instill moral
values. Storytelling is found in all human
cultures and, while most stories have been
told orally or through written text, they have
also been expressed in visual forms for
thousands of years.
The relating of stories visually is called
Narrative Art. In such artwork stories can be
told either as a moment in an ongoing story or
as a sequence of events unfolding over time.
Such works may depict grand or important
events or ideas, expressed through the
genre of History Paintings, or be concerned
with humble scenes or events from everyday
life, articulated in Genre Scenes.
Whatever the form of expression, however,
such representations contain the literary
elements of setting, character, and narrative
point of view. Most importantly, however, to
be considered an actual story or involve
narrative a visual art work must possess one
crucial element: it must either imply or
actually portray action.
In 1971 the British musician Rod Stewart
released the album Every Picture Tells a
Story and to a large degree he is correct every picture does, in one way or another,
tell a story. With art works drawn from the
collection of the Alberta Foundation for the
Arts, the exhibition Storytellers explores the
narratives related by artists and the various
ways they have been portrayed.
Vera Greenwood
An Alberta Rat, 1990
Acrylic, china marker on plywood
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
The exhibition Storytellers was curated by Shane
Golby and organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta
for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling
Exhibition Program. The AFA Travelling Exhibition
Program is financially supported by the Alberta
Foundation for the Arts.
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
List of Images
Derek Besant
Ash Wednesday, 1974
Etching, enamel on plexiglass
18 7/16 inches x 24 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Mark D. Hobden
Untitled, Old Folks Home Series, n.d.
Silver gelatin on paper
9 13/16 inches x 13 3/4 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Bernard Bloom
Ecologically conscious student screaming at
Homosexuals, 1994
Silver gelatin print toned on paper
19 7/8 inches x 15 7/8 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Roy Kiyooka
Untitled, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5,
No.3, 1951
Lithograph on paper
11 inches x 8 7/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Annora Brown
Brittany, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5,
No.3., 1951
Linocut, watercolour on paper
8 1/2 inches x 11 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Vivian Lindoe
Untitled, n.d.
Oil on cardboard
15 3/4 inches x 19 7/8 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Jeff Burgess
Wedding, 1981
Oil on watercolour board
23 1/16 inches x 21 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Gerry Dotto
Speak of the Kettle, 2012
Photograph
15 1/2 inches x 15 1/2 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Vera Greenwood
An Alberta Rat, 1990
Acrylic, china marker on plywood
15 1/2 inches x 15 1/2 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Helen Mackie
Rodeo Bar, n.d.
Etching on paper
12 3/16 inches x 10 1/4 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Theodore Nelson
Our Synopsis thus far, 1989
Acrylic, ink on paper
15 inches x 20 3/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Stan Perrott
Soldiers/Penn Station, 1955
Ink and wash on paper
10 1/4 inches x 14 3/4 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
List of Images
Jacques Rioux
Newspaper Rock, Utah, 1992
Silver gelatin, selenium toned photograph
on paper
13 inches x 18 11/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Cliff Robinson
Leda, n.d.
Linocut on paper
13 3/8 inches x 12 1/4 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
George Webber
Uptown Theatre, Calgary, Alberta, 2001, 2001
Colour photograph on paper
11 inches x 14 1/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Bruce Wiltshire
The soldier and his sweetheart, 1973
Lithograph on paper
15 3/4 inches x 22 1/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Harry Savage
Postcard from a Pink Trailer, 1972
Silkscreen on paper
30 inches x 22 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Harry Savage
Postcard from a Green Trailer, 1972
Silkscreen on paper
30 inches x 22 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Trig Singer
Poland Series, 1973
Silver gelatin on paper
7 15/16 inches x 9 15/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Mark Traficante
Auntie Josephine’s Wedding circa 1980, 2012
Acrylic on paper
11 inches x 14 1/16 inches
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
Total Works: 20 2D works
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Visual Inventory
Derek Besant
Ash Wednesday, 1974
Etching, enamel on plexiglass
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Annora Brown
Brittany, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5, No. 3,
1951
Linocut, watercolour on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Bernard Bloom
Ecologically conscious student screaming at
Homosexuals, 1994
Silver gelatin print toned on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Jeff Burgess
Wedding, 1981
Oil on watercolour board
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Visual Inventory
Gerry Dotto
Speak of the Kettle, 2012
Colour photograph
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Vera Greenwood
An Alberta Rat, 1990
Acrylic, china marker on plywood
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Mark D. Hobden
Untitled, Old Folks Home Series, n.d.
Silver gelatin print on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Roy Kiyooka
Untitled, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5, No. 3,,
1951
Lithograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Visual Inventory
Vivian Lindoe
Untitled, n.d.
Oil on cardboard
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Theodore Nelson
Our Synopsis thus far, 1989
Acrylic, ink on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Helen Mackie
Rodeo Bar, n.d.
Etching on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Stan Perrott
Soldiers/Penn Station, 1955
Ink and wash on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Visual Inventory
Jacques Rioux
Newspaper Rock, Utah, 1992
Silver gelatin, selenium toned photograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Harry Savage
Postcard from a Pink Trailer, 1972
Silkscreen on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Cliff Robinson
Leda, n.d.
Linocut on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Harry Savage
Postcard from a Green Trailer, 1972
Silkscreen on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Visual Inventory
Trig Singer
Poland Series, 1973
Silver gelatin on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Mark Traficante
Auntie Josephine’s Wedding circa 1980, 2012
Acrylic on canvas
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
George Webber
Uptown Theatre, Calgary, Alberta, 2001, 2001
Colour photograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Bruce Wiltshire
The soldier and his sweetheart, 1973
Lithograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Talking Art
Mark D. Hobden
Untitled, Old Folks Home Series, n.d.
Silver gelatin print on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
CONTENTS:
- Artist Biographies/Statements
- Art Curriculum and Cross-Curriculum Connections
- Story-telling and Narrative Art: An Introduction
- History Paintings: A Survey
- Art in History: Leda and the Swan; Pygmalion
- Genre Paintings: A Survey
- What are genre paintings?
- Where and why did genre paintings develop?
- What are the characteristics of genre painting?
- What themes or subjects are explored in genre
paintings?
- Styles of Artistic Expression: Realism
Surrealism
Expressionism
Pop Art
Outsider Art
- Art History: The Development and Art of Photography
- Photography: A Brief History
- Photography and the Documentary Eye
- Word and Image: A Brief Survey
- Art Processes - Printmaking, Watercolour
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
Derek Besant
Derek Besant was born in Canada in 1950 and lives in Alberta and Central Mexico; but his work
regularly takes him elsewhere. His projects hover somewhere between absence and
resurrection and he has shown his work in Brussels, Brazil, Belgrade, Slovenia, Finland, Japan
and China.
Bernard Bloom
- Biography unavailable
Annora Brown
Annora Brown (1899-1987) was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, daughter of a member of the
North West Mounted Police and a school-teaching mother. As one of Alberta’s distinguished
artists, she is also known as a writer, historian and naturalist. She wrote numerous articles
regarding the plants and life on the prairies and taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts and
through the University of Alberta Extension program in Edmonton.
Jeff Burgess
Jeff Burgess was born in Saskatoon in 1956 and is an Honours Graduate of the Alberta
College of Art (Calgary), specializing in visual communications. During 1980 his work was seen
in a number of student exhibitions as well as the Canadian Illustrators & Designers Showcase in
Toronto. As concerns his work Burgess has stated:
My work almost always deals with the human figure and portraiture as I feel a need in art to
return to the representation of it. I am keenly interested in the human anatomy, the shapes and
textures of skin and muscles and how far one can stretch and distort them beyond the actual.
I like large bodies and interesting faces that dominate the format. I also like the format to be
dominated as well by starkness of an enclosed room or space wherein a smaller figure may
appear.
Gerry Dotto
Gerry Dotto was born and raised in greater Edmonton and has been active in the Edmonton art
scene for over 25 years. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Dotto
describes himself as a conceptual artist. Based on our everyday interactions with common forms
of visual communication, his images re-interpret these systems of communication and present
them in a new light.
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
Vera Greenwood
Artist Statement:
My art practice is subjectively personal, placing emphasis on story telling, social studies and a
conceptual approach to representing the everyday - a way of working based on observation of
the world. The work is highly autobiographical in nature and reveals a keen interest in
record keeping, investigative research and the ethics involved in the act of looking. It undermines typical ways of collecting information and keeping history - the strategy subverts mainstream structures and standards. By incorporating methodologies of non-art disciplines such as
social anthropology and behavioral psychology, my research-based projects embody a hybrid
form of contemporary art practice. The work depends largely on process - the determining factor for many of my projects is improvisation: to set an event in motion and watch as it unfolds.
Because my installations have always incorporated text - sometimes very large amounts - bookworks have become a logical extension of my art practice. The work, in general, documents
my own behaviour - my experiences of social interactions. It hinges on a kind of self monitoring
which only masquerades as voyeurism: the process essentially ends up putting me under the
microscope.
Mark D. Hobden
- Biography unavailable
Roy Kiyooka (1926-1994)
Roy Kiyooka was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1926. He began his studies at the
Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary where he studied under J.W. Macdonald
and Illingworth Kerr. He attended the Instituto Allende (Mexico) on scholarship where he studied
painting, drawing and fresco mural techniques with James Pinto. Primarily known as a painter
and poet, Kiyooka was also a photographer, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and art instructor.
Although Kiyooka made his name with hard-edge geometric abstraction, his early body of work
shifted between severe orderliness and emotional expressiveness. In 1954 Kiyooka had a one
man show at the University of Alberta and, in the following year, he was chosen to exhibit at the
First Biennial held by The National Gallery of Canada. Kiyooka’s works have been shown in
various galleries and museums in Canada including the Musee d’art contemporain in Montreal,
the Winnipeg Art Gallery, David Mirvish Gallery in Toronto and Bau-Xi Gallery in Vancouver. His
works have also appeared in Seattle, Minneapolis and Kyoto, Japan.
Kiyooka’s name has also been loosely associated with the Regina Five (Ken Lochhead, Doug
Morton, Arthur McKay, Ted Godwin and Ronald Bloore). During his sojourn in Regina he
attended the Emma Lake workshops where he came into contact with painters such as Barnett
Newman, the pioneer U.S. abstractionist, and the art critic Clement Greenberg. In 1960 Kiyooka
left Regina for Vancouver where he taught as an art instructor at the Vancouver School of Art.
Kiyooka also taught in Calgary and Regina. Finally Kiyooka taught in the fine arts department of
the University of British Columbia from 1973 until his retirement in 1991.
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
Kiyooka’s most important contribution was linking literature and art. He was a prolific poet,
associated with both the Beat and Tish schools of poetry. Kiyooka established an important
reputation as a hard-edged abstractionist in the mid-1960s. In 1969, however, he repudiated
painting to pursue art practices which he felt were more relevant to his own life and vision.
Vivian Lindoe (1918-2006)
Vivian Lindoe was born in Calgary in 1918, the youngest in a family of five children. Originally
settled in Woodstock, Ontario, the family moved to Calgary where they remained. Vivian seldom
spoke of her childhood and little is known of her life during the first two decades.
Vivian met her husband, Luke Lindoe, at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary
(SAIT as of 1960). Following marriage and art school they spent a short time in Toronto, then
Medicine Hat, after which they moved to Loon Lake, British Columbia, where they lived until
1946. The Lindoes then moved back to Calgary when Luke was invited to teach at the Provincial
Institute of Technology and Art. They were part of a young and vibrant art community that
included Illingworth and Mary Kerr, Marion and Jim Nicoll, Doug Motter, Stan Perrot, Wes Irwin,
Stan Blodgett and many other newly arrived artists and instructors at the art school.
This period was a productive time for Vivian. Along with painting, working in clay and doing batik,
she made tables and other practical objects. There was no compulsion to specialize then.
Instead the artists directed their creative tendencies in a way that seemed most felicitous. At that
time, the International Style was in vogue which influenced the young artists to be
progressive and contributed to the tendency to be multidisciplinary. This aesthetic was
personified in the ‘Calgary Group’, an informal affiliate of artists including those mentioned as
well as Maxwell Bates, Janet Mitchell and others with modernist concerns.
The 1960s were a difficult time for Vivian and her marriage to Luke eventually broke up. After
studying at the Instituto de Allende in Mexico she returned to Calgary and worked in her family’s
pottery studio. In the mid-sixties she moved to Salmon Arm, B.C. and gradually ceased working
as an artist. She moved to Vernon and then, after several years there, moved to an extended
care facility in the Comox Valley where she died in 2006.
Helen Mackie
Dora Helen Mackie was born in Tavistock, Ontario, in 1926. In 1943 she received a B.Sc.
Honours at Queen’s University in Biology and Chemistry and in 1949 received a M.Sc. in
Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of Toronto. After deciding to expand her
understanding of the world via art making, Mackie received a BFA from the University of
Calgary in Printmaking and Drawing (1973). She has also studied at the Banff School of Fine
Art, the Alberta College of Art, and the Emma Lake Painting Workshop.
Helen Mackie is well known for her woodblock prints and etchings. Although she also works with
charcoal and watercolor. She has had many solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
exhibitiions throughout the 1990s. Her work is found in the collections of the City of Calgary
Civic Collection, the Glenbow Museum, H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II Permanent Collection
(Windsor Castle Library, England), Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council Art Bank
(Ottawa), University of Calgary, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and others.
Artist Statement:
In the world of art different experiences are woven into one’s work. I have enjoyed working with
watercolour in ‘plein air’ tradition since being given paints as a child. It is simple and direct and
the experience greatly enhances one’s observation and appreciation of the wonderful world of
out-of-doors. When studying Fine Arts at the University of Calgary I found that a course in printmaking opened my eyes to a new world of images and new opportunities to create. I have found
that the traditional methods of drawing on a plate or cutting into a wood block are most to my
liking. In these the contact with idea, hand and image are very close.
One begins each work, big or small, with a new observation or thought. To define it becomes a
unique challenge. Each work is a process that defines the worker.
Theodore Nelson
- Biography unavailable
Stanford Perrott (1917-2001)
Stanford Perrott was born near Stavely, Alberta, in 1917. He saw his first real oil painting in
1938, an experience which changed his life. In 1939 he graduated from the Provincial Institute of
Technology and Art (now known as the Alberta College of Art and Design) in Calgary. In 1940 he
went to study for his teaching degree.
In 1946 Perrott began teaching at the Alberta College of Art and Design. With department head
Illingworth Kerr he helped start programs for children, and was instrumental in expanding the
range of exposure for the work of senior students. After Kerr’s death in 1967 Perrott took over as
head of the College until 1974 when he retired to teach private lessons in Bragg Creek, Alberta.
Stanford Perrott received numerous awards during his lifetime such as the Alberta College of Art
Board of Governor’s Award of Excellence; the Province of Alberta’s Achievement Award; and in
1991 an Honorary Degree from the University of Calgary. In 1998 he was awarded the Sir
Frederick Haultain Prize for his outstanding contributions to art and education in Alberta.
Perrott was a multi-media artist, trying his hand at such techniques as charcoal drawings, ink
and wash drawings, watercolour landscapes, and a variety of print-making techniques. In the
1950s he studied under the famous Abstract Expressionist painters Hans Hoffman in
Provincetown, Mass., and with Will Barnet in New York. He was greatly influenced by his time in
the United States. Another facet to Perrott’s work is his lyrical use of line. He also had a facility
of ‘catching a moment’ as seen in his ink drawings and sketches.
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
Perrott believed intensely in the value of art education. He once said that there are too many
amateur landscape painters out there....People say you have to have passion to paint, but you
also have to have discipline to control the passion.
Jacques Rioux
Jacques Rioux was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1956 and moved to Calgary in 1979. Since
moving to Calgary he has worked as a photographer and photographer/multimedia producer and
exhibited his photographic works in a number of exhibitions since 1990. During this time he has
created two extensive photographic series: The Calgary Picture Project and Western Badlands.
In speaking of this second project Rioux has written:
I first discovered the Alberta Badlands in the spring of 1980, while travelling along the Red Deer
River in southern Alberta, Canada. Walking in this barren landscape I came upon some ancient
geological formations that seemed filled with mysteries. In reality, water, frost and winds have
helped shape and sculpt the dramatic terrain which forms the badlands. Yet, to the native people
of the west, the badlands are considered a sacred place, ‘home of spirits’. As a result, for the
past 2500 years, the North American Indians have been painting and etching their visions and
dreams in the soft sandstone cliffs of the badlands.
Since 1987, I have made photographs that attempt to reveal the mystical quality of this
landscape. I explored 4 areas where the badlands are found in Alberta, Canada. They are the
Horseshoe and the Horsethief canyons, near Drumheller; the Dinosaur Provincial Park (the
largest and most spectacular tract of badlands in Canada), and the Writing-on-Stone Provincial
Park and the Red Rock Coulee area.
In 1991 and 1992 I also photographed similar landscapes in the southwest United States. I
travelled to Arches National Park, Utah; Canyonland National Park, Utah; Craters of the Moon
National Monument, Idaho; Canyon de Chelly, Arizona; Badlands National Park, South Dakota;
and Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado.
Whenever I decide to photograph something, I strive to communicate a sense of discovery, of
excitement and of connection to the past through the beauty of the photographic image.
Clifford Robinson (1916-1992)
Clifford Robinson was born in 1916 at Bassano, Alberta. His pursuit of art led him to studies at
SAIT and the Banff School of Fine Arts under teachers such as W.J. Phillips, A.C. Leighton, M.
Mackay and H. G. Glyde. Phillips taught Robinson the important technique of linocut which
afforded a black and white directness and dynamic graphic quality that excited him.
During the war Robinson lived at Morley among the Stoneys before teaching at the Canadian
School of Camouflage in Vancouver. In 1947 - 48 he returned to The Banff School as an
instructor in art and theatre design. In 1949 he became U.B.C.’s first travelling instructor in art
and design. He then went to teach at the Vancouver School of Fine Art in 1952 where he met
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Artist Biographies/Statements
Lawren Harris and Emily Carr.
Robinson was a member of the Society of Canadian Painters and Etchers, the Society of
Graphic arts, and the Federation of Canadian Artists as well as being one of the earliest
members of the Alberta Society of Artists. Along with many private collections his work can be
found in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, The National Gallery of New York,
The National Gallery of Canada, The Alberta Art Foundation, The Glenbow Museum, The Shell
Oil Collection and others.
Harry Savage
Harry Savage was born in 1938 in Camrose, Alberta. He studied at the Provincial Institute of
Technology and Art (now the Alberta College of Art) in Calgary and received his diploma in 1961.
Savage has travelled throughout Canada and the United States, and beginning in 1964 taught at
the University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension, in Edmonton. In 1973 he and fellow artist Sylvain
Voyer formed a loose partnership to establish Latitude 53, an artist-run gallery in Edmonton.
Savage’s work has been shown extensively throughout Canada, and he is represented in a
number of public collections including those of the Art Gallery of Alberta, the University of
Calgary, the Burnaby Art Gallery, the Alberta College of Art, and the Government of Alberta.
Harry Savage currently lives in British Columbia.
