TC#2: ART COMMUNICATES, IN EVERY SENSE - MEMORIES, CONNECTIONS AND SENSATIONS

This resource is for KS3 teachers and students. It has been adapted from this resource to make it more accessible. It links closely with Threshold Concept 2: Art communicates, in every sense. 
Key themes include:
  • How artworks are shaped by artists' memories and experiences.
  • How artworks evoke memories and connections in the viewer. 
  • ​How works of art ‘speak’ in various ways, to our various senses - which is not always easy (or necessary) to explain in words.
  • How our senses are not separate receptors but continually communicate and conspire together to make us think, feel and connect.

INTRODUCTORY TASK

Look carefully at The Threshold Concept 2 illustration. How does this suggest various senses engaging with an artwork? 

​Create your own alternative illustration/artwork for this Threhold Concept 2: Art communicates, in every sense. Use ONE of the following approaches:
 
  • For one full minute, carefully study the illustration. Now, without looking at the image, complete a larger scale drawing of this. (You could even do this with your eyes closed). Rather than doing this with caution and accuracy, be brave and energetic with your marks. Try to have a sense of flow and energy in your arm movements. Pay attention to the sensation of your pencil, pen or brush on paper. 
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  • Sketch (copy) the illustration and then, on top of this add/map lines, patterns, words and/or images (through collage) that emphasise sensations, ideas, and 'information' travelling between the figure and the artwork. 

  • Create your own design/illustration for Threshold concept 2: Art communicates, in every sense. Use only the following elements: 2 hands, 1 nose, 1 mouth, two ears, one heart -  and an artwork of your choice, which might be a photograph or drawing of a painting or sculpture, or something else of your choice or imagining.

PART 1: MEMORIES, CONNECTIONS & SENSATIONS

By Stephen Wiltshire (Sydney, 2009); and Emma Kay, (The Bible from Memory, 1997).

The two artworks above have been chosen for their distinct similarities AND differences - Click on the images to enlarge and study these carefully before following the links above and reading further.

  • Compare and discuss the contents, styles and techniques of these two artworks. What problems arise? Remember that these are photographs of the artworks and not the originals, so the experience of looking is compromised.
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  • Write 3 different descriptive words/sentences for each artwork. And then, write 3 additional words that might connect or describe them both. How might you playfully present these words/sentences - for example, in (overlapping) columns or in a visually related illustration or diagram?​
Significantly, both of these artworks have been created from memory.

Stephen Wiltshire is an autistic artist who draws and paints detailed cityscapes from memory, sometimes after having only observed them briefly. Watch the video to find out more.

Emma Kay is an artist who is interested in individual memory and how it processes and recalls past experiences. Her artworks are 'drawn' from half-remembered memories, books, experiences and encounters. In The Bible from Memory, 1997, Kay presents her recollections in a style based on (her memories of) The Bible. Her tone of writing starts off authoritatively but quickly becomes muddled and childlike. This work might be described as contemporary and/or conceptual - the idea behind the work is significant and 'plays' with our expectations of an established tradition.

ACTIVITY

The following task is based on Kim's Game. This is a traditional memory game where a range of objects (10 - 15 small items) are arranged on a tray and covered up, to be revealed only for a short while (e.g. 30 seconds). Observers then have to try to remember and list all the items.
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  • With a partner or in a small group, play 'Kim's Game'. Prepare and respond to a concealed tray of objects. But after a brief glance, sketch these from memory - in pictures and/or descriptive words. Decide if you are aiming for realistic depiction (such as demonstrated by Stephen Wiltshire), or something more playful, expressive and/or experimental - which might be in words and/or pictures.

  • Once you have completed a response from memory, complete an observational response. Keep the objects in front of you and draw/describe these in detail. You might choose to focus on line, shape, texture and/or tone as a means of practicing sensitive drawing techniques. Which approach do you prefer - drawing or writing? And do you prefer working from observation or memory? Explain your choices.

How might this game be adapted to responding to an artwork? For example, look at an artwork for a limited period of time and then attempt to sketch and/or describe this from memory. Use one of the examples below prior to completing the subsequent tasks.

PaRT 2: COLLAGED MEMORIES AND ENCOUNTERS 

Left to right: Peter Blake , Memories of Place, Paris, 2005; Karen Powell, Wanna Play?, 2019;  Henry Ward, Kitchen table sculpture 
Memories of Place, Paris, by Peter Blake is one of a series of eight collages that Blake produced in response to collecting items along a specific walk - in this case, a walk through the Tuileries gardens from Place de la Concorde to the Louvre, in Paris.

