This was a grade 9 group assignment I did last year. I will do some version of it again this year. The project incorporated so many things that I feel are important in art: imagination, exploration, experimentation, problem solving. I love the idea of students telling stories through art.
The project actually started in my mind as an abstract expressionist painting: a fun and rambunctious change of pace from some pretty tight and controlled painting that we had just finished. I was inspired by the work of Terry Winters and wanted to have bold lines as the major compositional elements. At about the same time I was thinking about cross-section illustrations and cool science textbook geological cross-sections showing the different layers of the earth. The two ideas started cross-pollinating in my head and I started thinking about the compositional lines as tunnels. The project bloomed from there. My assignment sheet is below followed by the work that was created for the project. Note: These paintings are HUGE! If you click on the images they will appear larger in gallery view.
And it's the 'intersections' of the tunnels, of the stories that speak to ideas of random choices, random conversations that can lead to different points of view, different perspectives on an event and maybe even 'change.' Of course, how exciting to think of the many 'sub' (excuse the pun)plots. These are indeed lively and fun. Bravo!
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