Trig Singer
Trig Singer is a Vancouver based artist whose work is held in a number of private collections
as well as the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Alberta Art Foundation. Born in Edmonton, Singer
has worked with cameras all his life. In 1975 he received a Canada Council Grant to produce a
body of work from Poland that resulted in a large one man show at both York University and the
Edmonton Library. Singer was also concurrently working as a documentary camera man for a
number of Edmonton-based film companies and the National Film Board. He was awarded the
1982 AMPIA award for best cinematography for ‘Inuipitan’ a film that followed an Inuit trapper as
he sought to provide for his extended family in the Western Arctic. Since moving to Vancouver in
the early 1980s Singer has worked in the motion picture industry as a camera operator on major
pictures under some of the world’s most acclaimed cinematographers and directors.
Mark Traficante
Mark Traficante was born in Edmonton in 1980 and lived there all his life until a recent move to
St. Albert. He graduated from Austin O’Brien High School in 1999 and lives with his roommates
Rob and Darcy. He would like to have a job in security and enjoys activities like soccer, bowling
and swimming, and enjoys listening to music. He has been making art for a long time and his
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Artist Biographies/Statements
favorite medium is drawing with felt markers. Favorite subject matters are police action pictures,
security officers, Avril Lavigne, family members, and “The Last Supper”. He likes the uniforms
and cars of the police and security people and thinks they are cool. He has even gone on jobs
with them a few times before. Mark says he likes everything about art, “It gives you something to
do. It’s cool and it’s fun.”
George Webber
Alberta born George Webber has been photographing the people and landscape of the
Canadian prairies for over 30 years. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the
University of Alberta in 1973 and a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University in 1974. He
has been a professional photographer since 1980. Inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy
of Arts in 1999, Webber also received the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 ‘in recognition of
outstanding service to the people and province of Alberta’.
Webber has published five photographic books since 1995. These are Requiem: The Vanishing
Face of the Canadian Prairie (1995); Footprints On The Land: Tracing The Path of The
Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation (2003); A World Within: An Intimate Portrait of the Little Bow
Hutterite Colony (2005); People of the Blood: A Decade Long Journey on a Canadian Reserve
(2006); and Last Call (2010).
Artist Statement:
Documentary photographers have always sought out people and places with important true
stories to tell. We need those stories to provide us with a sense of wonder, to help us learn
courage and compassion, to affirm and connect us to life.
A photographer has to find an aspect of himself in what he photographs.
My photography is about looking back at what formed me, the people, towns and landscape of
the prairies. I am continually seeking to touch and understand the traditions and spirituality of
this place.
Bruce Wiltshire
- no biography available
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Art Curriculum Connections
Elementary
Drawing
Students will:
- Use simple methods to indicate depth or perspective; e.g., increase details in the foreground,
use lighter tones or values in the background, large objects in foreground.
- Use drawing tools to make a variety of lines extending beyond previous levels into illusion.
- Indicate perspective in drawings.
-Mix and use colour tones to achieve perspective.
Concepts:
- All aspects of an artwork contribute to the story it tells.
- Everyday activities can be documented visually.
- Size variations among objects give the illusion of depth.
- Use simple methods to indicate depth or perspective; e.g. increase details in foreground, use
lighter tones or value in drawings.
- A narrative can be retold or interpreted visually
- An original story can be created visually
- Feelings and moods can be interpreted visually
- Specific messages, beliefs and interests can be interpreted visually or symbolized
Media and Technique
Students will
- use media and techniques, with an emphasis on exploration and direct methods in drawing,
painting, print making, photography
Junior High
Students will:
- Employ space, proportion and relationships for image making.
Concepts:
- The size of depicted figures or objects locates those objects in relationship to the ground or
picture plane.
- Overlapping figures or objects create an illusion of space in two-dimensional works. The
amount of detail depicted creates spatial depth in two-dimensional works.
- Parallel lines meeting at a vanishing point create linear perspective in two-dimensional works.
- Proportion can be analyzed by using a basic unit of a subject as a measuring tool.
ART 10-20-30
DRAWINGS
Students will:
- Develop and refine drawing skills and styles.
Concepts:
- Points of view can vary according to the expressive purposes of the drawing.
- Control of proportion and perspective enhances the realism of subject matter in drawing.
COMPOSITIONS
Students will:
- Be conscious of the emotional impact that is caused and shaped by a work of art.
Concepts:
- Image making is a personal experience created from ideas and fantasies.
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Art Curriculum Connections continued
ENCOUNTERS
Students will:
- Question sources of images that are personally relevant or significant to them in contemporary
culture.
Concepts:
- Imagery can depict an important local, political or social issue.
- Imagery can depict important aspects of the student’s own life.
- Research selected artists and periods to discover factors in the artists’ environments that
influenced their personal visions.
Concepts:
- Personal situations and events in artists’ lives affect their personal visions and work.
- Historical events and society’s norms have an affect on an artist’s way of life and work.
This exhibition is an excellent source for using art as a means of investigating topics
addressed in other subject areas. The theme of the exhibition, and the works within it,
are especially relevant as a spring-board for addressing aspects of the English/Language
Arts and Social Studies program of studies. The following is an overview of crosscurricular connections which may be addressed through viewing and discussing the
exhibition Storytellers.
English Language Arts
1.1 DISCOVER AND EXPLORE
Kindergarten
- share personal experiences prompted by oral, print and other media texts
- talk about ideas, experiences and familiar events
- talk and represent to explore, express and share stories, ideas and experiences
Grade 1
- share personal experiences that are clearly related to oral, print and other media texts
- make observations about activities, experiences with oral, print and other media texts
- experiment with different ways of exploring and developing stories, ideas and experiences
Grade 2
- express or represent ideas and feelings resulting from activities or experiences with oral, print
and other media texts
Grade 3
- explore ideas and feelings by asking questions, talking to others and referring to oral, print and
other media texts
Grade 4
- discuss and compare the ways similar topics are developed in different forms of oral, print and
other media texts
1.2 CLARIFY AND EXTEND
Grade 2
- record ideas and information in ways that make sense
Grade 3
- experiment with arranging and recording ideas and information in a variety of ways
Grade 5
- use talk, notes, personal writing and representing to explore relationships among own ideas
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Cross-Curriculum Connections continued
and experiences, those of others and those encountered in oral, print and other media texts
2.1 USE STRATEGIES AND CUES
Kindergarten
- connect oral language with print and pictures
- understand that stories, information and personal experiences can be recorded in pictures and
print and can be listened to, read or viewed
- expect print and pictures to have meaning and to be related to each other in print and other
media texts
Grade 1
- use knowledge of context, pictures, letter, words...in a variety of oral, print and other media
texts to construct and confirm meaning
- use knowledge of print, pictures, book covers and title pages to construct and confirm meaning
2.2 RESPOND TO TEXTS
Kindergarten
- participate in shared listening, reading and viewing experiences, using oral, print and other
media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such as picture books, fairy tales,
rhymes, stories, photographs, illustrations
- relate aspects of oral, print and other media texts to personal feelings and experiences
- talk about and represent the actions of characters portrayed in oral, print and other media texts
Grade 1
- participate in shared listening, reading and viewing experiences, using oral, print and other
media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such as poems, storytelling by
elders, pattern books, audiotapes, stories and cartoons
- illustrate and enact stories, rhymes and songs
- tell or represent the beginning, middle and end of stories
- tell, represent or write about experiences similar or related to those in oral, print and other
media texts
Grade 4
- retell events of stories in another form or medium
Grade 6
- discuss the author’s, illustrator’s, storyteller’s or filmmaker’s intention or purpose
- observe and discuss aspects of human nature revealed in oral, print and other media texts,
and relate them to those encountered in the community
Grade 7
- experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres,
such as journals...drawings and prints
- express interpretations of oral, print and other media texts in another form or genre
- predict and discuss the consequences of events or characters’ actions, based on information in
oral, print and other media texts
- discuss how techniques, such as colour, shape, composition, suspense, foreshadowing and
flashback, are used to communicate meaning and enhance effects in oral, print and other media
texts
Grade 8
- experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres,
such as magazine articles, advertisements and photographs
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Cross-Curriculum Connections continued
- make connections between biographical information about authors, illustrators, storytellers and
filmmakers and their texts
- discuss how techniques, such as word choice, balance, camera angles, line and framing,
communicate meaning and enhance effects in oral, print and other media texts
Grade 9
- identify and discuss how timeless themes are developed in a variety of oral, print and other
media text
- analyze how the choices and motives of characters portrayed in oral, print and other media
texts provide insight into those of self and others
- discuss how techniques such as irony, symbolism, perspective and proportion, communicate
meaning and enhance effects in oral, print and other media texts
2.3 UNDERSTAND FORMS, ELEMENTS AND TECHNIQUES
Grade 3
- discuss ways that visual images convey meaning in print and other media texts
Grade 4
- identify various ways that information can be recorded and presented visually
2.4 CREATE ORIGINAL TEXT
Kindergarten
- draw, record or tell about ideas and experiences
- talk about and explain the meaning of own pictures and print
Grade 1
- write, represent and tell brief narratives about own ideas and experiences
- recall and retell or represent favorite stories
Grade 4
- select and use visuals that enhance meaning of oral, print and other media texts
Grade 6
- choose life themes encountered in reading, listening and viewing activities, and in own
experiences, for creating oral, print and other media texts
4.1 ENHANCE AND IMPROVE
Enhance artistry
Kindergarten
- experiment with sounds, colours, print and pictures to express ideas and feelings
Grade 1
- use words and pictures to add sensory detail in oral, print and other media texts
Grade 2
- choose words, language patterns, illustrations or sounds to create a variety of effects in oral,
print and other media texts
Grade 7
- experiment with figurative language, illustrations and video effects to create visual images,
provide emphasis or express emotion
4.3 PRESENT AND SHARE
Kindergarten
- share ideas and information about own drawings and topics of personal interest
- use drawings to illustrate ideas and information, and talk about them
Grade 2
- present ideas and information by combining illustrations and written text
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Cross-Curriculum Connections continued
Grade 3
- use print and nonprint aids to illustrate ideas and information in oral, print and other media
texts
Grade 4
- add interest to presentations through the use of props such as pictures, overheads and
artifacts
5.1 RESPECT OTHERS AND STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY
Kindergarten
- share stories using rhymes....symbols, pictures and drama to celebrate individual and class
accomplishments
Grade 1
- talk about other times, places and people after exploring oral, print and other media texts from
various communities
Grade 3
- describe similarities between experiences and traditions encountered in daily life and those
portrayed in oral, print and other media texts
Grade 4
- identify and discuss main characters, plots, settings and illustrations in oral, print and other
media texts from diverse cultures and communities
Social Studies
K.1 I AM UNIQUE
K.1.2 - appreciate the unique characteristics, interests, gifts and talents of others:
- appreciate feelings, ideas, stories and experiences shared by others
K.2.1 - value how personal stories express what it means to belong
K.2.4. - examine the characteristics and interests that bring people together in groups by
exploring and reflecting upon the following questions:
- what brings people together in a group?
- what might we share with people in other groups?
- does everyone belong to a group or a community?
- how does living and participating in your community affect your sense of belonging?
K.S.1 - develop skills of critical thinking and creative thinking
- consider ideas and information from varied sources
- compare and contrast information provided
K.S.7 - apply the research process:
- ask questions to make meaning of a topic
- gather information on a particular topic from a variety of sources, e.g., illustrations,
photographs etc.
1.1 MY WORLD: HOME, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY
1.1.1 - value self and others as unique individuals in relation to their world:
- appreciate how belonging to groups and communities enriches an individual’s identity
- appreciate multiple points of view, languages, cultures and experiences within their groups and
communities
1.2 MOVING FORWARD WITH THE PAST: MY FAMILY, MY HISTORY AND MY COMMUNITY
1.2.1 - appreciate how stories and events of the past connect their families and communities to
the present
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Cross-Curriculum Connections continued
- recognize how their families and communities might have been different in the past then they
are today
- appreciate how the languages, traditions, celebrations and stories of their families, groups and
communities contribute to their sense of identity and belonging
- appreciate people who have contributed to their communities over time
4.2 THE STORIES, HISTORIES AND PEOPLES OF ALBERTA
4.2.1 - appreciate how an understanding of Alberta’s history, peoples and stories contributes to
their own sense of belonging and identity
- recognize how stories of people and events provide multiple perspectives on past and present
events
- recognize oral traditions, narratives and stories as valid sources of knowledge about the land,
culture and history
4.S.8 - create visual images for particular audiences and purposes
4.S.9 - compare information on the same issue or topic from print media, television, photographs
Harry Savage
Postcard from a Pink Trailer, 1972
Silkscreen on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Story-telling and Narrative Art:
An Introduction
Story: 1/ narrative, account
2/ report, statement
syn: chronicle
Storyteller n: a teller of stories
Storytelling - adj. or noun
(The Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
According to most historians and psychologists,
storytelling is one of the things that define and
bind humanity, and human beings are perhaps
the only animals that create and tell stories.
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words,
images and sounds. Storytelling is a means for
sharing and interpreting experiences and stories
or narratives have been shared in every culture
as a means of entertainment, education, cultural
preservation and to instill moral values. Stories
mirror human thought as humans think in
narrative structures and most often remember facts
in story form. Facts themselves can be understood
John Everett Millais
as smaller versions of a larger story; thus
The Boyhood of Raleigh, 1870
storytelling can supplement analytical thinking.
Stories are also effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore
remember. While the listener is engaged they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a
transformative and empathetic experience. The history of storytelling demonstrates that stories
come in a number of varieties: myths, legends, fairy tales, trickster stories, fables, ghost tales,
hero stories, epic adventures, and explanatory tales. Crucial elements to all stories, however,
are the elements of plot, characters, and narrative point of view.
While stories are most often told through oral traditions or through written forms, they
have also been ‘told’ visually for thousands of years, at least since the time of the
ancient Egyptians. Narrative art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an
ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Until the 20th century
much of Western art has been narrative in nature, depicting stories from religion, myth
and legend, history and literature.
Narratives occur in a space and unfold over time (they are diachronic). Pictures do not
naturally lend themselves to telling stories as they are seen all at once (synchronic). As
a result, artists choose how to portray the story, represent the space, and how to shape
time within the artwork. Narrative art can thus be categorized into various types, also
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Story-telling and Narrative Art:
An Introduction continued
known as modes or styles.
1/ Simultaneous Narrative: A simultaneous narrative is one that has very little discernible
organization except to viewers acquainted with its purpose. It can focus on geometric or abstract
designs as well as the placement or arrangement of items within the artwork. Such narratives
concentrate on repeatable patterns and redundant systems with a focus on dualities. The
interpretation of a simultaneous narrative is dependent on the reason for its creation or its
creator who can interpret it as it was meant to be. Simultaneous narratives are common in
cultures that are oral in nature rather than literate as they require human agency in order to be
understood as originally intended.
2/ Monoscenic Narrative: A monoscenic narrative is one
that represents a single scene. There is no repetition of
characters and there is only one action taking place.
Under this definition most art could be considered
narrative. However, it is important to remember that
Narrative Art tells a story and so, although only one
scene may be represented, the scene must usually
involve action or imply events occurring before or
after what is portrayed.
Amphora by Exekias
Achilles kills Penthesilea
Ancient Greece
3/ Continuous Narrative: A continuous narrative is one
which illustrates many scenes of narrative within a single
frame. In this type of narrative, multiple actions and
scenes are portrayed in a single visual field without any
dividers. The sequence of events is defined through the
reuse of the main character or characters and scene or
phase changes in the narrative are indicted through the
change in movement and state of the repeating
characters. The Column of Trajan (right) is an example of
a continuous narrative as events flow from one scene to
another without any physical indicators such as vertical
lines to divide actions or time periods.
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Story-telling and Narrative Art:
An Introduction continued
4/ Synoptic Narrative: In this type of
narrative a single scene is depicted
in which character/s are portrayed
multiple times to convey that multiple
actions are taking place.
Buddah’s birth as the elephant
Chaddanta
5/ Panoptic Narrative: Such narratives depict multiple scenes and actions without the repetition
of characters. Actions may be in a sequence or represent simultaneous actions during an event.
6/ Progressive Narratives: These portray a single scene in which characters do not repeat.
However, multiple actions are taking place to convey a passing of time in the narrative.
7/ Sequential Narrative: A sequential narrative is similar to
a continuos narrative but focuses on enframement to
develop temporal development. Each scene and action is
represented within its frame as a unit and each frame is a
particular scene during a particular moment in time. This
mode of narrative is used in comics and manga.
Rodolphe Toeptter Cryptogram
In summary, when an artist creates a narrative art piece he/she has a choice on how he/
she wants the composition. The story can be all in one simultaneous view; in sequential views
such as comics; as one moment in the overall story; or shown through the use of symbols such
as seen in pictographs. The actual story of the work itself can be about the subject matter; how
the art was created; how the story is connected to the artist’s cultural context; or be found in the
response to the piece by those who view it.
Beginning in the Renaissance ‘history painting’ - paintings of events from biblical or classical
history - acquired the highest status in visual art. By the nineteenth century paintings and
sculptures which depicted not only great moments in history but also contemporary and
domestic dramas were avidly collected by art patrons and supported by the academic salons.
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Story-telling and Narrative Art:
An Introduction continued
In the 1950s and 60s modernist artists rejected narrative art, believing painting should be pure to
itself and storytelling was best pursued by writers rather than visual artists. By the late 1960s,
however, the modernist insistence on abstraction and the taboo against narrative made telling
tales in art irresistible to many artists. POP Art, new realism, and post-modern styles such as
video and performance art all provided figurative imagery into which narratives could be read,
whether or not they were actually intended by the artists.
Eduardo Paolozzi
I was a Rich Man’s Plaything, 1947
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History Painting: A Survey
Narrative Art, which represents elements of a story, is expressed within two main genre
of painting. The first concerns History Paintings, a genre in painting defined by subject
matter rather than artistic style. From the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries history
painting was considered the highest form of Western painting, occupying the most
prestigious place in the hierarchy of artistic genres.
History painting is not simply the painting of history but includes the depiction of events that may
or may not have happened. Because of this, it could be more accurately called narrative
painting. The term history painting derives from the Latin historia and essentially means ‘story
painting’. As such, history paintings are distinct from other kinds of paintings that do not tell a
story at all, such as portraiture or still life paintings.
Jacques Rioux
Newspaper Rock, Utah, 1992
Silver gelatin, selenium toned photograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
History painting was an invention, or a reinvention of the Italian Renaissance. In his
treatise Della Pictura of 1436, Leon Battista
Alberti stated that history painting was the
noblest form of art because it was the most
difficult form and because it had the greatest
potential to move the viewer. Alberti stated
that the ideal painting should have several
contrasted figures (young and old, male and
female, happy and sad etc.), portray figures in
action, and move the spectator. This view
remained predominant in artistic circles
and institutions until the nineteenth century.
From around 1400, first in Italy and then in other parts of Europe, artists began to turn to
the classical worlds of Greece and Rome for inspiration. Artists either used classical stories
or myths as subjects for their work or artists and patrons chose a theme and then sought out
suitable stories or adapted mythologies to suit their needs. In the beginning most history
painting concerned classical myths or religious subjects. Gradually, however, the scope of
history paintings expanded beyond these concerns. By the late 18th century artists were
exploring other mythologies and histories such as the Arthurian legends in Britain and the Ring
of the Nibelungs in Germany. As well, the chronicles of medieval and Renaissance histories
provided inspiration for a number of 19th century artists as did scenes from contemporary
history.
Underpinning history painting was the idea of ‘example’ or exemplary conduct and
virtuous action in a difficult situation. History painters did not just paint historical motifs, but
depicted, in a ‘grand’ style, man in general. Whether the ‘story’ was from Greek and Roman
fable and history, concerned the main subjects of scripture, was a scene from a great literary
work, or concerned contemporary events, it was believed that the subject ought to either
demonstrate some instance of heroic action or heroic suffering.
