WebQuest- Blek's Stencil Graffiti

Blek le Rat is considered by some to be the originator of stencil graffiti art. Stencil graffiti makes use of paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The design is cut out of the selected medium and the image is transferred to a surface through spray paint or roll-on paint.

Blek le Rat’s main motivation is the social consciousness and the desire to bring art to the people. He began his artwork in Paris in 1981 and he’s made a great impact on today’s graffiti movement.

First Rats in Paris

Original Stencil Pioneer

He began decorating the streets of Paris in 1981 with a rat stencil in hopes of invading the streets with rats. He was inspired to create this stencil after seeing the graffiti in New York City in the 70’s. However, he did not want to copy the American style of graffiti. He wanted to generate a style that was fitting to Paris and so he chose the stencil. After the rats, he moved onto life sized portraits.

Man Who Walks Through Walls


Task
Students will create their own self-portrait from a photograph using the stencil graffiti technique. However, they will be producing their art on paper and roll-on paint rather than using public buildings and spray paint.

How to create a stencil

How to create a stencil from a photograph using PhotoshopSpace Cowboy

Process
Review these websites:
Pioneer of Street Art
Blek le Rat for SALE (notice how he works on paper now)

Questions for discussion:
Do you think Blek’s art is art? Why?
Do you think it’s wrong to paint on public buildings to make a statement, or do you feel it’s a freedom of expression?

Checkpoint Charlie

Project- Self-portrait Stencil
Take a picture of yourself and load it into Photoshop to create your stencil.
Follow the Photoshop directions
Gather the materials needed to cut out your stencil
i.e. scissors, exacto knife, cutting pad, image, and paper to cut stencil out of
After cutting stencil out, tape it onto your sheet of paper.
Gather materials to roll-on the paint
i.e. small roller and acrylic paint (one color), and dish to put paint into and roll on
Roll paint over stencil.
Set aside to dry.

Evaluation
Each student will be assessed on:
- Completed assignment
- Craftsmanship with stenciling
- Showed effort

Conclusion
This WebQuest is to provide a better understanding in the navigation of the internet for research. It has given you background knowledge in Stencil Graffiti and the artist Blek le Rat. It has also given you the experience of creating an image in the style of Blek.

Sources
Art Republic
Official website of Blek le Rat
Artnet
No Walls Gallery
Molotow Blog

Instructional Resource

Salvador Dali and Surrealism

By Rebecca D’Angeli


The Three Sphinxes of Bikini, Salvador Dali (1947)

Grade Level: 7th to 9th grade

Objectives
Students will:
o Learn and discuss surrealism and its characteristics.
o Observe and research Salvador Dali and his paintings.
o Write a paragraph on a dream or idea that will inspire a studio activity.
o Create a collage inspired by Salvador Dali and the subject of the written exercise.

Surrealistic artwork consists of realistic and irrational elements that describe dreamlike fantasies. This style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility (White, 2005). In this instructional resource, students will be introduced to Surrealism and the artist Salvador Dali.

Surrealism as a movement:
Surrealism was a literary movement that began in the early 1920’s and experimented with a new way of expression called automatism (Voorhies, 2000). Automatism was used to seek the imagination of the subconscious mind (Voorhies, 2000). The movement officially began with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by poet and critic Andre Breton (1896-1966) (Voorhies, 2000). Breton and other men where influenced by the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud and the political views of Karl Marx (Voorhies, 2000).

Using Freudian methods of free association, their poetry and ideas touched upon the private world of the mind, which was restricted by reason and social limitations, to produce surprising imagery (Voorhies, 2000). Surrealism followed Dadaism that also disregarded tradition.


The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali (1931)



Surrealist artist:
Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Salvador Dali was a Spanish painter who used strange dream imagery to create unusual landscapes of his inner mind. He passed through phases of Cubism, Futurism, and Metaphysical painting before joining the Surrealist artists in 1929 (Thomas, 1998).
He was seen as strange and eccentric and claimed it was the source of his creative energy. For example, he arrived at the opening of the London Surrealist exhibition in a diving suit (Thomas, 1998).

Dali described his images as a painting of a photograph of a dream. He also used certain recurring images such as the human figure with drawers, burning giraffes, and bent watches that flowed as if dripping like water.

In 1937, Dali traveled to Italy and took on a more traditional style of painting. His new style and his political views led Breton to expel him from the Surrealist group (Thomas, 1998). He moved to the United States in 1940 and remained there until 1948 (White, 2005). While in the United States, he spent most of his time publicly promoting himself and his work (White, 2005).

Dali did not limit himself to a certain media (White, 2005). Along with painting he sculpted, illustrated books, designed jewelry, and worked for theatres. He also made the first surrealist films with director Luis Bunuel called Un chien Andalou (1929) and L’Age d’or (1930), as well as a dream sequence to Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945) (Thomas, 1998).


La Tentation de Saint Antoine, Salvador Dali



Questions for discussion:
o How do you feel about Salvador Dali’s paintings?
(confused, angry, happy, etc.)
o Do you consider his work to be creative? Why?
o What do you think Salvador Dali’s reasons were for painting these images?

Lesson Idea:
1. Class research and discussion.
As a class research and discuss Surrealism and Salvador Dali’s paintings. What are some of the characteristics of surrealism? What are some of the images Dali used to create a surrealistic painting?
2. Writing exercise.
Have the students write a paragraph about a recent dream they had. What images would they use to describe that dream in a painting?
3. Studio activity.
As a class, search through magazines to find images for a collage that will represent their writing exercise. Remind the students that the images that are cut out can be combined with other images to create a new form. After they’ve chosen their images, have them draw a landscape to place them in. When the landscape is drawn, then glue the images down.

Concluding Activity:
Discuss the activity as a class. Have the class discuss what they learned about Salvador Dali and Surrealism. Have the class share their written exercise and discuss how they related the paragraph to their collage. How does there collage represent their dream? Does the collage depict characteristics of Surrealism? How?

References:
White , Kathy (2005). Biography. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from Dalí Museum Web site: http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/history/biography.html
Thomas, Jean-Jacques (1998). Salvador dalí biography. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from Surrealism Website: http://www.duke.edu/web/lit132/dalibio.html
Voorhies, James (2000). Surrealism. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from The Metropolitan Museum Website: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm