Sunday, September 21, 2014

Salvador Dali's Mustache


Salvador Dali
1909-1989
Surrealist
Activity: Drawing & sculpting pipe cleaners
Materials: drawing paper, sharpies, scissors, glue sticks, black construction paper, pipe cleaners

Slideshow: Here's a link to a fantastic slideshare presentation I found on slideshare, made by Alice Fernandz. (Note: I find the best way to use it is to save it onto your computer, then email it to the teacher). 

Meet the Artist: Salvador Dali was a fascinating artist and human being. Here are a couple of short (kind of funny), well-put together articles that will hopefully help you to get a bit of a background...
And if you have time for a bit more, this in-depth article from Smithsonian magazine

Discussion: The younger the kids, the simpler to make it. I'd focus on asking our 3 discussion questions - what do you see? what more can you find? and what makes you say that? - on the slide with his most famous painting, "The Persistence of Memory," and show them the picture of him with his crazy mustache. Maybe talk about if anyone has ever had a really weird dream, and how that dream made them feel. Was it real? Or - were just those feelings real?  

With older classes, you might also want to throw out the word surrealism, defining it as a different reality more related to dreams and the ideas that emerge from them, while looking at "The Persistence of Memory" in the slideshow. Perhaps mention that the point of Dali's painting was his idea that time is an illusion - hence the melty clocks, and see what they have to say about that. Again, the question about dreams - are they real? are the feelings they make you feel real? - might be an interesting discussion. Dali felt they were more real than "reality."

Art Activity: This activity (it is all over pinterest!) is about creating a bit of surrealist art - a self-portrait with a crazy Dali-esque pipe cleaner mustache. Have the kids close their eyes, and imagine themselves in a dream. Have them think of silly things that have happened to them in dreams (you might want to have a couple of kids share).

Pass out the white drawing paper and the sharpie, and have the kids draw an oval head, and then other facial features which comprise a self-portrait. If they want, they can include some of the wacky things from their dream memories (although you do want them to focus on the face). This lesson isn't really one to be concerned with making things look realistic in their portrait - just encourage them to have fun with the drawing. As they are working, go around and poke 2 holes in their paper beneath their drawn-noses. Demonstrate how to thread the pipe cleaner through the holes, with the ends sticking out like a mustache on either side. Then have them shape the mustache. The last step is to cut out their portrait and glue it onto a piece of construction paper.

Sample:

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