Visual Art Lesson Plan: Surrealism
Surrealism in Art: Review of Activities and Adventures in Surrealism
Explore the art of Surrealism through the eyes of Joyce Raimondo. She has written an excellent book on teaching Surrealist art to students of all ages.
Book Title: Imagine That! Activities and Adventures in Surrealism
Author: Joyce Raimondo
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
Teacher Review
Ramondo has written four outstanding art books to introduce students to Surrealism, Expressionism, Impressionism, and Pop Art. Her books are a great resource for teachers as they have simple art projects and numerous open ended questions about examining art styles. Activities and Adventures in Expressionism is one of four in her Art Explorers Series.
Surrealism is art that is created by the artist's perceptions of the world. Surrealist art evokes strong positive or negative emotion and each piece of art has a message to the world. The message seen will be dependent on the art critiques life experiences. Their main tools to create the art are their imagination and courage to play with art.
The author's insight about students talking about art before creating is great, as it makes students be a part of the process and not simple recreate Surrealists art. Also, I appreciated her brief autobiography of the Surrealist artists, to open the student's world to different and unique styles of art in the same genre.
Her book was written for teachers in the arts, but is also useful for social studies, science, health, and language arts teachers. For example, the language arts teachers can display one of the great artists work and ask students to write a story based on the image. As well, the social studies teacher may have students create art to illustrate their perceptions of a culture.
Raimondo's books are easy to implement into any school curriculum and are filled with exceptional lessons. As a bonus, she has suggested open ended questions for students to explore the art of Surrealism.
Joyce Raimondo wrote an interesting book that allows teachers to veer from the more traditional art to art that can be incorporated into a variety of subjects. Her book is geared for junior, middle, and high school students. Enjoy implementing her lessons into your classroom effortlessly.
Joyce Raimondo Books
Express Yourself: Activities and Adventures in Expressionism
Picture This: Activities and Adventures in Impressionism
