Shuffled Compositions

To begin a typical high-school art project, we plan, prepare, consider, and envision. We spend time working through thumbnails, materials, and ideas before we even get started. There’s so much more than the finished product to consider in this process. So, how can we create more adventurous art-makers? By giving bold, impulsive prompts that promote whimsical production!

There are times when students need the autonomy to explore and be playful in their art-making. This doesn’t have to be at the expense of the quality or aesthetic of the finished product. Much of the work done by professional artists is experimental. In their process, they focus on expression and spontaneous decision making more than on preparing and planning. Value in artistic expression should not be based on the time spent, but on the originality and vision behind the artwork.

Micro Lab Preparation
At the end of the semester, I wanted to create an exciting and fast-paced micro lab where students could explore composition, layering, image, and color. As high-school teachers know, the end of a semester can drag on, and the goal is to get the art room “closed down.” Opportunities like this allow students to take risks in their art-making without having to worry about a grade or a finished product.

I find that students struggle with depth of space in a composition and the use of a foreground, middle ground, and background. I collected media with this in mind, starting with opaque materials such as magazine pages, book pages, recycled papers, solid paper, and painted paper. Next, I focused on translucent materials such as old transparencies, vellum, tracing paper, and tissue paper. Students could also use personal papers such as notes, drawings, and photos.

Shuffling the Deck
Once students arrived in class, they selected a partner to work with. I gathered some of the papers and gave a demonstration at the classroom drafting table. I put together seven folders of various papers students could use in combination with their own materials, and put one folder on a desk to create a station. Each pair of students would go to a station and familiarize themselves with the materials, taking texture, opacity, color, and size into consideration. They had five minutes to decide what types of materials they would work with. I set a timer and asked students to arrange their papers on the floor under their desk in an interesting composition, giving them five minutes to make adjustments and photograph their work. They continued experimenting and photographing each new arrangement, working on the compositions under their desk to block the overhead and ambient light and prevent reflections in their photographs. When the time was up, I asked the pairs to leave the folders at the desk and go to the next station, allowing them a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the new folder of materials.

Mixed-Media Compositions
My goal was to have each pair work at least seven stations during the period and capture thirty-five to fifty unique compositions. At this point, they could review their photos, select ten arrangements, and use their phone or iPad to crop and edit these pieces into amazing mixed-media compositions. Once students identified their most stellar composition, they came up with unique ways to present their work, such as placing it into old wood boxes or incorporating it into another work.