OVERVIEW

What is Automatism?

Automatism, or “Automatic Painting, is an two-stage artistic technique developed by a group of artists, the Surrealists, as a way to visually communicate the subconscious mind (the thoughts, ideas, dreams, & fears we are not always aware of or consciously, mindfully, thinking about).

The first stage of Automatism is similar to “doodling” with paint; the artist “empties” their mind and freely paints a variety of lines, shapes, colors, and forms. As the abstract (not-real) imagery develops, the “paint doodles” start to become something, and may resemble strange versions of things from the real world: the artist may interpret a swirl of grey & white to be a tornado; a brown half-moon shape angled downward in a mass of blue may be a sinking canoe.

In the second stage, the artist makes mindful/purposeful decisions to develop his/her interpretation of the imagery: adding value (lights & darks) to the brown half-moon shape to simulate the texture of a wooden canoe; extending the grey-white swirling tornado to encompass other objects in the painting.

What the artist “sees” in the freely painted “doodles” and how they develop these forms determines the underlying, symbolic meaning; the sinking canoe can represent friends who are “lost” and unavailable because we moved far away; the swirling tornado pulling everything into its grip can represent a force that is out of our control (war) that takes things we love away. Automatism is a “safe” way for the student-artist-military child to abstractly communicate very personal issues which affect them deeply; issues which they often are unable to or have difficulty expressing verbally.

The accompanying poem, transcribed on clear acetate, and, designed to communicate the meaning of the words, as well as, interact with the painted imagery below, guides the viewer in understanding the underlying, symbolic meaning of the abstract imagery; it also allows the student-artist to the safely communicate feelings in a way where the meaning is sometimes veiled, hidden between the lines.

STUDENT PAINTING OBJECTIVE:

Create a painting using AUTOMATISM, (“Automatic Painting”), a technique developed by the Surrealists, where I empty my mind and “doodle” paint a variety of Shapes, Colors, Lines, and Forms; as my “paint doodles” start to become something—start to remind me of things from the real world, I will make conscious (thoughtful, mindful, intentional) decisions to develop these strange forms.

STUDENT POEM OBJECTIVE:

Analyze the ABSTRACT (not-real) imagery-pictures in my painting to understand what the abstract imagery is, and what it represents/stands for (i.e. the Duck represents my father because he likes to hunt ducks).

Write a poem based on this ANALYSIS which helps the viewer understand what they are looking at, and, how it represents my SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, my underlying thoughts, ideas, feelings, concerns, that are very important but that I do not always consciously think about—that I am not always aware of.
 

CROSS-CURRICULAR:

This project develops:

LANGUAGE ARTS WRITING SKILLS & HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS
through our application of:

ANALYSIS, EVALUATION & INTERPRETATION

of imagery in order to

ADAPT & TRANSLATE

Visual Meaning into Word/Poem Form.