Assignment #4: Personal Identity Collage

Assignment #4: Personal Identity Collage

·         A collage is a work of art that combines various materials to create a composition with visual unity.

·         You may use a variety of materials from magazine cut outs to old pictures. Magazines, newspapers, and photographs are commonly used, but the more creatively you use mixed media, the more inventive and intriguing your collage tends to be.

·         Remember that art is the playground of free expression.

·         Artists are trying to exhibit some idea or communicate certain feelings. Your work of art is the vehicle for this idea or concept, insight or emotion.

·         Be conscious of the overall effect you hope to achieve and the dominant impression you wish to impart.  Emphasis is important and can be expressed in a variety of ways using a variety of techniques. Think elements of composition and design here. How might color or size or juxtaposition or repetition emphasize an idea or theme?

·         Ultimately, only you can tell how to best express your concept.

·         Visual art is music to the eyes, so make it dance.  Use positive and negative space as well as size and color.  How do the lines work?  What shapes are created?  How does one thing interrelate with another?  How have you organized the overall composition?

·         Make your collage dance to the beat of your own drum and reflect your own personal identity/worldview. Think deeply about who you are and how you got to be the way you are.  Think about how you go about being in the world and of the people, places, things, and ideas that have influenced you.

Ask yourself:

• What is it that makes me a unique individual?
• What do I like to do?
• What are my core values and goals?
• What words and images reflect my views on life and the things I care deeply about?
• What is the central focus of my life?
• Who am I?
• How have people, experiences, and places shaped me?
• What/Who are the threads that weave the fabric of your life?
• What symbols best represent my true self?

Planning the composition:

• Collect objects, images, and text.
• Apply composition and design principles.
• Unity:  does everything work together?
• Color:  dominance, balance, blending, contrast, complementary, etc.
• Texture: mixing media adds texture
• Line:  typically, a grid provides stability whereas a diagonal line implies slippage or uncertainty; a spiral intimates dynamic flow and seems to move both inward and outward simultaneously
• Rhythm:  established through patterns and the interplay of compositional elements.
• Positive/Negative space:  Does the background provide context or contrast?  What is emphasized as the subject matter of the work?

Written Component : When you finish your collage, please also submit to me a short paragraph describing your concept and explaining the images and their placement with respects to your personal identity

NOTE: Please type the written component on a separate sheet of paper (& don't affix it to the project itself). Chances are your photography instructor is going to get you to start a photography journal and this collage and write up, along with the assignments we’ve done together this week will be added to your journals.

1.      Include a discussion of what you are trying to express.

2.      Explain which elements of your collage represent what part of your life.

3.      Explain what you hope the viewer will come to understand about you by looking at your creation.

Examples: