Ang Siew Ching // Lesson Idea

Name of Artist: Ang Siew Ching

School: Northbrooks Secondary School

How can students learn to construct a mood/story about a chosen environment?

I imagine that this lesson could be adapted for secondary three students, and further differentiated depending on their prior knowledge and experiences. This lesson unit will likely stretch over a term, and include teacher demonstrations, lots of independent student work around their chosen built environment, research, and discussions.

Objective/ Instructions

Students will:

·      Research and collect images about a chosen built environment – found images from magazines, books, internet and self-taken photographs

·      Compare the difference in mood between types of images and discuss the formal qualities that lead to our impression of these differences.

·      Categorise types of moods – with words or short phrases (e.g. uncanny, eerie, sunshine Sunday)

·      (extension)  Respond by discussing the works of Nguan (“Singapore” from http://nguan.tv/singapore.htm) and Chua Chye Teck (“Nothing” from http://chuachyeteck.com/Nothing.php) and Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSY0TA-ttMA) with the use of thinking routines from “Let’s Talk About Art”

·      Sketch and depict textured objects from observation

·      Discuss and experiment with ways of creating mood by considering composition (emphasis balance, rhythm, close-ups, etc), colour (temperature), textures, lighting, exposure durations, post-production filters.

·      Discuss and experiment with the sounds that gives listeners an impression of the built environment.

·      Create a photobook or video of these shots to depict the built environment.

·      Experiment with different ways of presenting the photobook (e.g. photo essay, collage, installation) or video (e.g. projecting over objects or parts of a room)

Elegant art task:

Create a photobook or video art that personifies a chosen environment.

Materials: Camera, lens kit, photo printer, video editor (e.g. Adobe Premiere), sound recorder, paper for photobook