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History Painting: A Survey continued
Michelangelo
Forbidden Fruit
Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s, Rome
1508-1512
During and after the French Revolution aristocratic and church patronage was
superseded by civic patronage. History paintings, as evidenced in the work of the French
artist David below, came to serve the ideals and propaganda of the state. The later half of
the 1800s also saw the birth of the Salon in Paris and the Royal Academy in Britain. These
institutions staged annual exhibitions in which the work of selected artists was placed on public
view. Such exhibitions led to a new kind of viewing public, the growing middle class, and good
history paintings were the focus of most public and critical attention.
Popularity and critical acclaim at the Salon or Academy provided artists with the opportunity for
commissioned work and paintings often functioned as dramatic, theatrical tableaux that were, in
many cases, intended to be read as commentaries on contemporary events. While often
focusing on contemporary events, however, these paintings throughout the 18th and into the
19th centuries still adhered to the heroic, idealized, and noble aspects of classical art. Artists
did, however, extend their concerns by depicting events that were not actually heroic in nature.
This was seen clearly in the works of such artists as the French artist Théodore Géricault (17911824) whose famous painting The Raft of the Medusa of 1819 made biting reference to a
scandalous and tragic event of a few years earlier; the American artist John Singleton Copley
(1738-1815) who, in the work Brook Watson and the Shark of 1778, depicted an actual event
which happened to a friend of his; and the French artist Édouard Manet, whose painting
The Execution of Maximilian in 1867, made a critical statement of the French government’s
involvement in the death of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.
Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)
The Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)
The Death of Marat, 1793
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History Painting: A Survey continued
Théodore Géricault
The Raft of the Medusa 1819
John Singleton Copley
Brook Watson and the Shark, 1778
Édouard Manet
The Execution of Maximilian, 1867
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History Painting: A Survey continued
From the 19th century onwards
painters enjoyed a growing
independence from the patronage of
the state and other sources and this
affected the subject matters that were
approached. This growing freedom, often
demonstrating an anti-establishment
stance, was seen first in the work of
Théodore Géricault. In the 20th century
this move was clearly expressed in the
Pablo Picasso
Guernica, 1937
works of Pablo Picasso, first in his
famous anti-war painting Guernica in
1937 and also in the later work Massacre
in Korea, painted in 1951.
Pablo Picasso
Massacre in Korea, 1951
As the dominant form of artistic expression during the 18th and 19th centuries, history
painting and the institutions which supported it, gradually came to be targets for later
artistic movements. The Impressionist painters of the late 19th century, for example, rejected
all historical subjects and tableau, turning from ‘grand subjects’ to concentrate on the painting of
light, humble subjects, and the landscape. By the end of the 19th century the concept of the
heroic became an outdated model and heroic subject matter, scale and gesture rarely appeared
in the depiction of contemporary events. The depiction of ‘historical’ events and narratives,
whether grand or otherwise, however, has continued to be a practice in the visual arts,
especially informing the work of post-modern artists of the later part of the twentieth century and
into the 21st.
Katherine Braid
Palliser Expedition arriving at Fort
Edmonton, 2007
Pen, ink and acrylic wash on masonite
Courtesy of the artist
AGA TREX Exhibition: Along the River
Road, 2010-2012
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The Art of History - Leda and the Swan
From around 1400, first in Italy and then in
other parts of Europe, artists began to turn to
the classical worlds of Greece and Rome for
inspiration. Artists either used classical stories
or myths as subjects for their work or artists and
patrons chose a theme and then sought out
suitable stories or adapted mythologies to suit
their needs. In the beginning, most history
painting concerned classical myths or religious
subjects.
By the 19th century the rendering of classical
mythology and themes in visual art had almost
totally disappeared. Every now and then,
however, artists will explore such themes or make
allusions to ancient stories in their work. In the
exhibition Storytellers , such concerns are
seen in the works by Cliff Robinson and Roy
Leda Mosaic
Kiyooka.
Cyprus,
3rd Century AD
Cliff Robinson’s linocut Leda is based on the
ancient Greek myth of Leda and the swan.
According to Greek mythology Leda, Queen
of Sparta, was seduced by the God Zeus who
appeared to her in the form of a swan. She then
gave birth to Helen (of Troy) and Polydeuces,
children of Zeus, while at the same time
bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of
her husband King Tyndareus. Due to the literary
renditions of Ovid and Fulgentius the story was
a well-known myth through the Middle Ages,
but emerged more prominently as a classicizing
theme in the Italian Renaissance.
Cliff Robinson
Leda, n.d.
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for
the Arts
Since the Renaissance the theme of Leda has
appeared in works created by a number of
famous artists. Leonardo da Vinci began
making studies in 1504 for a painting of the
subject and created a finished version, now lost,
in 1508. Michelangelo created a tempera
painting, also now lost, of the theme in 1529,
and the subject was a popular motif in the later
19th and 20th centuries with many Symbolist
and Expressionist treatments.
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The Art of History continued - Pygmalion
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)
Leda and the Swan
A second classical motif expressed In the
exhibition Storytellers is seen in the lithograph by
Roy Kiyooka. Kiyooka’s modernist drawing
references the Greek myth of Pygmalion. According to
legend, Pygmalion was a sculptor in Cyprus who
created a statue of a beautiful woman and fell in love
with his work. In Ovid’s account (The Metamorphoses),
Pymalion made offerings at the altar of Venus where
he prayed that his sculpture would be changed into a
real woman. When he returned home he kissed the
sculpture and found that his wish had been granted:
her lips were warm and gradually she changed into a
real woman. Pygmalion married his living sculpture with
Venus’ blessing and together they had a son, Paphos,
for whom the island of Paphos is named.
The basic Pygmalion story has been widely
transmitted and represented in the arts through the
centuries. In the 18th century it was a highly influential
love story and has been represented in plays, musicals,
movies and art ever since. A variant of the theme is
seen in the story of Pinocchio, in which a wooden
puppet is transformed into a real boy, and in George
Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, which served as the
basis for the Hollywood movie and Broadway musical
My Fair Lady. In Canadian visual art the theme has
most recently been addressed in the work of Toronto
First Nations artist Kent Monkman.
Roy Kiyooka
Untitled, 1951, Highlights, December, 1951, Vol.
5, No. 3, 1951
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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The Art of History - Pygmalion
Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754-1829)
Pygmalion, 1786
Oil on canvas
Kent Monkman (1965 - )
Si je T’aime garde a toi, 2007
Acrylic on canvas
Contemporary Toronto artist
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Genre Painting: A Survey
A second painting genre which has focused on the idea of narrative is that of Genre
Paintings or genre scenes. This genre concerns artistic expressions in any media that
represent scenes or events from everyday life. Such paintings focus on the mundane
trivial incidents of everyday life, depicting people the viewer can easily identify with
employed in situations that tell a story. Genre themes appear in nearly all art traditions
and throughout time and are expressed in many of the works in the exhibition
Storytellers. Painted decorations in Egyptian tombs, for example, often depict
banquets, recreation, and agrarian scenes, while even medieval prayer books are
decorated with peasant scenes of daily life.
As described in the text Understanding Paintings:
‘It is a basic human desire to represent one’s own reality’ and depictions of subjects such as
sports, love, business and pleasure have been a popular form of decoration from at least the 6th
century B.C. (Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained., pg. 194)
The term genre is derived from the french word for
‘kind’ or ‘variety’. Until the late 18th century the term
embraced what were then seen as the minor
categories of art, such as landscape, still-life, and
animal painting. By the end of the 18th century the
term had been refined and applied to paintings that
depicted familiar or rustic life. During the 19th century
it was in common usage for paintings that showed
scenes of everyday life. Unlike history painting, genre
works concentrate less on the extremes of human
behavior and more on commonplace experience
familiar to both the artist and the viewer. Also,
because genre painting is inherently figurative art, it
survived into the twentieth century in the work of
painters who stood outside the flood tide of
abstraction.
Jeff Burgess
Wedding, 1981
Oil on watercolour board
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Prior to the mid 19th century, the visual arts were structured according to a hierarchy of
genres which ranked different types of genres in an art form in terms of their value. The
hierarchies in the visual arts are those initially formulated for painting in 16th century Italy and
held sway with little alteration until the 19th century. These hierarchies were formalized and
promoted by the academies in Europe between the 17th and 20th centuries. The fully developed
hierarchy, in order of importance, distinguished between:
1/ History Painting (which included narrative religious and allegorical subjects)
2/ Portrait Painting
3/ Genre painting or scenes of everyday life
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Genre Painting continued
4/ Landscape and cityscape scenes
5/ Animal paintings
6/ Still life paintings
This hierarchy was partly the result of paintings’ struggle to gain acceptance as one of the
Liberal Arts, on par with sculpture and architecture, during the Renaissance. In this aim the early
artist-theoriest Leon Battista Alberti argued, in 1436, that multi-figure history painting was the
noblest form of art because it was a visual form of history, involved multiple figures and thus was
very difficult. This view was also based on a distinction between art that made an intellectual
effort to ‘render visible the universal essence of things’ and to present a moral message, and
that which merely consisted of ‘mechanical copying of particular appearances’ or dealt with
frivolous subjects. Alberti’s theories on the hierarchy of various modes of artistic expression were
echoed and elaborated by André Félibien, a Frech historiographer, architect and theoretician
of French classicism in 1667. Félibien argued that the painter should imitate God, whose most
perfect work was man, and show groups of human figures and choose subjects from history and
fable. This hierarchy became strictly enforced by European academies until the mid 19th
century and genre scenes, which did not concern elevated ideals or heroic subjects, were thus
considered of lower importance.
WHERE and WHY DID GENRE PAINTING
DEVELOP?
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)
Peasant Wedding, 1565
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Despite the elevated importance of history and
allegorical painting, many artists during the
Renaissance explored the painting of genre
scenes and genre subjects gradually became
an acceptable avenue for artistic expression.
This was particularly true in what is now the
Netherlands. The Flemish Renaissance painter
Pieter Brueghel the Elder made peasants and
their activities the subject of many of his
paintings and, following him, genre painting
came to flourish in Northern Europe.
The success of genre scenes as an
acceptable field of artistic expression was largely tied to changes in the art-buying
market in what is now Holland. In the 17th century the Dutch successfully ejected the
Catholic Spanish nobility. This revolution led both to the rise of a Protestant middle class and,
as far as art was concerned, a drop in the market for large-scale religious and classical works.
Losing the patronage of the Catholic nobility and the Catholic Church artists were no longer able
to work solely to commissions and so had to produce works that would appeal to a new market
where the customer would decide whether or not to buy. The success of genre painting in the
Netherlands was also a result of the pride the Dutch took in their own country and their desire
to support their own national painting rather than to look to the past or to Rome for inspiration. A
number of famous Dutch artists such as Issac van Ostade, Aelbert Cuyp, Pieter De Hooch and
Johannes Vermeer specialized in genre subjects in the Netherlands during the 17th century and,
from Holland, the importance of this branch of painting gradually spread throughout the rest of
Europe.
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Genre Painting continued
Toward the end of the 19th century many
painters and art critics began to rebel
against the many rules of the art academies,
including the status that had been accorded
to history painting for centuries. In 1846 the
French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire
called for paintings that expressed ‘the
heroism of modern life’ (H.W. Janson, History of
Art, Second Edition, pg. 605) and slowly there
was a move away from the prevalent neoclassical and romantic art styles and
Gustave Courbet(1819-1877)
historical subjects. One of the most important
LAtelier du Peintre, 1855\
artists to embrace this trend was the French
Realist painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877).
Though he began his career as a Romantic artist, Courbet moved to embrace ‘realism’ or
‘naturalism’, stating that the modern artist must rely on his own direct experience. Courbet
further upset expectations by depicting everyday scenes in huge paintings, at the scale
traditionally reserved for ‘important’ subjects, thus blurring the boundary which had set genre
painting apart as a ‘minor’ category. The new artistic movements of Realism and
Impressionism, which each sought to depict the present moment and daily life as observed by
the eye, and unattached from historical significance, had, by the end of the 19th century,
effectively ended the power of the academies and the elevation of history paintings at the
expense of both landscape and genre scenes.
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
GENRE PAINTING?
Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries genre
scenes came to express certain conventions
and themes, many of which have continued
to influence directions in contemporary genre
paintings.
First, genre scenes are usually set in familiar
settings. Settings focused on kitchens and
taverns, rooms in houses and schools, and the
works portrayed modest characters and settings
which made the paintings seem more realistic and
also made it more likely they would be understood.
Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
The Astronomer, 1668
A second important characteristic of such
scenes, and one which separates such works
from portraits, is that the characters depicted
are generic types to whom no identity can be
attached either individually or collectively. The
people portrayed do not function as individuals but
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Genre Painting continued
as vessels bearing required meanings for specific
contexts.
Thirdly, in genre paintings the artist is often
concerned with perspective, with a well-calculated
perspective making the paintings seem more true to life.
Charles McCall
Interior of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London,
1963
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
WHAT THEMES OR SUBJECTS ARE EXPLORED IN
GENRE PAINTINGS?
Over the centuries artists have explored a number of
themes in genre paintings. One of the most important
of these has been the representation of women’s
domestic abilities. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries women’s domestic work was considered
extremely important by the middle class and many genre
scenes show women devoted to duty. As many early
genre works contained a moral message, the implication
of paintings which showed women working diligently was
that those viewing the work should take example and do
the same.
Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1699-1779)
Woman Cleaning Turnips, 1738
Alte Pinakothek Museum, Munich, Germany
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Genre Painting continued
Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Girl at Sewing Machine, 1921
John Lyman (1886-1967)
La Salle De Couture, 1951
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
Another theme explored in genre paintings is that
of vice. Paintings which convey ‘wrong’ behavior in
order to invite condemnation of their protagonists often
make use of humour, proverbs, puns, slang, signs and
symbols. Such suggestions can be subtle, inviting the
viewer to work out exactly what is improper or wrong,
or be shocking in their depictions. Perhaps the most
famous artist to explore this side of genre painting was
the British painter and illustrator William Hogarth (16971764) whose satirical works pointed up the follies of
British society.
Pieter De Hooch (1629-1684)
Woman Drinking with Soldiers, 1658
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
Marriage à-la-mode, Shortly After the
Marriage
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Genre Painting continued
Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
A Bar at the Folies-Bergères, 1882
A third theme explored in genre paintings
concerns scenes of food and drink. Eating and
drinking are common to everyone and so such
scenes are readily accessible to viewers. Many such
paintings, however, convey a moral message and
food and drink can have many symbolic meanings.
Bread and wine, for example, can represent the
eucharist; oysters have a sexual connotation; and
the bottles and fruit in Manet’s painting A Bar at the
Folies-Bergères suggest the importance of consumer
goods to an increasingly mercantile society
(Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored
and Explained, pg. 202). Conversely, paintings of
great banquets and parties can celebrate the pursuit
of pleasure and marry indulgence with little concern
for morality.
The focus on foodstuffs and containers in a painting may also be simply formal in nature. The
inclusion of these elements allows the artist to enjoy various textures and shapes and to show
off his or her ability to observe and represent.
Ronald Spickett (1926-)
Supper,1962
Acrylic on masonite
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
Maxwell Bates(1906-1980)
Picnic,1962
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
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Genre Painting continued
Leisure activities such as sports, dancing and other such pursuits are a further and very
popular source of inspiration for artists who approach genre subjects. Scenes of peasants
carousing and dancing were common features in the genre painting of Northern Europe in the
16th and 17th centuries while informal scenes showing the rich at play were common features of
the French Rococo style. Such scenes allow the artist an opportunity to create a dazzling display
of costumes, surfaces and settings. Often such paintings can create a nostalgia for good times
remembered or an ideal world where life is less complicated. In the hands of some modern
artists, however, such scenes can act as a window on the ‘grittier’ sides of life.
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
The Dance Class, 1873-1876
George Bellows (1882-1925)
Dempsey and Firpo, 1924
Whitney Museum of American Art
Henri Toulouse Lautrec (1864-1901)
At the Moulin Rouge, 1892
Art Institute of Chicago
Lois De Niverville (1882-1925)
Saturday Night, 1970
Art Gallery of Alberta
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Genre Painting continued
Both Rural and Urban scenes form other sources of inspiration for genre artists. The
nineteenth century witnessed the rise of industrialization, the abolition of slavery, and the
modernization of labour. Questions about the rights of the individual and social and
governmental structures came to the fore and painting came to reflect these social and
political concerns. In order to express this new world artists began to turn away from grand
historical painting and new artistic movements such as Realism and Naturalism came to
prominence. In France the dominant artists of the Realist movement were Jean-Francois Millet
(1814-1875), Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), and Honore Daumier (1808-1879). Millet
concentrated on scenes of rural France in which he depicted the hard but dignified life of the
peasantry while Courbet and Daumier widened the focus to include scenes from all of everyday
life.
Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875)
The Gleaners, 1857
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris
Honore Daumier (1808-1879)
Third Class Carriage, 1864
Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)
The Artist’s Studio, 1855
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris
Joanne Boyer
Fresh Bread Today, 1959
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
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Genre Painting continued
The nineteenth century, characterized by rapid industrialization and changes in both the
labour force and social fabric of society, witnessed a huge growth in urban populations
in both Europe and North America. The changes this entailed were reflected in the visual
arts and urban life became a central theme in genre scenes throughout the 19th and 20th
century.
Artists have tried to convey the impressions and sensations of everyday urban life through a
variety of means, using loose brushwork or untraditional compositions or employing dramatic
and unsettling contrasts of light and dark. Cities either promise excitement, new pleasures and
future successes or else abound with danger and potential pitfalls. As a result, artists have
either created paintings which display the crowds and clamour of city life, or art works in which
an atmosphere of anxiety, alienation and loneliness is evoked.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1864-1901)
At the Moulin Rouge, 1892
Art Institute of Chicago
Charles Demuth
Turkish Bath with Self Portait, 1918
Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Office at Night, 1940
Bartley Robillard Pragnell
Main Street Balcony, 1948
Art Gallery of Alberta
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Genre Painting continued
A final very popular subject in genre paintings concerns scenes of music making. Such
scenes allow the artist to extend a work’s scope to include hearing as well as sight.
Descriptions of music in genre painting come in many forms. Music engenders harmony
between people and is used as a way of showing goodwill and happiness. In 18th and 19th
century literature music lessons were commonly used as the settings for seductions since the
young male music teacher enjoyed the unusual privilege of spending time alone in the company
of young women. In 18th century French painting music also reinforced the ideas of pleasure
and indulgence. In late 19th century Paris, meanwhile, the café concert was one of the most
popular venues for socializing and operas and ballet were also popular leisure pursuits.
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675)
The Music Lesson, 1662-1665
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Girls at the Piano, 1892
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris
Robert Young
The Juggler’s Rehearsal, 1980
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
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Styles of Artistic Expression: Realism
The history of ‘western European’ styles of art in Canada is a very recent one. This is
especially true in western Canada where it is only over the past one hundred years that
one can witness the emergence of professional art practices. These practices and
artistic styles are excellently expressed in the art works found in the exhibition
Storytellers.
In western Canada the visual art produced during the first decades of the 20th century
was heavily influenced by European traditions developed over the course of the 18th and
19th centuries. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the visual arts styles of drawing,
painting and sculpture were divided between the trends of romanticism and REALISM. In the
exhibition Storytellers realist influences are seen in the works of Derek Besant and Stan
Perrott.
