The Donald McKay Virtual Gallery: 8th Grade Surrealist Collages

In their first collage unit of the year, our 8th Grade artists recently studied the Surrealism art movement. Students conducted online research to explore examples of Surrealism, as well as examples of collage artwork, then used images from National Geographic and other magazines to compose Surrealist artworks of their own. Tying in ELA themes of symbolism and metaphor, many of the collages demonstrate use of visual symbolism to represent complex thoughts and ideas. The resulting works range from mystical, to comical, to profoundly symbolic, and even all of the above.

"Monster" by Johanna

"People of this other culture and race are outside looking through the windows, but this little girl inside the room is white. She's still young, though, so her mind is pure and innocent. The monster represents the prejudice that she might develop as she grows up in a society that focuses too much on color; on race; on class."