@The Arts Unit Creative Classes – Strange faces

@The Arts Unit Creative Classes

Strange faces

Experiment with creating art out of everyday objects

Student visual arts resource developed by The Arts Unit

Years 5 and 6 visual arts

What will I learn?

You will:

learn about an artist from history
discover artworks created using everyday objects
create artworks using everyday objects
reflect on the elements of your artwork.

Welcome to the class

Duration: 00:29

Video full screen - Welcome to the class
Video transcript - Welcome to the class

Before you begin

Are you ready to learn how to be a famous artist like Giuseppe Arcimboldo?

You'll need:

paper, cardboard or coloured paper
scissors
glue or tape
pencils, crayons, textas or markers
pictures of fruit, vegetables and other objects.

Hint: these can be from magazines, brochures or pamphlets. Or, you could print them from the internet or draw your own pictures.

Don't forget to check before cutting up someone else's magazine!

Portrait of a man, made out of fruits and vegetables.

'Vertumnus', 1591

Portrait of a waiter, made out of plates, bowls, glasses and other kitchen item.

'The Waiter', 1574

Learn

Who is Giuseppe Arcimboldo?

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter who lived 400 years ago. He was the son of a painter who worked in the Milan Cathedral. In 1592 he went to Vienna to work at the Hapsburg Court and stayed for 25 years as a court painter.

He is best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely out of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books.

Although he was an official court painter, he is now remembered for these fantastic portraits.

Mister Maker discovers Giuseppe Arcimboldo's food art!

Duration: 01:06

2. Discover

In this activity, we will explore examples of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's art and discover the creative ways he uses everyday things to create his artworks.

Artwork 1 – The Vegetable Gardener

Can you predict what happens when you turn this artwork upside down? Scroll through the carousel images to find out!

Name 5 vegetables that you can see in the artwork.
Write down your answers. You may like to send them to your teacher at the end of this lesson.

Artwork 2 – Water

The image depicts an old woman's face using water creatures, shells and coral.

Find the following items in the artwork: Turtle, crab, prawn, octopus, eel, stingray, shark, frog, seal, lobster, seahorse, coral, shell, fish and opals.
How many eyes can you find in this artwork? Count what you can find and write your answer down.

Extension activity

Can you identify any of the different species of fish that are hiding in the artwork?

A portrait of a lady using sea creatures. Creatures such as fish, crabs, turtles and eels are positioned to create a nose, chin, eyes, neck etc.

'Water' Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1566

Artwork 3 – The Four Seasons

Each of the artworks in this series represents one of the 4 seasons.

Each portrait is made up of objects that represent the season.

Predict

Each artwork represents a season (Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring). Which artwork is which season? Guess and then check your response with the drop-down answer bar below.

Analyse

The artworks represents the 4 seasons and are created with objects from that time of year.

Write down 4 objects you can find that make up each of the different artworks and explain why they match the season.

Answers

Top left: Winter
Top right: Autumn
Bottom left: Summer
Bottom right: Spring

3. Create

Create a strange face from fruits and vegetables

Create an artwork of a strange face or animal by following these steps:

Cut out pictures of fruit and vegetables from magazines, brochures or pamphlets.
Hint: If you don't have these at home you could print pictures from the internet or draw your own.
On a flat surface, arrange the pictures into a face or animal. Try a few different arrangements until you are happy with your creation!
Glue the pieces down onto paper or cardboard.
Add details using a felt tip pens, textas or markers.

Examples of artworks made using images. One artwork is a face made of vegetables, for example, a carrot for a nose, orange slices for ears and pumpkins for eyes.

Create a creature from objects

'The Librarian' is one of Giuseppe's most famous paintings. The portrait was made by positioning the books to look like a person.

The painting shows a man standing with his arm across his chest. He is made entirely of books, paper and bookmarks. An open book creates his hair, and books are stacked in a way to make his chest and arm. Bits of paper create other features such as his fingers.

'The Librarian' Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1565

Using the same technique as you did in the previous activity, create an artwork made out of objects.

You could use pictures of clothes, electronics, furniture, books, plants ... or whatever you can find!

You can either cut pictures from magazines, or this time, you could choose to draw the entire portrait.

One student artwork shows a creature made of electrical equipment such as CD ROMs and a stereo. The other shows a person made out of books, cutlery for legs, bottles for arms and a clock for a head.

Extension art challenge

Can you create a 3D portrait?

Using items around you, can you create a 3D portrait of a person?

Collect some items and see how creative you can be!

Here are some examples to get you started. Don't forget to share your masterpiece with your teacher!

A 3D artwork depicting a person. A saucepan lid for the head, a broom for hair, weights for arms, a can for the body and shoes for the legs.

A 3D artwork depicting a face. Empty toilet rolls represent the hair, dog toys make the eyes, a ball make the nose and a banana shaped fabric represents the mouth.

4. Reflect

Reflect on one of your artworks by answering the following questions:

What colours did you use? Why did you use these colours?
What objects did you use?
Which objects were the hardest to include in a picture of something else?
Which objects were easiest to include?
Why do you think some objects are easier to include than others?
What kind of face or body did you create?
Does it look like anyone you know?
What do you think of your artwork?

Share your answers with your teacher.

Fish Head by Maximillian Cyreszko

Glenwood High SchoolNagoya Art Exchange 2016

5. Share

Voila! Well done, Picasso!

You have completed this @The Arts Unit Creative Class.

We hope you enjoyed learning about a historical artist and creating fun and interesting portraits!

You might like to explore more of our @The Arts Unit Creative Classes:

Third-party content attributions

"The Vegetable Gardener"; "Water"; "The Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter" and "The Librarian" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo are in the Public Domain.
Examples of student creations (food and objects) images 1 and 2. Scanned image from "In the picture: Creative activities inspired by famous paintings" by Joan Chambers and Molly Hood, Belair Publications, 1999.

Return to @The Arts Unit Creative Classes home page

Teacher notes and syllabus links

Page updated

Report abuse