Derek Besant
Ash Wednesday, 1974
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Artists who embrace realism render
everyday characters, situations, dilemmas
and objects in a ‘true-to-life’ manner.
Realism was strongly influenced by the
development of photography which created
a desire for people to produce things that
looked ‘objectively’ real. Realist artists
believe in the ideology of objective reality
and revolted against exaggerated
emotionalism. In the 19th century realist
artists rejected the artificiality of both
classicism and romanticism in academic art
and discarded theatrical drama, lofty
subjects and classical forms in favour of
commonplace themes.
The Realist Movement began in France in the 1850s
and independently in England at the same time.
Realism set as its goal the apparently truthful and
accurate depiction of the models that nature and
contemporary life offered the artist. The 19th century
realists chose to paint common, ordinary, and
sometimes ugly images rather than what they saw as
the stiff and conventional pictures favoured by upperclass society. Their subjects often alluded to a social,
political, or moral message. Realism was influential in
the development of many later movements, such as the
American Ash Can School (early 20th century), and is
seen in the work of many contemporary artists as well.
Stan Perrott
Soldiers/Penn Station, 1955
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Surrealism: An Art Historical Survey
To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense
will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realm of childhood visions
and dreams.
Giorgio de Chirico
Fantasy has been an integral part of art since its beginnings, but has been a particularly
important aspect in the visual and literary arts of Europe and North America since the late 19th
century. Dependent on a state of mind more than any particular style, the one thing all
artists of fantasy or the surreal have in common is the belief that imagination, the ‘inner
eye’, is more important than the outside world. This ‘inner eye’, since the dawn of the 20th
century, has been used to create works which are either formal and often playful in nature or
works which, though their meaning may be ambiguous, make some comment on political and
social realities and the artist’s world. Influences of surrealism are witnessed in the artworks of
Vivian Lindoe, Bruce Wiltshire and Gerry Dotto found in the exhibition Storytellers.
Ideas of fantasy and the surreal, as
these have been expressed in 20th
century art, were first expressed in
the Symbolist movement of the 19th
century. Symbolism was a
movement of French and Belgian
origin in poetry and other arts. The term
Symbolism means the systematic use
of symbols or pictorial conventions
to express an allegorical meaning. An
outgrowth of Romanticism,
symbolism was largely a reaction
against naturalism and realism in
the arts which attempted to capture
reality and to elevate the humble and
ordinary over the ideal.
Bruce Wiltshire
The soldier and his sweetheart, 1973
Lithograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Symbolist artists became disatisfied with the Impressionist style and its relatively passive
registration of optical sensation and believed that art should aim to capture more
absolute truths which could only be accessed by indirect methods. In 1886 Jean Moréas
published the Symbolist Manifesto in which he announced that symbolism was hostile to ‘plain
meanings, declamations, false sentimentality and matter-of-fact description’ and that its goal
instead was to to ‘clothe the Ideal in a perceptible form’:
In this art, scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world
phenomena will not be described for their own sake; here, they are
perceptible surfaces created to represent their esoteric affinities with the
primordial Ideals.
Symbolism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism_(arts)
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Surrealism continued
Symbolist artists turned away from social action and from
the triumphs of science and technology and instead sought
refuge in a dreamworld of beauty and elaborate and stylish
artifice. As expressed by the Belgian poet Èmile Verhaeren:
I fly into a fury with myself...I love things that are absurd,
useless, impossible, frantic, excessive, and intense,
because they provoke me, because I feel them like thorns in
my flesh.
Modern Art, Third Edition, pg. 35
In this quest, ‘idealist’ painters of the 1860s, such as
Gustave Moreau, came back into favour. Moreau and
fellow artists Puvis de Chavannes and Odilon Redon had
been out of tune with the dominant Realist and
Impressionist modes until the climate of art began to shift
once more toward a painting of ideas rather than outward
appearances.
Gustave Moreau, 1826-1898
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Symbolist painters were a diverse group and the movement covered a huge geographical area
including all of Europe, Russia, Mexico and the United States. While the artists involved
followed no cohesive style, they all mined mythology and dream imagery for a visual language of
the soul. These symbols, however, are not the familiar emblems of mainstream iconography but
intensely personal, private, obscure and ambiguous. As a movement in art Symbolism had a
significant influence on Expressionism and Surrealism, two movements which descend directly
from Symbolism proper.
The allure of the enigmatic, the shock appeal of the bizarre, and the disquieting character
of hallucinatory visions in art sanctioned and inspired the work of the Dada and
Surrealist artists of the early twentieth century.
The Dada movement developed during and after World War 1. Essentially a protest
movement launched by Marcel Duchamp and other artists against the horrors of the industrial
age which had led to WWI, Dada also embraced a sweeping summons to create a blank slate
for art and presented serious creative options to artists. The only law respected by Dadaists
was that of chance and the only reality, that of their imaginations. The emergence of
explicit fantastic content in art after 1914 was also influenced by Freud’s theories of
psychoanalysis and the unconscious. Both Freud’s ideas and the horror of WWI impelled artists
to answer social violence with a violence internalized in imagery and technique and also
produced a revolutionary attitude towards traditional aesthetics.
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Surrealism continued
Among artists whose work was extremely influential to the
development of both Dada and specifically Surrealism were
Henri Rousseau, Marc Chagall, and Georgio de Chirico. The
French artist Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) is credited with
introducing the idea of magic into art while the Russian painter and
print-maker Marc Chagall (1887-1885), as described by André
Breton, leader of the Surrealists, used metaphor ‘...not merely as a
formal device but as a system of values’. (Modern Art, pg. 165)
Marc Chagall, 1887-1885)
The Fiddle Player, 1912
Henri Rousseau, 1844-1910
The Dream, 1910
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Giorgio de Chirico, 1888-1978
The Red Tower, 1913
Perhaps the most important of these
pre-surrealist artists was the Greek-Italian
painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978). de
Chirico created a fantastic world of authentic,
troubling dream imagery which was
supplementary to our familiar universe and
captured the irremediable anxiety of the time.
(Modern Art, Third Edition, pg. 165) Influenced
by such antecedents as melancholy and
romantic landscapes, de Chirico reintroduced
anecdote, sentiment and descriptive
techniques into his art. More importantly, a
decade and more before the surrealists, he
made painting an occasion for actualizing the
dream process with baffling, illogical
imagery and for exploring the ‘troubling
connection that exists between perspective
and metaphysicis’. (Modern Art, Third Edition,
pg. 166)
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Surrealism continued
In 1924, influenced by ideas first espoused by the Dada movement, and inspired by
aspects of the fantastic and grotesque expressed in the works of artists such as
Odilon Redon, Marc Chagall and Giorgio de Chirico, a group of Parisian artists founded
Dada’s successor, SURREALISM. Surrealism became the most widely disseminated and
controversial aesthetic between the first and second world wars, seeking to expose the
frontiers of experience and to broaden the logical and matter-of-fact view of reality by fusing it
with instinctual, subconscious, and dream experience to achieve a ‘super reality.’
In 1924 the poet André Breton issued his First Surrealist Manifeso in which he adopted the basic
premises of psychoanalysis and believed quite literally in the objective reality of the dream. For
Breton and his followers automatism, a technique first developed by the Dadaists,
hallucinatory and irrational thought associations, and recollected dream images offered a
means of liberating the psyche from its enslavement to reason. The surrealists came to
define their aim as ‘pure psychic automatism...intended to express...the true process of
thought...free from the exercise of reason and from any aesthetic or moral purpose.’
(H.W. Janson, History of Art, Second Edition, pg. 662)
While Surrealism descended from Dada, the surrealist artists differed from Dada in that
the surrealists advocated the idea that ordinary and depictive expressions were vital
whereas Dadaists rejected categories and labels. For the surrealists, however, the
arrangement of elements must be open to the full range of imagination. Sigmund Freud’s
work with free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious was of great importance to the
surrealists in developing methods to liberate imagination. A second important idea was that
‘one could combine, inside the same frame, elements not normally found together to
produce illogical and startling effects’. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism) The
importance of dream images and strange juxtapositions of objects was eloquently expressed by
André Breton in his definition of surrealism:
Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected
associations, in the omnipotence of dreams, in the disinterested play of thought. (Modern Art,
Third Edition, pg. 179)
Surrealism is destructive, but it
destroys only what it considers
to be shackles limiting our vision.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali, 1904-1989
The Persistence of Memory, 1931
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Surrealism continued
In 1924 the Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904-1989) became a full-fledged member of the
Surrealist movement. Along with the Belgian artist René Magritte (1898-1967), Dali made
illusionistic techniques the dominant form of Surrealist painting. Both Dali and Magritte were
experts in using illogical juxtapositions in conjunction with photo-realist painting techniques in
order to give the illusion of objective reality to constructs of fantasy whose disturbing
impressions were heightened by the contrast between the realistic treatment and the unreal
subject matter. At their best, Dali’s paintings encapsulated the anxieties, the obsessive
eroticism, and the magic of vivid dream imagery. Magritte’s intended goal, on the other hand,
was to challenge the observer’s preconditioned perceptions of reality and force viewers to
become hypersensitive to their surroundings.
René Magritte, 1898-1967
The Son of Man, 1964
René Magritte, 1898-1967
Time Transfixed
Enthusiasm for surrrealism diminished after the 1930s but the movement persisted in a minor
sense after WWII. Its significance in 20th century aesthetics lies chiefly in its resurrection of
the marvelous and exotic at a time when interest in these was in abeyance. Also, the surrealist
ideas concerning the unconscious, automatism and dream imagery were embraced by
American artists and movements such as Abstract Expressionism grew directly out of the
meeting of American aritsts with European Surrealists self-exiled during World War II. Aspects of
Dadaistic humor, revealed in the works of such artists as Robert Rauschenberg, also show the
connections and, up until the emergence of Pop Art, Surrealism can be seen to have been the
single most important influence on the sudden growth in American arts.
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Surrealism continued
While surrealism is most often associated
with the visual arts of painting and
drawing, many surrealist artists
have embraced the possibilities to be found
in photography for creating ‘fantastical’ and
dream images. This aim is expressed in the
work of Gerry Dotto in the exhibition
Storytellers.
Nigel Henderson
Wig Stall, Petticoat Lane, 1952
Collection of the Henderson Estate
Surrealism can best be described as an
abstraction of reality. It is the stuff of
dreams, nightmares, illusion, mystery,
delusions and fantasy. Unlike artists
associated with the Dada movement, Surrealist
artists were not interested in escaping from
reality; rather they sought a deeper, more
heightened form of it. Photography, which was
often thought to be concerned with the mere
depiction of surfaces or with copying reality,
allowed surrealist photographers to take ‘reality’
and photography’s apparent objectivity, and
transform these attributes to powerfully
represent dreams, nightmares, and other
aspects of the human psyche.
Surrealist photography takes many forms,
most of which make great use of techniques of
manipulation. One technique used in such
work is staged photography. Staged
photography can involve a performance enacted
before the camera, similar to the arrested dramas
of 19th century tableaux vivants and poses
plastiques, or the creation of elaborate
arrangements of objects. In the first instance
staged photography embraces studio portraiture
and other more or less elaborate, peopled
scenarios, directed or manipulated by the
photographer.
The tableau vivant combines the art forms of
the stage with those of painting/photography
and has been of interest to modern
photographers. Tableau as a form of art
photography began in the 1970s and 80s. The key Gerry Dotto
Speak of the Kettle, 2012
characteristics of contemporary photographic
Colour photograph
tableau is that they are designed and produced
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Surrealism continued
for the wall, summoning a confrontational experience on the part of the spectator. To do so scale
and size are very important if the pictures are to ‘hold the wall’. The larger scale of such works
makes the viewer stand back from the picture, thus creating a confrontational experience quite
different from the conventional reception of photography which, until the 1970s, was often
consumed in books or magazines. Such works must also be pictorial (beautiful) and take into
consideration the intrinsic qualities of the camera (chance).
Trig Singer
Poland Series, 1973
Silver gelatin on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Art Styles: Expressionism
Expressionism refers to an aesthetic style of
expression in art history and criticism that
developed during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Artists affiliated with this movement
deliberately turned away from the representation
of nature as a primary purpose of art and broke
with the traditional aims of European art in
practice since the Renaissance. In the exhibition
Storytellers the influence of expressionism is
witnessed in the paintings by Vivian Lindoe and
Vera Greenwood.
Expressionist artists proclaimed the direct
Vivian Lindoe
rendering of emotions and feelings as the
Untitled, n.d.
only true goal of art. The formal elements of
Oil on cardboard
line, shape and colour were to be used entirely
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
for their expressive possibilities. In European art,
landmarks of this movement were violent colours
and exaggerated lines that helped contain intense
emotional expression. Balance of design was ignored to convey sensations more forcibly and
DISTORTION became an important means of emphasis. The most important forerunner of
Expressionism was Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Van Gogh used colour and line to
consciously exaggerate nature ‘to express…man’s terrible passions.’ This was the beginning
of the emotional and symbolic use of colour and line where the direction given to a line is
that which will be most expressive of the feeling which the object arouses in the artist.
The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (18631944) was also extremely influential in the
development of expressionist theory. In his career
Munch explored the possibilities of violent colour
and linear distortions with which to express the
elemental emotions of anxiety, fear, love and
hatred. In his works, such as The Scream, Munch
came to realize the potentialities of graphic
techniques with their simple directness.
By 1905, Expressionist groups appeared almost
simultaneously in both Germany and France. Only
English painters stood aside from the movement
as Expressionism, with its lack of restraint, was
not congenial to English taste. Between the world
wars expressionist ideas were grafted on to other
art movements such as Cubism and evolved into
other forms such as Abstract Expressionism and
Tachisme.
Edvard Munch
The Scream, 1893
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Pop Art: A Brief Analysis
Pop Art refers to an art movement that
began in the mid 1950s in Britain and in
the late 1950s in the United States. From
the very start its imagery was largely based on
American mass media and the movement thus
had a special appeal to American artists. The
Pop Art Movement reached its fullest
development in America in the 1960s.
Pop Art challenged tradition by asserting that
an artist’s use of the mass-produced visual
commodities of popular culture is contiguous
with the perspective of Fine Art. Pop Art is
aimed to employ images of popular as
opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing
the banal or kitschy elements of any given
culture. As such, pop art employs aspects
of mass culture such as advertising, comic
Harry Savage
books, and mundane cultural objects as art
Postcard from a Pink Trailer, 1972
subjects such as hamburgers and ice-cream
Silkscreen on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
cones. Pop Art is also associated with the
artists’ use of mechanical means of
reproduction or rendering techniques such as the commercial advertising technique of
silk-screening. In the exhibition Storytellers , characteristics of Pop Art are seen in the
works of Harry Savage and Theodore Nelson.
In the United States Pop Art was initially regarded as
a reaction to Abstract Expressionism because its
exponents brought back figural, representational
imagery and made use of hard-edged, quasiphotographic techniques. Early Pop artists, such as
Jasper Johns, used the energetic brushstrokes and
boldly abbreviated shapes of Action Painting, but Pop
artists differed in that their paintings are about
something beyond personal symbolism and
‘painterly looseness’.
Jasper Johns
Flag, 1954-1955
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Pop artists were often labeled Neo-Dadaists because
they used commonplace subjects such as comic strips
(Roy Lichtenstein), soup tins (Andy Warhol) and
highway signs which had affinities with Marcel Duchamp’s ‘ready-mades’ of the early 20th
century.
Artists associated with the Pop Art Movement are not unified in their artistic approaches but,
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Pop Art continued
generally speaking, Pop Art works can be defined in style by the use of simplified imagery
and the use of bright colours.
Keith Haring (1958-1990)
Keith Haring Button
Roy Lichtenstien (1923-1997)
Drowning Girl, 1963
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Campbells Soup, 1968
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Outsider Art
Outsider art is a classification of art. Such art is
often characterized by childlike simplicity in subject
matter and technique. Outsider art is often
described as ‘naive’ or ‘folk art’ and, while the three
terms share similarities, there are also distinctions
between these terms. In the exhibition
Storytellers characteristics of outsider art are
seen in the painting Auntie Josephine’s
Wedding circa 1980 by Mark Traficante.
The term ‘outsider art’ was developed by art
critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English
synonym for art brut, a term created by French
Mark Traficante
Auntie Josephine’s Wedding circa 1980, 2012
artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created by
Acrylic on canvas
those on the outsides of the established art
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
scene such as inmates of mental institutions
and children. Dubuffet’s term is quite specific. As described by Dubuffet, art brut refers to
Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses - where the
worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere - are, because of these
very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals.
According to Dubuffet, mainstream culture managed to assimilate every new development in art,
and by doing so took away whatever power it may have had, with the result that genuine
expression is stifled. For Dubuffet, only art brut was immune to the influences of culture and
immune to being absorbed and assimilated because the artists themselves were not willing or
able to be assimilated.
The interest in ‘outsider’ practices is a manifestation of a larger current within twentieth century
art itself. In the early part of the twentieth century movements such as cubism, Dada,
constructivism, and surrealism all involved a dramatic movement away from cultural forms of
the past and a rejection of established values within the art milieu. Dubuffet’s championing of
the art brut of the insane and others at the margins of society is but another example of
avant-garde art challenging established cultural values.
While Dubuffet’s term art brut is quite specific, the English term ‘outsider art’ is often
applied quite broadly to include certain self-taught or naïve artists who were never
institutionalized. A number of terms are used in English to describe art that is loosely
understood as ‘outside’ official culture and, while definitions of these terms vary, there are areas
of overlap between them. Among the two most common terms used are ‘naïve’ art and Folk Art.
Naïve art is that created by untrained artists who aspire to ‘normal’ artistic status. As such they
have a much more conscious interaction to the mainstream art world. Generally speaking the
characteristics of naïve art are an awkward relationship to the formal qualities of painting. Such
artists especially ignore the three rules of perspective which are:
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Outsider Art continued
1/ a decrease of the size of objects proportionally at the distance
2/ a decrease in the vividness of colours with the distance
3/ a decrease of the precision of details with the distance
The results of ignoring these rules are:
1/ effects of perspective that are geometrically erroneous
2/ a strong use of pattern and an unrefined use of colour on all the planes of the composition
3/ an equal accuracy brought to details, including those of the background (which should be
shaded off and less defined with distance)
An art form often treated as synonymous with naïve art is that of Folk Art. Folk art encompasses
art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other labouring tradespeople and is
primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. Historically, folk art was never
intended as a category in art or was meant to be considered as art for art’s sake and was not
influenced by movements in academic or fine art circles. In contemporary parlance, however,
folk art includes artists who have been self-taught and whose work is often developed in
isolation or in small communities across the country. A primary consideration which separates
folk art from naïve art is that folk art expresses cultural identity by conveying shared community
values and aesthetics.
The painting Auntie Josephine’s Wedding circa
1980 can be categorized as Outsider Art, and
artist Mark Traficante as an ‘outsider artist’, as
Traficante has received little formal art
instruction and works out of the Nina Haggerty
Centre for the Arts in Edmonton.
The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, opened
in 2002, is a centre where people with
developmental disabilities are provided with a
supportive environment enabling them to
become practicing artists. According to the
facility’s vision and mission statements:
Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts artists
Photograph courtesy of
the Nina Haggerty Centre
All people have the right to achieve their highest potential, which includes the right to
creative expression. Creativity lies in everyone and can be powerfully expressed through the
arts. The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts believes in the importance of the creation and
exhibition of art by those who face barriers to artistic expression.
