C) Concepts and Creativity

1. Introduction

The key goal to any art class is to increase student creativity.  In this lesson we are going to generate a random title to a hypothetical masterpiece.  We will play something I call the "Concept Game".  Read below for the instructions.

2. Activity: "Concept Game"

.....a) Organize yourselves into groups of three.
.....b) Each member of the group needs a small piece of paper.
.....c) ONE group member will write on his or her piece of paper a NOUN (a word that describes a person, place, or thing) without anyone seeing what her or she wrote. 
.....d) ONE group member will write on his or her piece of paper an ADJECTIVE (a word that modifies a noun) without anyone seeing what her or she wrote. 
.....e) ONE group member will write on his or her piece of paper a CONCEPT (a word that describes a large idea.  For example, "war" is a large idea, but "cat" is not) without anyone seeing what her or she wrote. 
.....f) Then, each member will fill in the blanks for the following statement for his or her group:

3. Activity: Create a Masterpiece

Now that you have a number of phrases, each of these phrases becomes a title to an art work.  Choose two that you like best and create 6 detailed sketches (three each) of what these two masterpieces might look like.