Lizards extraordinaire

It must be those bulging eyes, curled tongues, bumpy textures and long tails that make lizards irresistible to almost everyone--especially kids. Lizards are the perfect subject matter to teach sixth-grade artists the difference between Realism and Surrealism.

After extensive book research, the students chose a favorite lizard. They then practiced drawing by observation. Colored pencil techniques were used to draw a realistic lizard in a natural environment. Student artists were concerned with shape, color and especially texture. The next challenge was to encourage students to stretch their imagination and see an already unusual subject in a more unusual way.

Surrealism can be a tough subject to comprehend at the elementary level. We begin by first looking at Salvador Dali's melting clocks in Persistence of Memory. Students are fascinated by Dali's ability to dream up a magical environment. The first words that came to mind are, "... sort of real with imagination."

Surrealists challenge our reality by putting together objects that normally would not go together or are changed in some strange way. Looking at M.C. Escher's fascinating drawing, Reptiles, gets everyone thinking in the right direction. Students observe lizards that seem to crawl off the paper and back on again. Sixth-grade artists are challenged to create a three-dimensional surrealistic lizard by combining the shape of a lizard in an out-of-the-ordinary place with an equally unusual texture.

Next we talk about point of view. Each lizard has to be viewed from above as if you were looking down from on top. Symmetry is a must. All lizard parts have to be visible with equal parts on both sides. Each lizard needs all four feet in order to become three dimensional in its new environment.

The lizard shape is drawn first with pencil to fit a 9" x 12" piece of tag board. Students are encouraged to work as large as possible and fill the whole page. The body has to curve naturally in order to fit all of the parts. Artists need to observe that body parts get thicker where they attach to the body.

Markers, colored pencils, crayons, paint and paper are choices used to create a lizard's unusual texture. Brainstorming helped with ideas for textures and background environment. Students came up with the strangest ideas. Some lizards were made to look like leaves, geometric shapes, computer boards, metal, tie-dye and cinnamon swirls.

With the texture finished, the next job is to release the reptiles from the tag board by cutting carefully so as not to lose any parts. I use the tip of an open scissor to score each lizard along the center underside so they fold in the middle and stand on their own. The store line follows the curve of the body from the head to the tip of the tail. Scoring makes it easy for students to get a clean fold down the middle.

Some students use their leftover texture scraps to construct the environment. Others create totally different environments for their lizards to call home. Lizards are attached to their new homes by gluing only the tips of the four feet, allowing them to stand freely and appear real until closer observation.

The lesson is complete when students compare the difference between realistic and surrealistic lizards. How are they alike and different? What element makes them surreal? When on display the final results are sensational.

A great way to cement the lesson is by reading Dinner At Magritte's, by Michael Garland (Dutton Books; 1995). A young boy leaves his boring world of reality and enters the sensational world of Surrealist, Rene Magritte. The surreal illustrations are fascinating. Students are amused when Salvador Dali is an unexpected but fun dinner guest. What better way to retain the study of Surrealism than by observing the setting of a Magritte sky?

RESOURCES

* Lizard books

* Dinner At Magritte's by Michael Garland (Dutton Books; 1995)

* Reproductions of Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali and Reptiles by M.C. Escher

MATERIALS

* Pencils

* Paintbrushes

* Paper scraps

* Drawing paper

* 9" x 12" tag board (white or colored)

* Makers

* Colored pencils

* Crayons

* Paint (watercolor or tempera)

* Scissors

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will ...

* understand, identify, describe and discuss the difference between realistic and surrealistic art.

* create a three-dimensional surrealistic lizard within an environment.

* select and use materials and tools that enhance their ideas.

* formulate responses to works of art from personal and critical points of view.

For nearly two decades, Mary Lu Lovett has taught K-6 art at Johnson Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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