The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts exists to...promote the Centre’s collective of artists ...(and
to) provide opportunities for the exhibition of work by artists who face barriers...
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Art History: The Development and Art
of Photography
The exhibition Storytellers invites the viewer to investigate narrative in visual art works.
Some of the works in this exhibition are photographic in nature and this exhibition thus
allows the viewer an understanding of photography as a means of artistic expression.
Since the early 1970s photography has increasingly been accorded a place in fine art
galleries and exhibitions, but what is this medium? How and why did photography
develop, how is photography related to artistic pursuits such as painting, and what
makes a fine-art photograph different than the ‘snapshots’ virtually everyone takes with
their digital cameras or cell phones?
The following pages briefly examine the history of photography and documentary
photography in order to answer the above questions and provide an entry into the photographic works in the exhibition.
Photography: A brief history
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what
we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us
to see.
Dorothea Lange
The word photography derives from the Greek words
phōs meaning light, and gráphein meaning ‘to write’.
The word was coined by Sir John Herschel in 1839.
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Camera
Artists and scientists have been interested in the
properties of light, chemistry and optics for over 1000
years. In the tenth century the Arab mathematician and
scientist Alhazen of Basra invented the first ‘camera
obscura’, a device which demonstrated the behavior of
light to create an inverted image in a darkened room.
Artists turned to mathematics and optics to solve
problems in perspective.
The development of the camera obscura allowed artists to faithfully record the external world.
The principle of this device involved light entering a minute hole in a darkened room which
formed, on the opposite wall, an inverted image of whatever was outside the room.
The camera obscura, at first actually a room big enough for a man to enter, gradually grew
smaller and by the 17th and 18th centuries it was the size of a two foot box which had a lens
fitted into one end. By the mid 18th century the camera obscura had become standard
equipment for artists.
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Art History: Photography: A Brief History
continued
Image credits: http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Camera_obscura
In the early 1700s it was discovered that light not only formed images, but also changed the
nature of many substances. The light sensitivity of silver salts, discovered in 1727, opened the
way to discover a method to trap the ‘elusive image of the camera’ (The History of Photography,
Beaumont Newhall, pg. 11)
Developments in optics, and the incentive to find a practical means to capture images produced
by the camera obscura, were stimulated by the growth of the middle class in the 18th century
which created a demand for portraits at reasonable prices. By the 1800s a number of inventors
were working towards a means to obtain an image using light and to fix the image making it
permanent.
The first inventor to create a permanent photographic
image was Nicéphone Niepce of France in 1826. In
1829 Niepce signed a contract with Louis Jacques
Mande Daguerre who, while ‘...he did not invent
photography, made it work, made it popular, and made
it his own’ (The Picture History of Photography, Peter
Pollack, pg. 19). In partnership with Louis Daguerre,
Niépce refined his silver process and, after his death
in 1833, his experiments were furthered by Daguerre.
In 1839 Daguerre announced the invention of the
daguerreotype, which was immediately patented by
Louis Daguerre
the French government and the era of the camera
L’ Atelier de l’ artiste, 1837
began.
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype proved popular in responding to the demand for portraiture emerging from
the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution. This demand, which could not be met by oil
paintings, added to the push for the development of photography. This push was also the result
of the limitations of the daguerreotype, which was a fragile and expensive process and could not
be duplicated. Photographers and inventors, then, continued to look for other methods of
creating photographs. Ultimately the modern photographic process came about from a series of
refinements and improvements in the first 20 years. In 1884 George Eastman of Rochester, New
York, developed dry gel on paper, or film, to replace the photographic plate. This was followed
in 1888 by his Kodak camera, with the result that anyone could take a photograph. Photography
became readily available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of the Kodak
Brownie.
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Photography and the Documentary Eye
There is a terrible truthfulness about photography.
George Bernard Shaw
Like all genre in the visual arts, photography can be divided amongst various modes of
expression. From the very beginning some photographers believed that photography
was primarily a popular means of reproducing the material world. It was photography’s
capacity for recording fact, giving evidence, and presenting a document that
practitioners and their public valued most. This aim of photographers to create a ‘real’
document, which derived from the genre of realism in painting, resulted in the genre of
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY and is most fully expressed in the exhibition
Storytellers in the work of Mark D. Hobden, Trig Singer and Bernard Bloom.
Documentary photography has been defined as ‘...a
depiction of the real world by a photographer whose intent
is to communicate something of importance - to make a
comment - that will be understood by the viewer.’ (Time Life
Library of Photography, pg. 12) In such photography the
photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and
usually candid photography of a particular subject, most
often pictures of people.
Bernard Bloom
Ecologically conscious student screaming
at Homosexuals, 1994
Silver gelatin print toned on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for
the Arts
As a genre of photography, documentary photography
developed in three general stages. While the actual term
‘documentary photography’ was coined in the 1930s to
describe a category of photography which comments on
reality, photographs meant to accurately describe otherwise
unknown, hidden, forbidden, or difficult-to-access places or
circumstances date to the earliest daguerreotypes and
calotype surveys of the ruins of the Near East, Egypt, the
historic architecture of Europe, and the American
wilderness. This desire to create a permanent record of
familiar and exotic scenes and the appearance of
friends and family marked the first stage of
documentary photography.
As expressed by photographer John Thomson in the 1860s:
...the photograph affords the nearest approach that can be made toward placing (the reader)
actually before the scene which is represented’
Documentary Photography, Time Life Library of Photography, pg. 16
At this early stage in photography’s development, photographs were seen as miraculous,
enabling the human eye to see things it did not always notice or would never see. Photography
took over the concerns with realism that had been developing in painting and the camera
was used mainly as a copier of nature. This faith in the camera as a literal recorder gave rise to
the belief that the camera does not lie.
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Photography and the Documentary Eye
continued
The development of new reproduction methods for photography provided impetus for the next
era of documentary photography in the the late 1880s and reaching into the early decades of
the 20th century. This period saw a decisive shift in documentary from antiquarian and
landscape subjects to that of the city and its crises. Once the camera had proven itself as a tool
for showing things as they were, it was inevitably thought of as a device for changing things
to the way they ought to be. In this second stage photographers discovered the camera’s
power to hold up a mirror to society and photographs could thus become social
documents. This visual comment on the joys and pains of society has, to a great extent,
occupied documentary photographers ever since.
The photographer most directly associated with the birth of this new form of documentary was
the journalist and urban social reformer Jacob Riis who documented the slums of New York in
his historic book How the Other Half Lives in 1890. Riis’s documentary photography was
passionately devoted to changing the inhumane conditions under which the poor lived in the
rapidly-expanding urban-industrial centers.
In the 1930s the Great Depression brought a new wave of
documentary, both of rural and urban conditions. During this
period the Farm Security Administration in the United States
enlisted a band of young photographers to document the
state of the nation during the depression. Among these were
Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee,
and Carl Mydens. This generation of documentary
photographers is generally credited for codifying the
documentary code of accuracy mixed with impassioned
advocacy, with the goal of arousing public commitment to
social change. The photographers in the FSA project were
the first ever to be called documentary photographers and
their work wrote the idea of documentary photography as a
means of examining society large in peoples minds.
Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother, 1936
During the Second World War and postwar eras, documentary photography increasingly
became subsumed under the rubric of photojournalism. This led to the development of a
different attitude among documentary photographers in the 1950s, a new generation which did
not feel bound by any mission except to see life clearly. As expressed by the photographer
Gary Winogrand:
The true business of photography is to capture a bit of reality (whatever that is) on film.
Time Life Library of Photography, pg. 164
According to photographers in this group, their work made no effort to judge but instead
to express, and they were committed not to social change but to formal and
iconographical investigation of the social experience of modernity.
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey
Word and image have a long and complicated history. While we presently live in an age
which is extremely ‘text-heavy’ and relies on the printed word to transmit information,
this is a relatively recent phenomenon. For most of human history it was the visual which
had primary importance, and it was from the visual that printed text evolved. Throughout
art history many artists have combined text and image in their works, either using image
to illustrate text, or using text as the image. In the exhibition Storytellers such
combinations are seen in the works by Harry Savage, Theodore Nelson, and
Vera Greenwood.
While visual symbols were a feature of cave art, the first
civilization which combined image and text were the
ancient Egyptians. Egyptian hieroglyphics were a
formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that
contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic
elements. Hieroglyphics emerged from the preliterate
artistic traditions of Egypt. Symbols on pottery dated to
4000 BC resemble hieroglyphic writing while the earliest full sentence so far discovered dates to the Second
Dynasty (around 3100 BC).
Hieroglyphic writing is like a picture puzzle. Visually,
hieroglyphics are all more or less figurative,
representing real or illusional elements. The same sign,
however, can be interpreted in diverse ways according to Egyptian Hieroglyphics
context. Hieroglyphics could represent the sound of an
object or an idea associated with an object. Also, most hieroglyphics are phonetic in nature,
meaning the sign is read independent of its visual characteristics. Besides a phonetic
interpretation, however, characters can also be read for their meaning: in this instance
logograms are being spoken. A hieroglyph used as a logogram defines the object of which it is
an image. For example, in the following symbol, the image of a flamingo followed by a straight
vertical line stands for a flamingo.
— dšr, meaning “flamingo”; the corresponding phonogram means “red” and the bird
is associated by metonymy with this colour.
Hieroglyphic writing is like a picture puzzle.
A modern type of hieroglyphic writing
would be a rebus puzzle where the
meaning is determined by reading the
sounds symbolized by the pictures.
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey continued
The first pure alphabet emerged around
2000 BCE and was derived from the
principles of Egyptian hieroglyphics. With
this development, the use of images as direct
language declined, and images came to serve
as illustrations of the written, alphabetic text.
During the Middle Ages monastic scribes
created illuminated manuscripts which
preserved the ancient literatures of Greece
and Rome. In illuminated manuscripts the text
is supplemented by the addition of
decoration, such as decorated initials or
miniature illustrations. The earliest surviving
illuminated manuscripts are from the period
AD 400 to AD 600, but the majority of
surviving manuscripts are from the Middle
Ages.
The introduction of printing in the 1400s led to the decline of illumination but illuminated
manuscripts are the most common item to survive from the Middle Ages and are the best
surviving specimens of medieval painting.
Albrecht Dürer
With the development of printing, and especially with the invention of the printing press
in the 1450s, artists turned to woodblock printing to create illustrations for printed text.
One of the most important western artists to do so, and in fact the first artist in Europe to
realize the full potential of the printing press and print and image was the German
Renaissance master, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).
In his paintings and prints Dürer united German Medieval traditions and Italian Renaissance
innovations to create images of both technical virtuosity and emotional power. This is seen in
one of his greatest works, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, created in 1498. In 1495,
Dürer began work on a series of fifteen woodcut prints illustrating St. John’s Book of Revelation.
This series, entitled The Apocalypse, mirrors much that was significant at the time: the
beginnings of the Protestant Reformation; the collision of two worlds – northern Europe and the
early revival of Classicism in Italy; the recurring sweep of the plague, and the gathering feeling
of doom as the millennium year 1500 approached.
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey continued
One of Dürer’s most famous woodcuts
from this series is The Four Horsemen.
This print is based on Chapter Six of
the Book of Revelation where St. John
describes a vision of the future. While this
theme had been a favourite subject of
artists in times of tension, Dürer’s Four
Horsemen is a departure from the
medieval tradition. In earlier portrayals
these harbingers of doom were always
portrayed in single file. Dürer, however,
heightens the emotional power and horror
of this vision by having the four horsemen
of Conquest, War, Pestilence and Death
tumble from the sky as a solid phalanx
and sweep across the land like a giant
scythe. The dynamic rush of these figures
is emphasized by the alternation of light
and shade and the erratic outlines of the
figures.
While The Four Horsemen and other
prints from the Apocalypse series are
marvels in technical virtuosity, they
are also important as concerns print
history. Traditionally, drawings were
created to illustrate text and were thus
subservient to the text.
Albrecht Dürer
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Dürer, however, reversed this trend and was the first artist to produce a connected series of
woodcuts and then, basically, label each one with text. To avoid detracting from his illustrations,
and yet at the same time produce a real ‘picture book’, Dürer printed the Biblical text on the
reverse of his woodcuts so that each plate on the right hand page faced a text on the left.
The prints from the Apocalypse series, intended for the mass of ordinary people and printed in
large volumes, became best sellers throughout Germany, France, Italy, Spain and even Russia
as soon as they were published in 1498 and established Dürer’s reputation. Their creation also
marked a unique step in art. Dürer undertook their creation and marketing himself; until then no
artist had thought of undertaking a major work that was not commissioned by a wealthy sponsor.
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey continued
20th CENTURY INNOVATIONS
Despite the innovations introduced by
Dürer, text and image remained virtually
independent, or image was used merely
to illustrate text, until the beginning of the
20th century. Since the development of
Cubism in the early 1900s, however, the
union of text and image in pictorial space
has played an influential role in
art making.
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde
movement pioneered by Pablo Picasso
(1881-1973) and Georges Braque
(1882-1963). As developed by these
artists, cubism was expressed through
two main branches. The first, known as
Analytic Cubism, played a major role in
art production in France between 1907
and 1911. The second branch, Synthetic
Cubism, remained vital until around 1919
when the Surrealist Art Movement gained
popularity.
Pablo Picasso
Synthetic Cubism involved using synthetic materials in the art work. This movement is seen as
the first time that collage had been made as a fine art work. In these works Picasso and Braque
pasted wall-paper, newspaper clippings, sheet music and other materials on to the canvas
to create hybrid works of art. Collage is an artistic concept associated with the beginnings of
Modernism and entails much more than the idea of gluing something onto something else. The
glued-on patches which Braque and Picasso added to their canvases ‘collided with the surface
plane of the painting’ and involved a methodical re-examination of the relation between painting
and sculpture. The Cubist works produced by these artists created works which gave each
medium some of the characteristics of the other. Furthermore, the synthetic elements
introduced, such as newspaper clippings, introduced fragments of externally referenced
meaning into the collision of media. In Synthetic Cubism Picasso was the first artist to use
text in his artwork and the first to create mixed-media works (works using more than one type
of medium).
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey continued
The development of Collage, pioneered by Picasso
and Braque, had a powerful influence on other artists
and art movements. Artists associated with the DADA
Movement made extensive use of collage in order to
comment on the world around them. One of the foremost
artists associated with this movement was
Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948).
Kurt Schwitters was a German painter born in
Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres
and media, including Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism,
poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design,
typography and installation art. He is most famous,
however, for his collages which are called Merz Pictures.
Merz has been described as ‘Psychological Collage’.
Most of these works attempt to make coherent aesthetic
sense of the world around Schwitters through the use of
found objects. Schwitters’s Merz works
incorporated objects such as bus tickets, old wire and
Kurt Schwitters
fragments of newsprint, artist’s periodicals, sculptures,
sound poems and other scraps. Later collages would
feature mass media images. Through these works
Schwitters often made witty allusions to current events or
made autobiographical references and his work was
very influential.
Andy Warhol
The union of text and image, originating in the works of
Picasso and Braque and explored further by DADA artists
such as Kurt Schwitters, reached its complete realization in
the Pop Art Movement. Pop art emerged in the 1950s in
Britain and the United States. Pop art challenged
tradition by asserting that an artist’s use of the massproduced visual commodities of popular culture is
contiguous with the perspective of Fine Art. Characterized
by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass
culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane
cultural objects, pop art has been widely interpreted
as a reaction to the then dominant ideas of Abstract
Expressionism. Pop art often draws its inspiration from
advertising and product labeling and logos are often
used by pop artists. Andy Warhol’s prints and paintings of
Campbell’s Soup Cans are an excellent example of this and
also demonstrate the interdependence of text and image.
In Campbell’s Tomato Soup by Warhol the text is absolutely
essential in providing a context for the imagery.
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Word and Image - A Brief Survey continued
A second artist extremely important to the
pop art aesthetic was Roy Lichtenstein.
Selecting the old-fashioned comic strip as
subject matter, Lichtenstein produced hardedged, precise compositions that documented
American culture while parodying it in a ‘soft
manner’. The paintings of Lichtenstein, like
those of Andy Warhol and others, share a
direct attachment to the commonplace image
of American popular culture, but also treat the
subject in an impersonal manner illustrating
the idealization of mass production.
Lichtenstein also shares with Warhol an
interest in the symbiotic relationship between
text and image. As seen in the work to the
right, in order for the viewer to begin to
comprehend the story being ‘told’ the
inclusion of text in the work is absolutely
necessary.
Robert Indiana
Love, 1976
Roy Lichtenstein
Perhaps the most literal example of the
Pop art union of text and image is
expressed by Robert Indiana’s iconic
New York sculpture entitled Love.
Indiana moved to New York City in 1954
and joined the pop art movement,
using distinctive imagery drawing on
commercial art approaches that gradually
moved toward what he calls “sculptural
poems”. His work often consists of bold,
simple images, especially numbers and
short words like EAT, HUG, and his best
known example, LOVE. This last work
was first created for a Christmas card
for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964.
Sculptural versions of the image have
been installed at numerous American
and international locations.
In Robert Indiana’s sculptural pieces the viewer witnesses, in essence, a 180 degree shift
in the relationship between text and image throughout man’s history. In cave art and
Egyptian hieroglyphics the visual image was the word (or sentence or thought). In
Indiana’s work the case is reversed: the word is the visual image.
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Art Processes - Printmaking
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Art Processes - Printmaking continued
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Art Processes - Printmaking continued
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Art Processes - Printmaking continued
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Art Processes - Printmaking continued
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Art Processes - Watercolour
The art works in the exhibition Storytellers provide an eclectic mix of both styles and artistic
media and processes used in art making. One medium used is watercolour and a process
related to this is the use of paint washes in a work. These are seen in Annora Brown’s work
Brittany, Highlights.... and Stan Perrott’s drawing Soldiers/Penn Station. What follows is a
general list of watercolour terms and techniques for use with beginner watercolourists.
Techniques:
Washes
The most basic watercolour technique is the flat wash. It is
produced by first wetting the area of paper to be covered
by the wash, then mixing sufficient pigment to easily fill the
entire area. Once complete the wash should be left to dry
and even itself out. A variation on the basic wash is the
graded wash. This technique requires the pigment to be
diluted lightly with more water for each horizontal stroke.
The result is a wash that fades out gradually and evenly.
graded wash
Glazing
Glazing is a similar watercolour technique to a wash, but it uses a thin, transparent pigment
applied over dry existing washes. Its purpose is to adjust the colour and tone of the underlying
wash. Be sure each layer is thoroughly dry before applying the next.
Wet in Wet
Wet in wet is simply the process of applying pigment to wet
paper. The results vary from soft undefined shapes to slightly
blurred marks, depending on how wet the paper is. The wet in
wet technique can be applied over existing washes provided
the area is thoroughly dry. Simply wet the paper with a large
brush and paint into the dampness. The soft marks made by
wet in wet painting are great for subtle background regions of
the painting such as skies.
wet in wet
Dry Brush
Dry brush is almost opposite to wet in wet techniques. Here a brush loaded with pigment
(and not too much water) is dragged over completely dry paper. The marks produced by this
technique are very crisp and hard edged. They will tend to come forward in your painting and
so are best applied around the centre of interest.
