For

Middle Years Students

Curriculum

Art

Aim

To explore composition, materials and techniques through a diversity of practical art activities inspired by Pop Art and the work of Jeff  Koons.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

• Read the information for Theme Six – Contemporary Art: The Legacy of Pop.
• View the work either online or in the exhibition.

You will need the following materials:

• A variety of food packaging saved from family or school environment.
• A selection of art making materials such as pencils, scissors and glue, or brushes and paints, paper or canvas.
• Optional - Access to digital camera and photographic studios

Individual Task

Collect the food packaging from foods sold in your school canteen, such as chip bags and drink cans.

Crush up, cluster and arrange the packaging materials on the table in front of you. Compose your canteen items into the desired format. Consider the use of shape, scale and colour. Notice how Jeff Koons has repeated many circular shapes in his composition Sandwiches 2000. This may inspire you.

Produce a sketch or a number of sketches of your food packaging from different viewpoints.

Research Questions

Consider the way graphic designers and food stylists arrange and present food for sale. Particularly think about these marketing techniques in relation to young people your own age.

Comment on advertising’s high-gloss surfaces and the persuasive power of these graphic images.

What formal elements do food companies exploit in their packaging?

Is this food healthy? Does this packaging encourage people to eat well?

Group Task

Extend the range of visual source materials by collecting images of food from a wider range of food packaging (for example the frozen pea package), magazines, supermarket promotional material or recipe books.

Use this as a basis for a group painting or mixed media piece, or to cut, paste and arrange the actual food packages into a group collage. Consider the approach of Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg.

Optional activity - Use a digital camera and digital manipulation programs to build the composition. Present this as a photographic work in itself or use it as a visual reference for a group painting.

Experiment with photo realist accuracy or a looser, freer drawing style.

Create a composition arranging and linking the items into an overall design