The subjective frame

'The Scream' is a powerful image that describes an intense emotional experience. Refer to the artwork image and text above to learn about 'The Scream', and then complete the following activities.

Record your responses in a document to share with your teacher, including images of your artwork and any planning sketches or research material.

Critical and historical studies

• Paste a copy of the artwork image and citation into your document.

• What kind of emotion is the figure in the painting experiencing? How has the artist used colour, shape and line, and distortion/manipulation to communicate that emotion?

• Read Edvard Munch's diary entry that he wrote about 'The Scream', which is sometimes displayed alongside the artwork when it is exhibited. How does this poem help audiences understand the meaning of the artwork?

• Make a list of words and phrases from Munch's poem that relate to emotions or imagination.

Artmaking

• Write down five different emotions, and brainstorm ways they could be represented visually, including through facial expression and body language. Consider the ways that the choices you make about the visual language (colour, lines, tones, shapes, composition, signs and symbols etc) can more effectively convey emotion and mood to an audience.

• Create a series of artworks that recreate Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' but explore different emotions. Give your appropriated works simple descriptive titles like 'The Laugh', 'The Fear' or 'The Proud'.

Your artwork could be completed as a drawing or painting, or as a digital photograph. Consider how you could distort or manipulate your image to convey your emotion, for example by drawing expressive lines or shapes over the top of a photograph.

• Write a short poem or narrative to accompany your work, inspired by Edvard Munch's diary entry about 'The Scream'. Think about how you would use expressive language to communicate an intense emotional experience. Think about phrases from Munch's poem like 'flaming clouds like blood and swords' or 'quaking with angst'.

Refer to the artwork image, text, and video above to learn about Louise Bourgeois' sculpture 'Maman', and complete the following activities.

Record your responses in a document to share with your teacher, including images of your artwork and any planning sketches.

Critical and historical studies

• Paste a copy of the artwork image and citation into your document.

• Copy and paste the provided text about 'Maman' from the Guggenheim Museum into your document. Highlight any words and phrases that use language related to the subjective frame.

• What is your first impression of the artwork? What does it remind you of? How might audiences react to seeing it?

• Look up the meaning of the title 'Maman'. Does this change your understanding of the artwork? How?

• What spider-like qualities does the artist associate with the person she made this artwork about? Are these qualities you would usually associate with a spider?

Artmaking

• Choose an animal to symbolise a member of your family or to create an imaginative self portrait. Think about what qualities that animal has that you could associate with your chosen portrait subject. What do you wish to reveal to the audience about the person you are depicting? How could you use colour, texture, and pose to communicate meaning? Draw a quick sketch to plan your artwork.

• Complete your artwork using 2D or 3D materials. You might choose to make a detailed drawing or painting, or create a small sculpture using re-purposed or up-cycled household objects like paper, cardboard, plastic, fabric or foil.