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Watercolour Terms & Techniques continued
Lifting off
Most watercolour pigment can be dissolved and lifted off
after it has dried. The process involves wetting the area to be
removed with a brush and clean water and then blotting the
pigment away with a tissue. Using strips of paper to mask
areas of pigment will produce interesting hard edged lines
and shapes.
lifting off
Dropping in Colour
This technique is simply the process of introducing a colour
to a wet region of the painting and allowing it to blend, bleed
and feather without interruption. The result is sometimes
unpredictable but yields interesting and vibrant colour
gradations that can’t be achieved by mixing the pigment on the
palette.
dropping in
Tips when painting:
– Always mix more paint than you need.
– Normally, the lighter tones are painted first and the dark tones last.
– When applying washes have all your colours ready mixed and keep the brush full and watery.
– Work with the largest brush that is practical for each part of the painting.
– When working wet in wet, don’t have the brush wetter than the paper or ugly “runbacks” will
result.
– Have tissue handy to lift off wrongly placed colour.
– Test for tone and colour on a scrap piece of paper before committing it to your painting. If
things go wrong and colour can’t be mopped straight with a tissue, it’s usually better to let the
work dry before attempting a rescue.
– When lifting off a colour, gently wet the area and immediately dab with a tissue. Do this four or
five times then let the area dry again before lifting off any more.
– Do lots of doodles–simple watercolour sketches such as trees, skies and rocks. This will build
up confidence and get you looking at subjects to study their form.
– Copy parts of a painting that appeal to you until you can get the effect.
– When practicing a passage for a painting, use the same paper that the finished work will be
painted on.
*credit: theresacerceo.wordpress.com/2009/03
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Visual Learning
and
Hands-On
Activities
Roy Kiyooka
Untitled, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5, No. 3,
1951
Lithograph on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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What is Visual Learning?
All art has many sides to it. The artist makes the works for people to experience. They in turn
can make discoveries about both the work and the artist that help them learn and give them
pleasure for a long time. How we look at an object determines what we come to know about
it. We remember information about an object far better when we are able to see (and handle)
objects rather than by only reading about them. This investigation through observation (looking)
is very important to understanding how objects fit into our world in the past and in the present
and will help viewers reach a considered response to what they see. The following is a six-step
method to looking at, and understanding, a work of art.
STEP 1: INITIAL, INTUITIVE RESPONSE The first ‘gut level’ response to a visual presentation.
What do you see and what do you think of it?
STEP 2: DESCRIPTION Naming facts - a visual inventory of the elements of design.
Questions to Guide Inquiry:
What colours do you see? What shapes are most noticeable?
What objects are most apparent? Describe the lines in the work.
STEP 3: ANALYSIS Exploring how the parts relate to each other.
Questions to Guide Inquiry:
What proportions can you see? eg. What percentage of the work is background? Foreground?
Land? Sky?
Why are there these differences? What effect do these differences create?
What parts seem closest to you? Farthest away? How does the artist give this impression?
STEP 4: INTERPRETATION Exploring what the work might mean or be about.
Questions to Guide Inquiry:
How does this work make you feel? Why?
What word would best describe the mood of this work?
What is this painting/photograph/sculpture about?
Is the artist trying to tell a story? What might be the story in this work?
STEP 5: INFORMATION Looking beyond the work for information that may further
understanding.
Questions to Guide Inquiry:
What is the artist’s name? When did he/she live?
What art style and medium does the artist use?
What artist’s work is this artist interested in?
What art was being made at the same time as this artist was working?
What was happening in history at the time this artist was working?
What social/political/economic/cultural issues is this artist interested in?
STEP 6: PERSONALIZATION What do I think about this work? (Reaching a considered
response)
© Virginia Stephen
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Elements of Composition Tour
LINE: An element of art that is used to
define shape, contours and outlines. It is
also used to suggest mass and volume.
See: Brittany, Highlights, December 1951 by
Annora Brown
Annora Brown
Brittany, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5, No. 3,
1951
Linocut, watercolour on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
What is a line? What types of lines are there?
A line is a continuous mark made by a pencil, brush, pen or other tool. Lines can be thick or thin,
straight or curved, jagged or smooth, light or heavy.
What lines do you see in this drawing?
We see straight lines used for the bricks the couple is dancing on, a great many diagonal lines,
and some curving lines used for the basket and pitcher in the foreground, plant forms, and the
mountains in the far back.
How do the lines change within the drawing and how do they create emphasis and visual
interest in the work?
Lines are drawn with a variety of directions which help to direct the viewer’s eye and create a
great deal of energy in the work. The use of diagonals to create small pyramids at the bottom
of the picture direct our eye up to the dancers. The use of diagonal lines to create the dancers’
bodies creates movement in the figures. The horizontal lines of the pavement and the diagonal
lines branching in opposite directions behind the male figure both serve to direct the viewer’s
eye across and around the picture plane. The diagonal lines used in the roof tops and the
church spires direct the viewer’s eye up the picture towards the mountains and the sky at the
top of the picture.
SPACE: Space is the relative position of one
three-dimensional object to another. It is the area
between and around objects.
See: Untitled by Vivian Lindoe
Vivian Lindoe
Untitled, n.d.
Oil on cardboard
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
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Elements of Composition Tour
What is space? What dimensions does it have?
Space includes the background, middle ground and foreground of a composition. It can refer
to the distances or areas around, between, or within components of a piece. It may have two
dimensions (length and width) or three dimensions including height or depth.
What may be represented in this work?
In this work the viewer sees two distinct groups of strangely distorted figures. On the left of the
composition is a seated blue figure placed on a greenish brown ground. This figure is separated
by a strong diagonal line from a group of purplish and red figures on a blue background. These
strange figures seem to lean to the right of the composition and appear to be getting in to
something which resembles a boat by its shape.
Space can be positive or negative. What would you say is the positive space in this work?
What is the negative space?
The positive space in a work represents the subject matter while the negative space represents
the open spaces around the subject. Within this painting we might say the positive space is
represented by the strange figures while the negative space would be the ‘empty’ areas
surrounding the figures.
How has the artist created a sense of space in this work?
The artist uses a modernist sense of composition in this work, meaning that there is little or no
attempt to create an illusion of distance in the composition. Instead the painting is presented as
a very flat surface. At the same time, however, the artist has created two distinct spaces or areas
in this work through the use of colour and the arrangement of figures. The first area is the
smaller tightly confined greenish-coloured area on the left side of the composition. This area
contains the blue figure and is separated from a larger blue section in the composition, which
contains the reddish figures, by a dark blue diagonal line.
SHAPE: When a line crosses itself or
intersects with other lines to enclose a
space it creates a shape. A two dimensional
shape is one that is drawn on a flat surface
such as paper. A three-dimensional shape
is one that takes up real space.
See: Ash Wednesday by Derek Besant
Derek Besant
Ash Wednesday, 1974
Etching, enamel on plexiglass
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Elements of Composition Tour continued
What kind of shapes can you think of?
Geometric: circles, squares, rectangles and triangles. We see them in architecture and manufactured items.
Organic shapes: a leaf, seashell, flower. We see them in nature with characteristics that are freeflowing,
informal and irregular.
Static shapes: shapes that appear stable and resting.
Dynamic shapes: Shapes that appear moving and active.
What shapes can you see in this image?
The image is composed of a variety of geometric shapes.
Identify the geometric shapes in this image.
This image shows the inside of a room - this is an architectural/manufactured space and so is made up of
geometric shapes. Rectangular shapes are the main shapes used throughout the image - while they vary in
size and width, rectangular shapes are seen in the floor boards, the walls, the window frame and, due to
perspective, in the window panes (although, if these were viewed straight on, they would be square). Triangular
shapes are seen in the broken shards of glass in the window pane while irregular rectangular forms are seen in
the flying glass pieces.
How do these geometric shapes ‘feel’? What mood do they give to the overall image?
The use of linear perspective in this image gives the geometric shapes, which are usually rather static, a very
dynamic sense. This expression of energy and action is emphasized by the flying glass pieces.
TEXTURE: Texture is the surface quality of an object that
can be seen or felt. Texture can also be implied on a twodimensional surface.
See: Rodeo Bar by Helen Mackie
Helen Mackie
Rodeo Bar, n.d.
Etching on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
What is texture? How do you describe how something feels? What are the two kinds of texture you can
think of that exist in an artwork?
Texture is the apparent look or feel of the surface of an art object. Texture can be real, like the actual texture
of an object. Texture can be rough, smooth, hard, soft, glossy, etc. Texture can also be implied. This happens
when a two-dimensional piece of art is made to look like a certain texture.
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Elements of Composition Tour continued
Helen Mackie’s work Rodeo Bar makes use of implied texture. Where do you see texture in this work?
A sense of feeling/texture is expressed in the clothing various figures wear, in the furniture, and in the exposed
body parts of some of the figures (ie: legs and faces).
How would you describe these different areas and how does the artist create these textures?
Some of the clothing looks like it would be rough whereas other pieces look softer. The man’s shirt at the front
of the picture, for example, looks like it may be made out of a rough or coarse fabric - this idea is created by the
use of vertical wavy lines. His pants, on the other hand, look like they are smooth and thus maybe softer.
The chair he sits on looks like it would be quite rough to the touch. This idea is created by the use of uneven
horizontal lines which both create the rectangular shape of the back board as well as the lines which run
through it, giving the idea of a rough wood grain.
The lines on various figures faces, the lines which create the idea of hair, and the markings on the woman’s
legs all give the idea that these areas would be coarse to the touch.
What mood might the use of these different textures give to the work?
The implied use of texture gives the work an overall feeling of roughness or ruggedness which may accentuate
the overall theme and setting of the work. The artist portrays a bar full of rugged looking individuals and the
manner in which they are represented may speak to the hardness of their lives - as farmers/ranchers it can be
assumed that they work hard and are tired from their labours and the implication of rugged texture in the work
may reflect this.
COLOUR: Colour comes from light that is reflected
off objects. Colour has three main characteristics:
Hue, or its name (red, blue, etc.), Value (how light or
dark the colour is), and Intensity (how bright or dull
the colour is)
See: Our Synopsis thus far by Theodore Nelson
Theodore Nelson
Our Synopsis thus far, 1989
Acrylic, ink on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts
What are primary colours? Do you see any? Point to them in the painting. What secondary colours do
you see?
Colour is made of primary colours, red, blue, yellow. We see red and yellow on the awning and fronts of
buildings and blue on the clothing of figures, the car, and street signs. The secondary colours are orange, violet
and green. These colours are seen on the large building in the foreground, in the clothing of figures and on the
awning of the large building. Primary colours are mixed to form secondary colours.
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Elements of Composition Tour continued
What colour is your eye directed to first? Where does it travel to next? Why?
Your eye may be directed to the building in the background due to its very intense red color.
Your eye then bounces back to the man with the green shirt in the foreground, however,
because this green - which is the complementary colour of the red - is also very bright and
intense. Your eye will then travel to the purple building, both because of its size and because
green and purple go well together, and then move to the yellow of the awning as the yellow is
very intense and yellow is the complementary colour of purple. Finally, the green of the awning
leads the eye back to the red of the building in the background.
Is the image mostly composed of warm or cool colours or both? What are complementary
colours? Point to an area within the artwork. What effect does the use of complementary
colours have within the artwork?
The image has both warm and cool colours. Complementary colours are those opposite on the
colour wheel. For example, red and green. When placed next to each other these colours look
bright and create contrast. When we see complementary colours in an artwork it tends to draw
attention to that area. For example the greens of the figure and the awning draw the eye back to
the red of the building in the background and so cause the eye to move throughout the image.
What are analogous colours? Explain the different effect these colours have when placed
next to each other.
Analogous colours are those next to each other on the colour wheel. For example, red, pink and
purple are analogous colours. This effect reduces impact to these areas and has less visual
interest on its own. In this case, however, this range helps to draw the eye to the text on the
purple wall.
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Reading Pictures
Grades 4-12/adults
Objectives:
The purposes of this program are to:
1/ introduce participants to Art and what artists do – this includes examinations of art styles; art
elements; the possible aims and meaning(s) in an artwork and how to deduce those meanings and
aims
2/ introduce visitors to the current exhibition – the aim of the exhibition and the kind of artwork found in
the exhibition.
-the artist(s) - his/her background(s)
-his/her place in art history
3/ engage participants in a deeper investigation of artworks
Teacher/Facilitator Introduction to Program:
This program is called Reading Pictures. What do you think this might involve?
-generate as many ideas as possible concerning what viewers might think ‘Reading Pictures’ might
involve or what this phrase might mean.
Before we can ‘read’ art, however, we should have some understanding of what we’re talking about.
What is Art? If you had to define this term, how would you define it?
Art can be defined as creative expression and artistic practice is an aspect and expression of a
peoples’ culture or the artist’s identity.
The discipline of Art, or the creation of a piece of art, however, is much more than simple ‘creative
expression’ by an ‘artist’ or an isolated component of culture.
How many of you would describe yourselves as artists?
You may not believe it, but everyday you engage in some sort of artistic endeavor.
How many of you got up this morning and thought about what you were going to wear today?
Why did you choose the clothes you did? Why do you wear your hair that way? How many of you have
tattoos or plan to get a tattoo some day? What kind of tattoo would you choose? Why.....? How many of
you own digital cameras or have cameras on cell phones? How many of you take pictures and e-mail
them to other people?
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Reading Pictures continued
Art is all around us and we are all involved in artistic endeavors to some degree. The photographs we
take, the colour and styles of the clothes we wear, the ways we build and decorate our homes, gardens
and public buildings, the style of our cell phones or the vehicles we drive, the images we see and are
attracted to in advertising or the text or symbols on our bumper stickers – all of these things (and 9
billion others) utilize artistic principles. They say something about our personal selves and reflect upon
and influence the economic, political, cultural, historical and geographic concerns of our society.
Art, therefore, is not just something some people in a society do – it is something that affects and
informs everyone within a society.
Today we’re going to look at art - paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures – and see what art can tell us
about the world we live in – both the past, the present and possibly the future – and what art can tell us
about ourselves.
Art is a language like any other and it can be read.
Art can be read in two ways. It can be looked at intuitively: what do you see? What do you like or not
like? How does it make you feel and why? Art can also be read formally by looking at what are called
the Elements of Design – the “tools” artists use or consider when creating a piece of work.
What do you think is meant by the elements of design? What does an artist use to create a work of art?
Today we’re going to examine how to read art – we’re going to see how art can affect us emotionally...
and how an artist can inform us about our world, and ourselves, through what he or she creates.
Tour Program
-Proceed to one of the works in the exhibition and discuss the following:
a) the nature of the work - what kind of work is it and what exhibition is it a part of?
b) examine the work itself
– ­What do visitors see?
– How do you initially feel about what you see? Why do you feel this way? What do you like? What don’t you like? Why?
– What is the work made of?
– How would you describe the style? What does this mean?
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Reading Pictures continued
–What is the compositional structure? How are the shapes and colours etc. arranged? Why are
they arranged this way?
–How does the work make them feel? What is the mood of the work? What gives them this
idea? Discuss the element(s) of design which are emphasized in the work in question.
–What might the artist be trying to do in the work? What might the artist be saying or what might
the work ‘mean’?
c) Summarize the information
At each work chosen, go through the same or similar process, linking the work to the
type of exhibition it is a part of. Also, with each stop, discuss a different Element of
Design and develop participants’ visual learning skills.
At the 1st stop, determine with the participants the most important Element of Design
used and focus the discussion on how this element works within the artwork. Do the
same with each subsequent artwork and make sure to cover all the elements of design on
the tour.
Stop #1: LINE
Stop #2: SHAPE
Stop #3: COLOUR
Stop #4: TEXTURE
Stop #5: SPACE
Stop #6: ALL TOGETHER – How do the elements work together to create a certain mood
or story? What would you say is the mood of this work? Why? What is the story or
meaning of this work? Why?
Work sheet activity – 30 minutes
Divide participants into groups of two or three to each do this activity. Give them 30 minutes to
complete the questions then bring them all together and have each group present one of their
pieces to the entire group.
Presentations – 30 minutes
Each group to present on one of their chosen works.
Visual Learning Activity Worksheet * Photocopy the following worksheet so each
participant has their own copy.
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Reading Pictures continued
Visual Learning Worksheet
Instructions: Choose two very different pieces of artwork in the exhibition and answer
the following questions in as much detail as you can.
1. What is the title of the work and who created it?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What do you see and what do you think of it? (What is your initial reaction to the
work?) Why do you feel this way?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What colours do you see and how does the use of colour affect the way you ‘read’
the work? Why do you think the artist chose these colours – or lack of colour – for this
presentation?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. What shapes and objects do you notice most? Why?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program-
Reading Pictures continued
5. How are the shapes/objects arranged or composed? How does this affect your
feelings towards or about the work? What feeling does this composition give to the
work?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. How would you describe the mood of this work? (How does it make you feel?) What
do you see that makes you describe the mood in this way?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. What do you think the artist’s purpose was in creating this work? What ‘story’ might he
or she be telling? What aspects of the artwork give you this idea?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
8. What do you think about this work after answering the above questions? Has your
opinion of the work changed in any way? Why do you feel this way?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. How might this work relate to your own life experiences? Have you ever been in a
similar situation/place and how did being there make you feel?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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Perusing Paintings: An Artful Scavenger
Hunt
In teaching art, game-playing can enhance learning. If students are engaged in learning, through
a variety of methods, then it goes beyond game-playing. Through game-playing we are trying to
get students to use higher-order thinking skills by getting them to be active participants in learning. Blooms’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, which follows, is as applicable to teaching
art as any other discipline.
1. knowledge: recall of facts
2. comprehension: participation in a discussion
3. application: applying abstract information in practical situations
4. analysis: separating an entity into its parts
5. synthesis: creating a new whole from many parts, as in developing a complex work of art
6. evaluation: making judgements on criteria
A scavenger hunt based on artworks is a fun and engaging way to get students of any age to
really look at the artworks and begin to discern what the artist(s) is/are doing in the works. The
simple template provided, however, would be most suitable for grade 1-3 students.
Instruction:
Using the exhibition works provided, give students a list of things they should search for that are
in the particular works of art. The students could work with a partner or in teams. Include a blank
for the name of the artwork, the name of the artist, and the year the work was created. Following
the hunt, gather students together in the exhibition area and check the answers and discuss the
particular works in more detail.
Sample List:
Scavenger Hunt Item
Title of Artwork
Name of Artist
Year Work Created
someone wearing a hat
a specific animal
landscape
a bright red object
a night scene
a house
*This activity was adapted from A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher by Helen D. Hume.
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
An Artful Scavenger Hunt template
Scavenger Hunt Item Title of Artwork
Name of Artist
Year Work Created
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Create a Myth
Cliff Robinson
Leda, n.d.
Linocut on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Create a Myth continued
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Colour Me a Story
Grades 3-9
Students will design and create mixed media works on paper inspired by the exhibition
Storytellers and conversations surrounding it. Students will be challenged to tell their own
stories in styles reminiscent of artists in the exhibition. They will think in terms of perspective,
colour selection and enhanced narrative while working in a 2D format.
Supplies:
- pencils & erasers
- rinse buckets & brushes
- watercolour paint
- thin markers/sharpies
- 2x Mayfair
- mixing trays/watercolour & ink trays
Objectives
Through the studio project the students will:
1.
Discuss “what is a narrative”. What does it mean “to narrate”?
2.
Discuss and review what a protagonist and an antagonist are. Reminding the students to
keep the protagonist (themselves – their story) in mind as the focal point of their work
3.
Discuss the elements of design; line, shape, colour, texture
4.
Discuss simple aerial perspective
5.
Discuss the concept of “mixed media”
Procedure
1.a. Keep in mind the protagonist or focal point (person, place or thing) in their story
b. There are 3 steps to this project: pencil drawing, marker drawing and watercolour painting
c. Have students focus on a season. Choose SEASONAL COLOURS = brighter colours for spring and summer, muted colours for autumn
d. Keep in mind perspective: foreground / middle ground / background =
-Things in the foreground are large, bright and in focus
- Things in the background tend to be smaller, duller and are overlapped or partially
blocked by closer items
2. In class distribute paper and pencils and erasers to students.
2.a. Pencil Drawing: Have students do a light sketch on the paper. This sketch will tell their story
They will also be going over their drawing in pen and then in watercolour – so draw lightly =
easy to erase lines.
Introduction and drawing = 25 minutes
AFATravelling
Travelling
Exhibition
Program,
Edmonton,
AB780.428.3830
Ph: 780.428.3830
Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca
AFA
Exhibition
Program,
Edmonton,
AB. Ph:
Fax: 780.421.0479
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Colour Me a Story continued
3. Marker Drawing: While students are doing their pencil drawings, hand out the thin sharpies
Remind students they are not to touch or use the markers until asked to do so.
When everyone is ready, have students retrace their drawings in pen.
When their whole drawing is “re-drawn” in pen they can count to 5 – then erase all pencil marks
(this waiting ensures no ink will get smeared!)
Re-draw & erase = 10 minutes
4. While students are re-drawing in ink, hand out the brushes, rinse water and watercolour
paints
5. Watercolour Painting: Remind students to choose SEASONAL Colours – they are invited to
dilute their paints on a mixing tray.
Again, choosing clear bright colours for the foreground and dull or diluted colours for the background
Painting = 15 minutes… then clean-up
If time allows/studio ended early have a critique – have students choose a work that is not their
own and discuss 2 things they like about it:
- Talk about the colour choices. Do they make us “feel like winter”/like summer etc.?
- Talk about the colours the artist selected: dark, bright, cool, hot, dull, bright
- Talk about the mood or atmosphere of the work: dark, sad, happy, loud, quiet
- Does this artwork convey a story or narrative? Are we able to “read it” ourselves? What are our
visual clues?
Annora Brown
Brittany, Highlights, December 1951, Vol. 5, No. 3,
1951
Linocut, watercolour on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Poem Illustrations
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Poem Illustrations continued
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Crayon Etching Grades K-6
Print making is a process used by many of the artists represented in the exhibition
Storytellers. and the following four projects investigate various methods of this art
process. The activity Crayon Etching is a very simplified version of the processes used
by artists Derek Besant and Helen Mackie in the exhibition.
Grades K-6
Objectives:
Students will, through the studio activity, use mixed media to express a uniform composition.
Materials:
–wax crayons
–white drawing paper
–brushes
–paint trays
–sharp etching tools paper clips, pins, compasses, scissors, etc.)
–black tempera paint
–pencils
–water containers
–white cardboard
Methodology:
1. Have students create a drawing on newsprint. This could be something viewed from the
exhibition Storytellers or be based on a narrative created by the students.
2. Once the “rough” drawing is completed, have students re-draw their image on the white
cardboard.
3. Have students use wax crayons to colour in their drawing.
*Make sure students press hard when colouring and that they colour all areas of the
drawing. The most brilliant colours are recommended for the richest results.
4. When colouring is completed, have students cover their drawing with an even layer of black
tempera paint and allow this to dry.
*More than one coat of paint may be necessary so that the underlying colours are
completely covered. However, do not make the paint to thick, as when dry, it may chip during
the engraving process. Also, to make the paint adhere to the waxy, crayoned surface, it must, in
most cases, be conditioned with liquid soap.
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Crayon Etching continued
5. Have students draw with a variety of etching tools, guessing at the design underneath, or
referring to their preliminary drawing.
*Make sure they do not etch too deeply or they may rip the paper. The aim is to reveal
the drawing and colours underneath.
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Styrofoam Relief Prints K-6
Objectives:
Based on the linocut prints by Annora Brown and Cliff Robinson in the exhibition Storytellers
students will, through the studio activity, gain an understanding of:
a) What a print is (multiple images).
b) How a simple styrofoam print image is created.
c) How a styrofoam print image is related to other types of prints (i.e. linocuts).
Materials:
– Styrofoam printing plates (1 per student (approx. 3 ½ x 7”) these could be collected from
grocery store meat departments or deli departments and should be cut before class
– 2-3 block printing watercolour inks (the ink dries very fast so make sure to wait until the last
minute to roll it out on the glass and the plate. Use immediately. You could also use tempera
paints.
– Small plexiglas pieces to roll out ink on (one for every 4 students)
– Brayers-one per Plexiglas plate
– Pencils or nails for mark-making, crosshatching/shading,etc.
– Construction paper (for printing on) two 8x10” pieces per student
– Drawing paper (for rough design work)
– Newsprint
– Pressing tools such as clean brayers, spoons, or even fingertips
– Still life set-up/landscape or an image based on the exhibition
Methodology:
1. Using drawing paper, have students create their drawing. Drawing encourages students to
think about subject matter.
–Ask what they are interested in drawing within the still life/landscape/or an image based on
what they saw in the exhibition.
– Have students draw at least two small images they would like to print and have them show
examples of what they draw on paper before they make their plate.
2. Demonstrate the use of Styrofoam as the printing plate as well as how to draw into the
Styrofoam with a pencil (or nail) to create their image. Remember the marks that are created do
not go through the plate but only indent the Styrofoam or create grooves.
3. Pass out Styrofoam plates (one per student) and pencils and have students transfer their
image to their plates.
4. Roll out ink evenly on the plexiglass and show students how not to over-ink their plates. If this
happens, ink will get in the grooves and the lines will not show. Explain that the lines they have
drawn will be white.
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Styrofoam Relief Prints K-6 continued
5. Lay construction paper over the inked plate and, using a spoon (or other implement), evenly
press the paper over the plate. Make sure the paper is at least 2 inches larger than the Styrofoam plate.
6. Remove the construction paper to reveal the transferred, printed image.
*Note: The printed image will appear in reverse compared to the drawn plate image.
7. Printing more than one print:
*A student may print more than one print but he/she has to wash off the plate and dry it
thoroughly with a paper towel.
1. Draw into styrofoam to create image.
2. Use brayer to evenly ink plate.
3. After placing paper over plate, press
evenly with spoon or clean brayer.
4. Carefully lift paper from styrofoam
plate to produce finished print!
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Linocut Relief Prints 7-12
Lino Cut is a relief method of print-making. In this method the image is created by cutting
into a sheet of linoleum to create the image. When the sheet is inked, the ink sits on the
surface or on the raised areas. The areas which do not hold ink show up white in printing
and this forms the image. Lino Cut is the method used by Cliff Robinson in the print Leda.
Objectives:
Students will, through the studio activity, gain an understanding
of:
a) what a print is (multiple images)
b) how to create a linocut print image
Materials:
– a piece of line for each student (approx. 5”x7” in size– while
the lino can be any size, if it is too large, the process, which is
quite involved, could prove frustrating for many students.)
– hot plate and tin dish for heating the lino plate (to create ease
of cutting)
Cliff Robinson
Leda, n.d.
Linocut on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for
the Arts
– lino cutters (different sizes if possible)
– block printing watercolour inks
– small Plexiglass pieces to roll the ink out on
– brayers (one per Plexiglas piece)
– pencils
– drawing paper
– newsprint for proofing lino plates
– construction paper or cartridge paper -two 8x10 pieces per students (for good prints)
– spoons or other pressing implement
– still life/landscape materials or self-generated image or narrative.
Methodology:
1. Using drawing paper, have students create a still life or landscape drawing.
– drawing encourages students to think about subject matter
– ask what they are interested in drawing in the still life/landscape or an image based on
what they saw in the exhibition.
– have the students draw at least two small images that they would like to print and have
them show examples of what they draw on paper before they make their plate.
2. Demonstrate the use of lino as the plate and how to cut into the lino with a linocutter to create
their image (remember, the marks cut do not go through the plate but only indent it or create
grooves.)
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Linocut Relief Prints 7-12 continued
*Heat up the lino in the tin dish prior to cutting into it but DO NOT leave the lino on the dish
unsupervised. Turn off the heat before placing the lino in the dish and leave the lino there only
for a minute or so.
3. Pass out lino pieces (one per student) and pencils and have students transfer their image to
their plates.
4. Have students cut into their plates with linocutters to create their image. Demonstrate different
mark making methods to create tone and volume such as cross-hatching, thin and thick lines,
etc.
5. Roll out ink evenly on the Plexiglas and show students how not to over ink the plates. If this
happens, ink will get in the grooves and the lines will not show. Explain how, in their print, what
they have cut (the lines) will remain white.
6. Lay newsprint paper over the inked plate and, using a spoon (or other implement), evenly
press the paper on the plate to create a proof of the image.
*a proof is a “rough” print of the image and allows students to see if and
where more cutting is needed to refine the composition. *Make sure the paper is at least
two inches larger than the lino plate.
7. Remove the newsprint paper to reveal the transferred, printed image.
8. If necessary, clean the lino plate with water and refine the image by further ‘cutting’.
9. Re-ink the plate to create a second proof and agin refine if necessary.
10. Once final image is achieved, ink the plate and print on clean construction or cartridge paper.
11. Have students create a title and sign it with their name IN PENCIL at the bottom of their
print.
Printing more than one print: A student may print more than one print but he/she has
to wash the plate off and dry it first with paper towel.
*For an alternative, have students cut a linoleum print as usual. However, instead of printing
onto a single white sheet of paper, have students prepare the paper beforehand with free-form
pieces of coloured tissue paper. Have tissue papers cut or torn and glued in appropriate
locations on the printing paper. After the coloured tissues are scurely glued, the black-inked cut
linoluem is positioned over it and pressed heavily onto the paper. Then the ink block is removed.
The result is a colourfully constructed linoluem block print.
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Stories in Print Grades 4-9
This mixed-media project investigates the
creation of a narrative image using a variety of
art techniques. Through the project students
investigate the creation of print-images,
abstraction/simplification of images, collage and
art principles such as focus, balance,
complementary colours, and perspective.
Set up & studio hints
Designate an “Inking Station” and a “Clean
Station”.
Designate an “Batik Paint Station” and a “Clean
Station”
AGA School Tours File Photo
Fabric base, ink printed plate,
paper ‘batik’, oil pastel
Supplies:
- Pencils
- Water buckets
- Brown wrap or paper bag
- Newsprint for proofs
- Newspapers for printing on
- Variety of fabric pieces
- Oil pastel
- gr.4-6: 2 colours tempera (poured onto meat trays) with sponges to stencil
- gr.7-8: 2 colours of block printing ink
- Plexi pieces to roll ink
- Brayers: ink = inking plates & Clean = printing images
gr.4-6: one per student:
scissors
base fabric pieces – 10”x12”
stencil board (bristol board)
glue sticks
pencil, eraser, and paper for preliminary sketches
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Stories in Print Grades 4-9 continued
gr.7-8: one per student:
scissors
base fabric pieces – 10”x12”
cardboard plate (8”x6”)
xacto knives
glue sticks
pencil, eraser, and paper for preliminary sketches
Objectives
Through the studio project the students will:
1.
Discuss “what is a narrative”. What does it mean “to narrate”?
2.
Discuss and review what a protagonist and an antagonist are. Reminding the students to
keep the protagonist in mind as the focal point of their work (this will be incorporated into
the paper batik element).
3.
Discuss the elements of design and textiles; line, shape, colour, texture; visual & actual.
4.
Discuss the concept of “mixed media”.
5.
Discuss composition and how we read an image.
Procedure
1. Before class prepare 10”x12” base fabric pieces – various materials
2. In class distribute base fabrics, drawing paper and pencils to students
In choosing their fabric, students should try to choose fabric that reflects the narrative,
mood/setting of their story.
3. Have students do a preliminary sketch on the paper.
Explain that this sketch/idea should contain 1-2 fabric elements, one printed element
and one paper “batik” element to tell their story – narrate their point.
* Grades 4-6 will be given stencil plates. Their stencil plates will be used repetitively to
add visual emphasis ~ used as an element of their story (like trees, rocks or a house).
* In addition to fabric components the students will also get to draw on the fabric with oil
pastels. This should all be taken into consideration during the sketching process.
4. Paper Batik:
a. distribute 1 to each student: 4”x5” brown paper and a brightly coloured wax crayon.
b. students to cover the 4”x5” paper with wax crayon scribbles - Thick and even
application is most effective.
c. students to crumple the crayon paper into a tight ball – then flatten it out.
d. students to then paint over the crayon-side with a medium black tempera wash – then
wipe excess away with a paper towel.
e. Once the paper has dried students can draw onto the unpainted side and cut out that
element to be featured as the protagonist in their narrative.
*Drying time will be about 5-10 minutes. Paper Batik pieces can be set aside while
other work is done or a grown-up helper can use a blow-dryer to quicken drying.
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Stories in Print Grades 4-9 continued
5. Have students draw & cut “fabric elements”. This can be done “freehand” with pencils,
scissors and glue-sticks.
6. Repeat this process for the remaining elements of the composition. Students should be
encouraged to overlap their elements or place elements on top of each other (appliqué) to
create a greater sense of depth/perspective and interest.
7. Once the fabric elements are placed the faux batik element can also be placed.
* The batik should be fixed down last as it is the protagonist or main focus of their work.
8. The next important step is to incorporate their printed element.
*Like the fabric and paper batik elements, the printed element should further the
narrative of the story and blend with the other elements.
All elements should create a cohesive pictorial space, enhance perspective as well as
use colour and texture to create focal points within the work.
9. Grades 4-6:
Distribute heavier-stock paper (bristol board) to act as a stencil.
a. Students carefully cut-out a shape relating to their story or the tale that wish to visually
express.
This can be either a literal shape (a cat, dog, person) or a geometric shape they wish to
incorporate into their visual tale (eg. grouping of triangles)
b. Once the students have cut out their stencils they can move to the “printing station” to stencil
their shapes onto their fabric collages
* Remember to have an “inking station” separate from their work areas.
c. Have newspaper at the “print station” to place underneath the fabric bases.
If students “soak” their stencils with paint ~ the tempera will bleed through the fabric and
possibly ruin other work/create a huge mess on the work-tables.
d. Students to dab tempera paint through their stencil using the small sponges provided.
They can either use the stencil outlines or the stencil “positives” (the centers). Or both.e.
Keep in mind/remember this stencil is to enhance and add-to their narrative. Their stencil
plates will be used repetitively to add visual emphasis and be used as an element of their story
(like trees, rocks or a house)
DO NOT let the students get overly carried away with the stenciling element. *hint: set a limit on the number of times the kids can stencil (like 2-3 times)
Grades 7-8:
a. Hand out the 5”x6” cardboard plates and xacto knives*.
b. Using their pencils, students can sketch their printed image onto the cardboard plate.
Using their xacto knives, students carefully cut away the top layer of the cardboard, then peel
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Stories in Print Grades 4-9 continued
tear or cut the corrugated surface below. (By leaving some of the cardboard texture there will be
an enhanced “visual texture” to their image when printed in ink.)
*SAFETY! Xacto knives are adult art tools. We need these to accomplish the project but they
must be used carefully.
c. Proof the printed image – each student will do a primary printing of their plate onto newsprint
to check for line quality and depth, ink application and general image success.
1. Roll out a thin, even colour onto the cardboard plate
2. Place newsprint on top of plate.
3. Use a clean roller/brayer to press paper into the inked plate
d. Print image – same process, this time students print the image directly onto their fabric
1. Roll out a thin, even colour onto the cardboard plate
2. Place fabric on top of plate.
3. Use a clean roller/brayer to press the fabric into the inked plate
*If time/class size allows, students can do multiple printings of their plates or wash the plate and
select another colour for their additional print element
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art
Gr. 4-9
Begin by introducing a story…….* but DON”T TELL the students that this is a story.
Once upon a time on a beautiful (day of week, season, month name) morning/afternoon a group
of students from (name of school) went on a journey to the Art Gallery of Alberta (or local
community gallery/centre). One of the students, whose name was (pick a student at random
and use his/her name in your story) needed to go to the washroom so off he/she went. He/she
(name of student) was only gone a couple of minutes but when he/she (name of student) came
out he/she discovered that…..oh no!.....his/her group had disappeared – he/she couldn’t see
them anywhere! What was he/she (name of student) to do?
What do you think (name of student) should do? *gather a few student responses.
Now, he/she (name of student) was very clever and knew that all he/she had to do was ask
someone for help – but there was no one around to ask – no teachers; no gallery workers; no
one! So, not knowing what else to do, (name of student) set off on his/her own around the
building trying to find his/her group. He/she looked in this room and then that room. He/she
(name of student) went downstairs, and then back upstairs – but he/she (name of student)
couldn’t find his/her group anywhere! By this time (name of student) was getting really
tired – there were lots of stairs and rooms in the building! But (name of student) wouldn’t give
up. Just then (name of student) saw the doorway to a room he/she hadn’t gone in to. Maybe his/
her group were in there? (Name of student) walked slowly towards the room.
Suddenly he/she heard a loud noise! What was that?!
It sounded like someone was talking in the room. (Name of student) crept slowly up to the
doorway and looked in and there, to his/her amazement, he/she saw...
What do you think he/she saw? *gather a few student responses.
Following the above ‘story’ introduction, use the following questions for discussion:
- what have we just been doing? – telling a story
- what is a story? – it’s something which tells events or things that happen
- it’s something that can be real or imaginary
*relate these answers back to the story that was just told.
- why do people tell stories? – for entertainment
- for information – to tell about real events
- to teach us something – sometimes the story has a lesson or
teaches us how we should live or behave.
- what do all stories have? – characters; setting – a place(s) where they happen; action.
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The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art con’t
- where do we most often find stories? – in books
While we most often find stories in books, we can also find stories in paintings and other kinds
of art work. In fact, artists have been telling stories with paint and pencils and in stone and clay
ever since the time of cavemen! How long ago do you think that was?
What we are going to do is look at – how artists tell stories in their art work and
- examine the stories we can see in some of the art in the
exhibition.
Key concepts:
- What is a short story? – a piece of descriptive writing and a work of the imagination.
- What do all stories contain? – descriptive language and elements of setting; character; and plot
- the structure of a narrative: setting, character, action/conflict
- picture composition: foreground; mid ground; background
- colour: how colour shows space and provides focus (actual values and intensity)
how colour reflects/develops mood
- shape: how shape shows space and provides focus
Visit the exhibition on display and examine 4-5 works which will deal with the above
concepts to be considered for the studio and, following the first art work, review what has
been discussed.
Work #1 – focus on actual picture composition (foreground; mid ground; background) and
what the story might be. What do students see? What seems most important (character; setting;
or action)? Describe the most important thing in as much detail as possible. Why do you think
it is the most important or center of focus in the work? How does the artist make this thing the
center of focus? What is happening or might be happening in the work?
Work #2 – focus on colour: how colour creates space and mood – discuss colours seen;
intensity of colours as they compare to each other and what this means - What seems most
important (character; setting; or action)? Describe the most important thing in as much detail as
possible. How is colour used to create the focus? What is happening or might be happening in
the work?- also review picture composition
Work #3 – focus on how the colour(s) make them feel and why – discuss warm and cool
colours and how these can reflect mood – relate back to the work in question.
