Environmental Abstractions

Artist: Jorge Rubio
Technique: Photography and collage
School: ES Kueto, Sestao
Year: 5th
Tutors: Luján Mejías and Desirée Fernández
Related areas and subjects: Social Studies and Technology

Objective:

To give the pupils an new and original point of view regarding their everyday surroundings, while encouraging their curiosity for new technologies, discovering the aesthetic and creative possibilities of a digital tablet.

Materials:

A3 watercolor paper, watercolors, paintbrushes, scissors, tablets or digital cameras and a printer.

Project:

Using a tablet or digital camera, each pupil took pictures of their immediate surroundings in class.
They could choose to photograph the objects used every day at school, such as pencil cases, pens, scissors, backpacks... or paint peeling off the wall, fluorescent lights, the joints between desks...
The pupils were asked, using short focus, low-angle or sweeping shots, to delete the recognizable characteristics from the objects, thereby experimenting with the possibilities of photography.
This gave rise to many suggestive images, some almost abstract.
We explored the possibility of converting quotidian, figurative aspects into almost abstract objects.
We studied the results and selected pictures to print on paper.
Juxtaposing two or three printed images, each pupil created a collage.
Cutting, composing and sticking, the pupils analyzed the expressive possibilities of the image compositions.
They added content to the compositions using watercolors, completing the expressiveness of the images in contained fashion.