Lesson 12: Theme and Composition Drafts
Pre A Level Art & Design · Unit 3 · U3·L3 · ← L11 | L13 →
At a glance
| Session | W13, one Wednesday double (~90 min) |
| Dates | Wed 2026-11-25 |
| Focus | Meaning; a main idea chosen; two composition drafts for the final collage |
| Deliverable | A written main idea + two dry-fit drafts, one circled with a reason |
| Feeds | CS3 collected this session (the experiment set) (sits W15, 12-09) |
| Homework | Gather any missing material your chosen draft needs; MB posting |
Goal
This session moves from experiments to a finished work. The question: what is your collage about? Not what is in it — what it says. Every technique from L10–11 serves one main idea, written in one sentence before you start composing. You then make two different drafts of the same idea, because the first arrangement is rarely the strongest.
How it runs
- Teach: meaning (15 min) — Romare Bearden: The Block, Three Folk Musicians — collage as memory and neighborhood, cut paper standing in for a whole world. The pre-photography ancestors make the same point: a Dutch vanitas heaps books, globes and jewels together to say none of this lasts — objects juxtaposed into a sentence, 1662. Composition is how the sentence gets its grammar.
- Main idea (10 min) — write one sentence in your sketchbook: “My collage is about … ” — concrete beats abstract (“my grandmother’s kitchen” beats “memory”). An accessible fallback is the silhouette self-portrait: your profile filled with what fills your head. State your idea aloud at your table; the teacher initials each.
- Studio: two drafts (45 min) — make two dry-fit compositions of the same idea on separate boards, deliberately different (one crowded / one sparse, one symmetrical / one tilted). No glue today. Photograph both. Then circle one and write your reason.
- CS3 + close (20 min) — CS3 collected: the experiment set (juxtaposition, scale, layering, text-and-image + home experiments), checked for range and honest annotation. The final collage is made in class W14–W15 from your circled draft, marked on juxtaposition, layering, composition, meaning; the format will be confirmed in class. Post on MB.
Assessment
CS3 (experiment set — combination and meaning) is collected today. A3 (final collage + reflection, Wed 2026-12-09) is announced today — 14 days, two classes ahead. Register: PAL S1 Assessments.