- What seems most important (character; setting; or action)? Describe the most
important thing in as much detail as possible. What is happening or might be happening in the
work?
- discuss shapes and how shapes provide focus and create space
- also review picture composition and how colour creates space.
Work #4 – review all the above concerns with this work and examine the idea of reality vs.
imagination – could this be a real story or a made-up story? How do you know?
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The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art con’t
Following artwork examination, have students choose one work in the exhibition and
create a short-story based on that work.
Studio Project
Sculpting Stories (cardboard relief)
Time Frame: Two Hours
Materials:
- scissors
- x-acto knives
- pencils
- white glue/glue sticks
- cardboard bases
- cardboard pieces
- acrylic paints/brushes/water containers
Students to design and create a relief card-board sculpture. This sculpture may focus on
A) a character in their story
B) the setting of their story
C) a portion of the narrative
If time allows, students may choose to paint their sculpture when construction is completed
In creating their work students must think about what would be closest to the viewer if the viewer
could touch the piece – the closest elements/forms would be the last forms built on to the
sculpture.
AGA School Tours File Photography
Character relief sculpture
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The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art con’t
Narrative Cardboard Relief Sculpture
Students envision and create an abstract relief sculpture. By investigating cardboard as a
sculptural media they learn how shape, line and texture can create a composition that has
mood, pattern and space. This studio focuses on the unique characteristics of relief sculptural
elements such as balance and unity.
Supplies
Pencils & Xerox paper
White glue and popsicle sticks
Scissors/xacto knives
Prepped 10”x12” cardboard bases
Misc cardboard pieces
Gr. 8 & 9 – xacto knives
Hot glue – under adult supervision ONLY
If Time allows:
Paint containers with tempera paint
Brushes
Objectives
Through the studio project the students will:
1. Discuss the differences between paintings and sculptures
2. Discuss the unique characteristics of relief sculptures
3. Discuss the elements of design; line, shape, colour, texture
4. Discuss the inspiration for their sculptures. Their creative writing exercises will be the basis
for these sculptures. These will probably be more representational sculptures, so students will
focus on 1 or 2 specific elements of design – while following a ”pattern-piece” method of creating
a layered artwork.
5. Older students (gr. 6-9) discuss positive and negative space
6. If Time: Discuss the changes colour can have on a sculpture/colour as mood
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The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art con’t
Procedure
1. Review key points: Line, shape, colour, texture. Review how different lines and shapes
portray a mood or feeling (zig-zag vs. wavy. geometric vs. organic)
Discuss the differences between paintings and sculptures and the unique characteristics of relief
sculptures.
Discuss the writing activities. Reinforce that this will be the basis of their project – they are to
portray through cardboard the narrative of their writing.
2. Hand out paper and pencils. Have the class take time to sketch out what they would like to
achieve through their sculptures.
Explain they should try to focus on 3-5 elements of their writing. They can add details after
this foundation has been constructed.
Intro and sketching should take approximately 15-20 minutes
3. Distribute cardboard bases 1/child. Remind students to put their names on their sculpture
bases. Reinforce they are to use/cover the entire base and that their sculptures can extend off
the sides (border) of the base.
4.
a. Explain and demonstrate an easy method for the students to begin to translate their sketches
into cardboard:
On the board: Make a pattern:
a. divide the picture into numbered spaces (see: diagram)
b. clearly number the picture elements on your drawing sheet. ** see diagram below
#1 = the thing furthest away/in the background
#3 = the thing closest to the front/in the foreground
c. cut out the numbered paper shapes
d. use these paper-shape cut-out’s to trace that item onto cardboard
e. cut out cardboard trace-shapes
NOTE: in order to create better depth to your sculpture, add smaller supporting pieces
underneath the main shape. This will add height and space to your sculpture.
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The Creative Classroom: Stories in Art con’t
5. Encourage students to experiment with their pieces to go beyond “the frame of the base”.
Pieces could be hanging off of the border, stacked or stretched.
Encourage layering and texture of pieces. Peel the smooth cardboard off to reveal the
corrugated interior.
6. Again stress careful joining and using only enough glue to hold.
*Stress craftsmanship, quality and pride in their sculptures and the way in which the sculptures
are constructed.
7. If there is time: When the majority of students have their sculpture glued distribute the palates
of tempera paint, rinse water (can be shared between 2-4 students) and brushes.
*Again, discuss the careful application of paint and colour mixing.
(Demo colour mixing on the easel if colour theory is not common to them)
The students can mix in the empty sections of the egg carton or in the lid. Stress that the over
mixing of paint produces “mud”.
Students should be trying for different colours and different textures.
Review concepts of colour and movement; bright colours “jump out” whereas dull colours “sit
back” or are “more quiet” in appearance.
What 2 colours best describe the personality/mood their sculpture is portraying?
If time allows have a critique – have students choose a sculpture that is not their own and
discuss 2 things they like about it:
- Talk about the physical structure in describing words: tall, thin, flat, bumpy
- Talk about the colour used in describing words: dark, bright, cool, hot, dull, vivid
- Talk about the mood of the sculpture: dark, sad, happy, loud, quiet
- Recap points discussed in lesson: line, shape, texture, colour
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Cartoon Art
Hogan’s Alley
The Yellow Kid
Richard F. Outcault
1895
Hogan’s Alley
McFadden’s Row of Flats
Richard F. Outcault
New York Journal, 1896
Theodore Nelson
Our Synopsis thus far, 1989
Acrylic, ink on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
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Cartoon Art continued
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Cartoon Art continued
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Art on Film
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Art on Film continued
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Comic Strip Design
Objectives:
1. Design an original cartoon character
2. Understand the creative process and development of a cartoon from brainstorming to final
draft
3. Use the correct terminology associated with cartooning
4. Recognize the different kinds of cartooning including a gag comic, comic strip, caricature, and
a comic book.
Materials:
scrap paper, graph paper, pencils, erasers, colored pencil, markers, final draft paper, templates
Instructional Resources:
Assorted cartooning videos, comic books, Sunday and weekday comic strips, cartooning books
Vocabulary: gag, caricature, strip, comic book, panel, thumbnail sketch, plot, point of view,
cropping, rule of thirds, caption, bubble, narrative
Introduction/Motivation:
Brainstorm favorite cartoons (include TV, comic book, movies, comic strips)
Look at main characters and analyze personality, plot, and characteristics of comic character
i.e.: hero, clutz, nerd, shy, boastful, popular, cute, brave, funny
Brainstorm possible character types for original cartoon character I.e.: animals, babies,
teenagers, elderly, teachers, athletes, aliens
Look at displays and sample cartooning ideas
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Comic Strip Design continued
Procedure:
Write out a written description of the original character. What is the characters name? What type
of character will it be? Describe the personality and what type of events or circumstances the
character might be involved in. Will the character have a supporting cast or a side-kick? Will the
character have props or a special environment that they live in?
Begin making thumbnail sketches of what the character might look like. Take one idea and
continue to develop the character showing both a frontal and side view. Include the full body
and any props the cartoon will need. Add colour and detail. Turn in 2 view character drawing for
approval. This drawing will be used as the standard for both the comic and the sculpture so it will
need to be returned to the student for the next steps.
Choose either the comic strip or the comic book cover assignment.
Panel – Look at different layouts of a comic strip. Create a rough draft template with a minimum
of 3 action panels and a title panel. Below or above each panel jot down the ideas for the action
or spoken plot. Sketch ideas in each panel. Think about point of view, size, cropping, and the
rule of thirds when designing each panel. Turn in rough draft for approval. Transfer rough draft
to final draft paper. Draw lightly in pencil. Add lettering, detail and color. Finish with a fine point
marker outline.
Comic Book Cover – Look at the different sizes and shapes of comic books. Create a rough
draft book. Include the title, character, background, props, captions, etc. Think about point of
view, size, cropping, and the rule of thirds, and a border when designing the cover. Turn in rough
draft for approval. Transfer ideas to the final draft. Draw lightly in pencil, add colour and finish in
marker. The final cover design should include details such as a bar code, price, and other details
found on a real comic book cover.
comic strip template
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Altered Books
Background: Altered books is an art form in which existing books are reworked into works of
art, often manifested in a variety of ways. The existing book becomes the canvas for the new
ideas and images. Sometimes words or images from the book are retained as a part of the
altering. At other times the book is entirely obscured to become a new idea.
Altered books are actually an old way of recycling. In the 11th Century Italian monks recycled old
manuscripts written on vellum by scraping off the ink and adding new text and illustrations on top
of the old. This was known as “Palimpsest.”
In the late 19th century people used old books as a sort of scrapbook, pasting on their pages the
ephemera from their society including magazine images, personal recipes, and family pictures.
Today artists are exploring the form of the book along with its substance. Existing images and
text become something entirely new. Tom Phillips’ Humument is one of the first contemporary
examples of this art. By covering, cutting, and changing the structure, altered books run the
gamut from books that have become shrines to books that are transformed into colourful images
totally unrelated to their origins.
Objective: To transform a discarded book into a creative work of art that encompasses a
theme and utilizes a variety of media and techniques.
Some ideas for ways to alter books:
Some suggested supplies:
Book as Theme – develop the book to reflect
the theme of the book or create artworks
throughout the book that reflects the story line
*Books! Various shapes, sizes and titles
hole punches, scissors, X-acto knives
stamps and stamp pads
gloss medium
scissors, craft knives
glue and glue sticks
assorted papers – handmade, vellum
collage items
crayons
oil pastels
wallpaper scraps
watercolours, gesso, acrylic paint
fabric pieces
markers
ribbon, lace
Xeroxed copies of images for transfers
Tell a Story – create images through the book
to tell a new story
Book as Art – use the book as the form/base
for individual art not related to the book
Word(s) Inspired – block out word(s) from
selected text to highlight visually in single or
multiple sections
Found Poetry – use words on the page to
make up a poem
vocabulary: form, function, sculpture, three-dimensional, mixed media, altered, theme
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Altered Books continued
Procedure:
1. Introduce the students to the art form using images, background/history and information
including form versus function.
2. Make a media chart (see materials list) to use as reference.
3. Have students select discarded books based on size, title or form.
4. To ease students into the process, have them trace their hand on the inside cover of their
book. It may extend into the title page of the book Fill the traced hand with patterns.
5. The remaining portion of the page is painted with tempera paint.
6. Demonstrate the tape transfer technique (see below). Students should transfer their name
using this technique and add it to the painted page.
7. Have students decide on a theme: based on particular unit of study, using one of the traits of
character education (tolerance, commitment, responsibility, respect, etc), exploring a social
issue, or visually tell the story in the book.
8. Refer to the list of techniques for students to complete their altered book.
9. Final class critique when the project is completed.
An example of an altered book where the artist has illustrated the text of the story
Techniques:
–Tape Transfer: Choose a picture or letters
from a magazine. Carefully place the image
on clear packing tape, image facing the sticky
side. Wet thoroughly, allowing water to
saturate the paper. Carefully rub away the
paper, leaving only the ink on the tape. The
tape will remain sticky and can be placed
directly on your project.
– Cut letters from scrap paper and create
words on page.
– Mask some words from the text, use
correction tape or removable masking tape.
Decorate as desired with paint, glaze, ink and
then remove the tape
– Marble or monoprint pages
– Glue thick sections of pages together. Use
craft knife to cut windows or niche.
– Cut images and glue down to pages mosaic
style.
– Use envelopes or make pockets for things
in the book.
– Punch holes and paint behind them or glue
vellum or colored tissue over them.
– Make slits on the page and create a
weaving with paper or ribbon.
–Magazine or cut paper collage of images of
the object or subject.
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Story Quilts
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Story Quilts continued
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Telling Tiles
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Telling Tiles continued
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Telling Tiles continued
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Telling Tiles continued
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Documentary Character Portraits - High School
This project is based on the documentary and social commentary photographic works of
Bernard Bloom, Mark D. Hobden, and Trig Singer in the exhibition Storytellers and the work of
Dorthea Lange for the FAS project in the 1930s.
Objectives
Students will determine what information is unnecessary to a photograph for it to portray the
most powerful image.
Students will tell how they feel when seeing photographic works from the exhibition and Dorthea
Lange’s Migrant Mother series and talk about their own lives in relation to those images.
Students will use a computer to crop an image.
Materials
Digital Camera(s) (one per student if possible)
Magazines with images of news going on today for look and talk sessions
Images from Dorthea Lange’s Migrant Mother series for discussion purposes
Mat board for cropping and displaying images
Procedure
1. Discuss with students the idea of portraiture and social documentary. Study images from
the exhibition Storytellers and by Dorthea Lange to facilitate discussion.
Focus Questions: What is a portrait? What is social documentary? In studying these images,
what factors do you think might go into a photographer’s decision to crop or not to crop an
original image? Does cropping an image make a difference in how we read/feel about the
image?
note* Dorthea Lange’s work: Lange happened upon this family by their tent in a pea pickers’
camp in California. She took six photographs of the family, starting from forty feet away, moving
closer and closer to them with each photograph. Do you think seeing this family from forty feet
away would be different from how you see them up close? Why or why not?
2. Students will take this issue of capturing social commentary and translate that into a
contemporary photograph. They will
- choose a photograph from a magazine
- have to present their photograph with information on who/what it is, why they chose it, and
what speaks to them in the piece. They will also explain how the photographer may have
decided to crop the piece and what makes it a strong/weak composition.
3. Students will then have one week to find and produce their own photograph that speaks to
‘us’ today. In their work they will explore ideas of cropping, composition, and elimination of
unnecessary information as artists from the exhibition and Dorthea Lange did in their works.
credit: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtSSCIPhotography-DortheaLangeMigrantMother912.htm
revision of above: Shane Golby
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Documentary Character Portraits - continued
Dorthea Lange, Migrant Mother
Dorthea Lange, Migrant Mother
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Documentary Character Portraits - continued
Dorthea Lange, Migrant Mother
Dorthea Lange, Migrant Mother (published image)
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Vera Greenwood
An Alberta Rat, 1990
Acrylic, china marker on plywood
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Glossary
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Glossary
Art Genre - variety or type of artistic expression
Avante-Garde - a term, usually reserved for the arts, referring to those who create or apply new
or experimental ideas and techniques
Culture - the beliefs, values, socially transmitted behaviors and traditions, language, arts and
other human endeavours considered together as being characteristics of a particular
community, period or people
Environment - what constitutes immediate surroundings and can include physical, human and
natural elements
Formal Balance– symmetrical arrangement of architectural elements on each side of a centre
axis
Generic - referring to something general or not specific
Genre Scenes/Genre Paining - paintings which represent scenes or events from everyday life
Group - people who are together and connected by shared interests and characteristics
Hierarchy - persons or things arranged in a graded series
History Painting - the depiction of events (usually grand or important historical events) that
may or may not have happened. An art genre prevalent in Europe during the 18th and 19th
centuries
Naïve Art - artwork produced by artists who are without, or who have very little, formal training
Narrative Art - art that tells a story
Neo-Classical - a revival of classical styles in art
Patronage - giving support or showing favour to something
Perspective - the science of painting and drawing so that objects represented have apparent
depth and distance
- a view of things (objects or events) in their true relationship or relative
importance
Plein Aire - term used for a painting which conveys the feeling of open air and atmosphere or,
more usually, term for painting actually done in the open air instead of in the studio
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Glossary continued
Post-Modern - a term which describes art movements which both arise from, and react against
or reject, trends in modernism. Characteristics which lend art to being ‘postmodern’ are the use
of words prominently as the central artistic element, collage, simplification, appropriation, the
recycling of past styles and themes in a modern-day context, and the break-up of the barrier
between fine and high arts and low art and popular culture
Outsider Art - English term derived from the French art brut, a label used to describe art
created outside the boundaries of official culture. Created by French artist Jean Dubuffet, art
brut focuses on art created by insane-asylum inmates and children. The English term ‘outsider
art’ is applied more broadly to include any self-taught or naïve art makers
Symbolism - representation of abstract or intangible things by means of symbols or emblems
Tableaux - a striking or artistic grouping
- a static depiction of a scene presented on a stage by costumed participants
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Credits
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
SOURCE MATERIALS:
Genre Painting - Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained, Editors:
Alexander Sturgis and Hollis Clayson, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, NY., 2000, pp. 194-217
History Paintings - Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained, Editors:
Alexander Sturgis and Hollis Clayson, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, NY., 2000, pp. 118-133
History painting - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_painting
Genre Painting - http://www.answers.com/topic/genre-painting-2
Hierarchy of genres - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_genres
Genre works - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_works
Genre works - http://reference.canadaspace.com/search/Genre%20works/
How to Read a Painting: Lessons from the Old Masters, Patrick De Rynck, Published by Harrn N.
Abrams Inc., New York, 2004, pp. 324-329
Genre - http://www.answers.com/topic/genre-7
Genre Painting - http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/genres/genre-painting.htm
History of Art, 2nd Edition, H.W. Janson, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. and Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., New York, 1977
Genre Painting - http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/229297/geanre-painting
Painting Genres - http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/painting-genres.htm
Dutch Realist School - http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/genres/genre-painting-dutch-realist-school.htm
Genre works - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_painting
The Usborne Book of Art Skills, Fiona Watt, Usborne Publishing Ltd., London, England, 2002
Fauvism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauvism
History of Photography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography
Documentary Photography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_photography
HIstory of Photography, Peter Turner, Brompton Books Corporation, Greenwich, CT., USA, 1987
Documentary Photography, Time Life Library of Photography, Time Life Books, New York, 1972
Pictorial Photography - http://www.answers.com/topic/pictorial-photography-2
Pictorialism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictorialism
Robert Demachy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Demachy
Ansel Adams - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams_Gallery
The Picture History of Photography, Peter Pollack, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1977
Introduction to the History of Photography - http://photographyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/landscape-photography-documentary-and...
Modernism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism
A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher, Helen D. Hume, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
San Francisco, 2000
Naïve art - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_art Folk Art - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_art
Outsider Art - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art
Storytelling - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling
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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Credits continued
History of Storytelling - http://www.storytellingday.net/history-of-storytelling-how-did-storytelling.html
Narrative Art - http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/n/narrative.html
Narrative Art - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_art
Tate Collection: Narrative - http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.
jsp?entryId=183
MOCA: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles: Narrative art - http://www.moca.
org/pc/viewArtTerm.php?id=24
Art in Action, Guy Hubbard, Indiana University, Coronado Publishers, 1987, Poem Illustrationspp. 126-127; Cartoon Art - pp. 130-131; Art on Film - pp. 132-133
A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher, Helen D. Hume, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., San Francisco, 2000, pp. 66-68
Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts - htp://www.ninahaggertyart.ca/about.php
Leda and the Swan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leda_and_the_Swan
Pygmalion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(mythology)
This exhibition was developed and managed by the Art Gallery of Alberta for
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Funding provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Shane Golby – Program Manager/Curator
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Region 2
Sherisse Burke –TREX Assistant
FRONT COVER IMAGES:
Left: Gerry Dotto, Speak of the Kettle, 2012, Colour Photograph, Collection of the Alberta
Foundation for the Arts
Top Right: Jacques Rioux, Newspaper Rock, Utah, 1992, Silver gelatin, selenium toned
photograph on paper, Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Bottom Right (left): Helen Mackie, Rodeo Bar, n.d., Etching on paper, Collection of the Alberta
Foundation for the Arts
Bottom Right (right): Mark Traficante, Auntie Josephine’s Wedding circa 1980, 2012, Acrylic on
canvas, Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
youraga.ca