TAF >> The China Project >> Materials

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES:

• Students will be able to identify some Chinese characters.
• Students will be able to learn and understand the historical background and the evolution of Chinese characters.
• Students will be able to learn about and understand the Chinese Calligrapher and his role in the Chinese society.
• Students will be able to do reasearcher on their given Chinese character.
• Students will be able to explore and discover the world of China and heritage by collecting images of Chinese temples, architecture, artwork, people, food, traditions, religion, etc., in order to best represent this country.
• Students will be able to compose a work of art combining a Chinese character and cut images into a Photomontage.
• Students will be able to utilize and understand the elements of design; the principles of creating a Photo montage and compose a dynamic work of art.

MATERIALS:

• Photocopier
• 15" x 20" illustration board
• rubber cement
• scissors and X-acto knives
• construction paper

VISUAL EXAMPLE:

• Popular Chinese character in fashion, home decorating and etc.
• Chinese landscape paintings of the Tang dynasty
• Chinese sculpture and ceramics
• Oracle bone
• Romare Bearden

SUGGESTED AIMS:

• What is a pictograph?
• How did the Chinese writing system develop over time?
• What effects did the Chinese writing have on the society?
• What is a Photomontage and how can we create one by using a Chinese character as the frame for our composition?
• How can we learn from Romare Bearden's photo collages?

ACTIVITIES:

1. Teacher will introduce students to the origins of Chinese characters by giving out several hand-outs.
2. Teacher will have students examine the Oracle Bone and have a class discussion.
3. Teacher will randomly give each student one Chinese character that they must identify and do some research.
4. Teacher will have students perform a series of Chinese calligraphy exercises.
5. Teacher will display several examples of popular Chinese characters found today within our own society and a quick discussion.
6. Teacher will introduce the principles of a Photomontage and display several examples of popular artists who use this form of art.
7. Students will begin the research on their Chinese character and begin to collect significant photos to describe their Chinese character and the Chinese country (for example, money, architecture, artwork, people and etc)
8. Students will begin by enlarging their given Chinese character in a contour drawing. Creating a silhouette or a frame of their character.
9. Students will begin to cut their photos and arrange them into the silhouette frame of their Chinese character.
10. Teacher will remind students that they are to put together a visually unified composition that relates to these objectives; understanding the importance of their symbol, its meaning and the richness of this culture.
11. Students will create a Photo montage using their given Chinese character.

SUMMARY QUESTIONS/FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES:

1. To what degree did you increase your knowledge of china and it's heritage through this project?
2. How did you unify the images you photocopied? Did the shapes you arranged carry out the effect of your given Chinese character and theme?
3. How did the use of your color scheme affect your composition and its theme?
4. Does it have the look of the Bearden photo collage style? Explain how.
5. Write about how your life would have been different if you had to learn to read and write all the Chinese characters instead of the alphabet. What problems would you face?