Wanna Play? by Karen Powell is a mixed-media response to memories of her childhood using collaged photographs and paint.

 ​Henry Ward's Kitchen Table Sculptures  are quickly made assemblages that combine found objects from short walks that he has taken.

All of these works, above, might be described as collages and/or assemblages. They also all act as records of personal memories and/or experiences. Follow the links above to find out more.​

ACTIVITY

​ Develop an experiment in response to a memory or personal experience. Choose one of the following approaches:
  • Create a mini sculpture using old/everyday objects, for example, those found in a 'bits and bobs' drawer at home, or old toys (or bits of old toys). Alternatively you might make this from collected objects/fragments such as those found in a garden or garden shed or along a favourite or familiar walk. This doesn't have to be representational or figurative (easily recognisable as something). Instead, this might be abstracted - something not easily recognisable but interesting in its own right through its combinations of shape, colour, surfaces etc. 

  • Create a collage/mixed media work in response to a personal memory (or combination of memories). This might be a recent experience or something significant, entertaining or absurd from years ago. Combine (copies of) photographs and drawn images with marks, colours and textures. Use a variety of media - for example, pencils, paint, torn paper, fabric. Be experimental and trust your intuition - aim for an interesting and layered response rather than one that is overly-precious or cautious.

With the exercises above, pay particular attention to how the arrangement of your objects, images, colours, textures etc. might evoke particular memories, sensations or connections - and contain some sense of mystery or ambiguity (similar to how memories can also fade or not be entirely reliable or clear).

PART 3: MEMORIES, MUSIC AND REPRESENTATION - VIA SHAPES, COLOURS & SOUNDS

Lubaina Himid, Naming the Money, 2004; and Stuart Davis, Swing Landscape, 1938
Both of the images above might initially be described as 'colourful'. However, words such as 'energetic', 'lively' or even 'musical' might also be appropriate. As you read further and learn more, other potential connections and differences arise. Further information adds depth and complexity. Words such as 'political', 'problematic', 'activism', 'community' and 'context' can arise.
Lubaina Himid's Naming the Money is an installation - a work of art that you move around and experience through a variety of senses. The photograph above only shows part of this collection of 100 figures, which also includes audio recordings and accompanying artworks. See the video, left, for further insights. ​Himid's work is colourful on the surface, but beyond this addresses issues of race, slavery, colour and representation.

Her work might be described as 'contemporary art' in that it combines a range of materials and ideas, and references the past in knowingly playful and disruptive ways.  In comparison, Stuart Davis's work, above, might be described as 'Modernist' in that this is an abstract painting produced within the first half of the 20th Century. 


​Stuart Davis's Swing Landscape, 1938, was a mural originally commissioned as a work of public art. It was painted for New York’s Williamsburg Houses, one of the country’s first publicly funded housing projects. The idea was that residents would be able to interact with art during their everyday lives, and that art would enhance their daily routines. However, Davis' art was never displayed in this location. At this time, abstract art was not readily accepted by everyone and provoked great debate. Through his work, Davis wanted to bring communities together and address racial inequalities and political divides, inspired by 'swing' and jazz music this time.  Watch this video to gather wider insights.

ACTIVITY

​As the videos above demonstrate, music combined with imagery can be an influential combination. Music also has a long history as a medium for empowerment, protest and bringing people together. The abstract nature of music - the fact that sounds cannot be (easily or consistently) seen - can also provide a rich challenge for artists: how to represent or suggest music in visual form.
  • Respond to a song or spoken-word poem that addresses themes of inequality and/or injustice. Here's a potential playlist to choose from. Research the theme and produce a range of experiments exploring how this song or poem might be represented visually - with varying degrees of representation, suggestion and abstraction. Think carefully about the shapes, marks and colour combinations that you choose. These might be made with oil pastels, coloured pencils or paint, or collaged with coloured paper or photographs/colours cut from magazines. Pay particular attention to the mood or feeling that your response emits (rather than just using overly or easily recognisable imagery). Think about the physical experience of making the work - for example, how your body might move and respond, or how various materials feel as you use them - and compare this to the physical encounter (for you and others) of seeing/experiencing the work. 
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  • Consider how your response might be combined with others (and the music/poem) to create an installation - an experience that viewers might be able to move through and encounter with other senses beyond just looking.
Colour provokes a psychic vibration, colour hides a power, unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body Wassily Kandinsky

FURTHER READING
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