Create > Visual Metaphors
Goal: Develop a visual metaphor diptych for each of the following prompts
Concept: Creating a personal metaphor reminds you of your own greatness and how you can serve and inspire both others and yourself.
A metaphor is defined as a figure of speech, or something that we use to replace "normal" words in order to help others understand or enjoy our message. A visual metaphor is the representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity. Metaphors are ways of thinking and ways of shaping the thoughts of others.
“In metaphor, you are really taking two different elements and bringing them together to form a third,” said Mr. Lyons, 84. “It’s like Dylan Thomas, his use of the word ‘green’ in one of his poems, where he places it changes the implications of the color.” > http://goo.gl/TmbkBc
Studio Activities: Metaphor Diptychs
Diptych 1:
Create > Significant Individual Metaphor
- Choose a historical or contemporary individual that has inspired you and write their name
- Find a quotation by or about the significant person and copy it.
- What image, object or place comes to mind when you think of this person and the quotation?
- Write your response and make a diptych photograph that captures this
(maybe juxtapose a portrait of the individual or the quote with your original metaphor photograph)
Diptych 2:
Create > Parent, Relative or Friend Metaphor
- Choose a relative or friend that has inspired you and write their name
- Write below a quotation, lyric or passage that they chose because it is a favorite of theirs.
- What image, object, or place comes to mind when you think of this person and the quotation?
- Write your response and make a diptych photograph that captures this
(maybe juxtapose a portrait of the individual or the quote with your original metaphor photograph)
Diptych 3:
Create > Musical Lyrics Metaphor
- Choose favorite song and write the lyrics below.
- What image, object, or place comes to mind when you think of this?
- Write your response and make a diptych photograph that captures this
Diptych 4: Personal Metaphor
Develop > Personal Metaphor Statement
Here is how to craft a personal metaphor statement for yourself
- Identify a solution or outcome that is desperately needed in the world or your community.
- Identify and element or subject in nature that inspires you.
- Identify the qualities within that element that inspires you.
- Identify who it is that will benefit from your solution.
- Identify what they will then be able to do as a result of learning of your solution.
Now put it all together and fill in the blanks with your responses.
Complete the sentence and post it to the community.
I am a __(2)__, who __(3)__, who helps __(4)__ to __(1)__ so that they may __(5)__.
Create > Personal Metaphor
Use the prompts from the other diptych metaphors to help you.
Also consider:
What hobbies do you have?
What do you spend time doing?
What do you collect?
What events in your life had a profound effect on you?
What things do you feel a special connection with.
Trigger Mechanisms: Comparisons, Analogy, Juxtaposition
A Westosha Art Student’s Personal Metaphor Example:
How can an image of a street be a personal metaphor?
Consider the symbolic nature of an image of the street you live on or a street you travel daily.
Compare streets and life:
- both evoke thoughts of a journey
- Both take us somewhere
- Sometimes we don’t know where they end up (look at the images, is that represented?)
- You travel roads everyday to get places, you live life everyday to take you places.
- The road leads to the future just as your life keeps moving forward.
- What do you think the artist meant by fracturing the image?
Generalize, Reflect & Publish:
Instructional Strategy
- Evaluate the results
Learning Activity
Reflect >
Did I achieve the goal?
- Goal: Develop a visual metaphor diptych for each of the following prompts
Should I go back and rework anything?
- How did you combine art elements (line, color, shape, texture, value) to develop art principles? (Unity/variety, balance, emphasis contrast, rhythm, proportion/scale, figure/ground relationship)
- Where are the dominant shapes, forms, colors, or textures that carry expressive significance?
- Why Is the work ordered and balanced or chaotic and disturbing?
- What gives the work its uniqueness?
- Is symbolism used in the work to convey meaning other than what one sees?
- Does the work evoke any feelings?
Instructional Strategy
- Providing Recognition
Learning Activity
Publish > Share your album to our G+Community > Concepts & Creations category
Display > Add your photos to the Event
Instructional Strategy
- Providing Feedback
Learning Activity
Critique >
- Give positive feedback > +1 every image that deserves it
- Give peer feedback > Give 2 peer images a VTS critique > http://goo.gl/1WWmBY
Self-assess >
- Evaluate > Thinglink Rubric Scoring Guidelines > http://goo.gl/ejQq7B or AP Padlet Scoring Guidelines > https://goo.gl/a70ikP
Visual Examples:
