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Night Vision
How do artists get ideas for art? This is a question people often ask at a museum or gallery.
In this Set we'll explore one aspect of the imagination: dreams. This topic resonates well in the Walker Art Center's exhibition Midnight Party because many artists create work that is otherworldly or dream-like.
Use this Set as a presentation in the classroom. It contains artworks from Midnight Party and some examples of student-made projects that respond to dreams. Animate the classroom discussion with this hands-on lesson called Night Vision where students recreate their rooms and contrast them with their imaginary dream spaces.
This Set is designed for students in grades 3-7, and it is complemented by an art activity written in a PDF format. You will find it attached to the last slide of this presentation.
You can find out more about each work by clicking on the "More Info" button in the Present mode.
Feel free to make this Set your own. As a registered user of ArtsConnectEd you can duplicate any published Art Collector Set to your own account. Once a Set is duplicated you can edit the Set and its slides. Click here to learn more about duplicating a published Set.
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Midnight Party Exhibition Photo
Why are people curious about their dreams?
In dreams the story doesn't make sense and things shift out of proportion.
Think of the oversized things or tiny details that you remember in a dream.
Name some of them.
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.7" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5108/5621864691_385c9172f7_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Untitled Door and Door Frame
How is falling asleep like walking through a door or portal?
When someone enters the make believe, anything is possible.
What happened in this room?
Artist: Robert Gober
Date: 1987-1988
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: door 84 x 34 x 1.5 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2004.68.1-.6
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.799479166667" id="zoomer_31069_17373iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/c5/f4/c8bacb51b193ff48eff1e7f192b7/140/120/31069.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Untitled Door and Door Frame, Robert Gober" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 1
Enter the dream space.
What happens in this room?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.49253731343" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6118/6330258028_725989b3dc_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Midnight Party Exhibition Photo Gallery 5
Rooms can appear in anybody's dream. Sometimes these spaces were actually visited or the room may be totally made-up.
What kind of room did you dream about recently?
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House Plan with Tear Drops
In this art work, a house is viewed from above. There are several rooms painted white on this floor plan.
Why do you think the artist added large tear drops to the painting?
Artist: Guillermo Kuitca
Date: 1989
Medium: Paintings
Size: 79 x 63 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2010.41
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.795572916667" id="zoomer_46163_16238iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/e4/57/d7480aba469540d5032e97819348/140/120/46163.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="House Plan with Tear Drops, Guillermo Kuitca" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 5
What happens when a pattern takes over a space?
Have you had a dream about a stairway?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.75438596491" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6053/6329472197_7a8b773115_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Night Vision Student Project 4
Some dreams take you from place to place.
Have you dreamed about the outside of a building?
Can you describe it?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.49253731343" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6227/6329472433_f9d7d7a2f0_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Night Vision Student Project 6
This doorway invites you in.
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.49253731343" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6223/6329369221_45edba7afa_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Midnight Party Exhibition Photo Gallery 6
Think of all the different doorways you can walk through.
What is different about this doorway?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.35135135135" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5222/5622452488_f03e816c57_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Kitchen
In this artwork, the artist gives a clue about the space by titling the artwork "Kitchen."
Why did the artist choose to make a kitchen?
Have you dreamed you were in a kitchen? What happened there?
Artist: Kiki Smith
Date: 2005
Medium: Mixed media, Media Arts, Multimedia
Size: variable
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2006.2.1-.178
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:107.52px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.30208333333" id="zoomer_22015_23892iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/6d/24/8c0ffd4807cd90033d79559b91e9/140/120/22015.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Kitchen, Kiki Smith" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 2
Imagine you had a full meal before going to bed.
What do you think this dream is about?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.49253731343" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6114/6330235788_494d8be52d_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Third Eye Vision
Symbols stand for things or ideas. Some common symbols are a dollar sign, peace sign, and heart shape. In the title of this painting, the artist uses the eye as a symbol.
Read the title and imagine the 3rd eye. Where would you place a third eye?
What do you think an eye stands for?
Artist: Chris Ofili
Date: 1999
Medium: Paintings
Size: overall 96 x 72.375 x 6 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2000.11.1-.3
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.740885416667" id="zoomer_20866_62020iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/e4/33/ef5631079e81ad38c563cc9d7265/140/120/20866.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Third Eye Vision, Chris Ofili" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 3
Symbols are also in our dreams.
What do you think the eye symbol means in this artwork?
Why is it on the floor?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.72413793103" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6237/6329485019_263ea7f0de_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Untitled XII
Abstract artwork doesn't show any pictures or things we can name, but it does mix colors, lines, shapes, and patterns that excite our brains and emotions.
Artist: Willem de Kooning
Date: 1983
Medium: Paintings
Size: unframed 80 x 70 x inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1993.131
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.880208333333" id="zoomer_22168_44288iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/e2/2c/a9775f51fe5a1cf91c5aa9289ff0/140/120/22168.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Untitled XII, Willem de Kooning" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 7
Some dreams are abstract.
They are full of colors, lines, and patterns.
A number of people dream in color. How about you?
What emotion comes to mind when you look at this dream?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.49253731343" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6103/6329369057_cb6bf4336a_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Night Ride
Stories are told in our dreams, but the order and details of the events feel so odd. In other words, it doesn't feel "real" like when we are awake; it's "surreal."
If the beginning of the story is missing, the dreamer asks, "How did I get here?"
What is the story in this dream?
Artist: Susan Rothenberg
Date: 1987
Medium: Paintings
Size: unframed 93.375 x 110.3125 x 1.75 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1987.78
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:118.544652701px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.18098958333" id="zoomer_22311_53806iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/c4/2c/af95c2ebd4a7afe45965cd523143/140/120/22311.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Night Ride, Susan Rothenberg" height_offset="0" /></div>
Night Vision Student Project 8
Some dreams tell "surreal" stories in a way that doesn't fit together.
Have you had a dream that felt like you were in a time machine?
What happened?
Did you jump to the future or go back into the past?
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.17647058824" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6035/6329368683_10bac52e85_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Night Vision Student Project 9
Nightmares can wake us up from time to time.
Remember they aren't real and usually indicate someone is working through a challenge.
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_1.5873015873" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6110/6330119426_df9df926cc_t.jpg" height_offset="0" style=" border: 1px black; position:relative; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"/></div>
Night Vision Pop-Up Book Project
Now it's time for you to create artwork.
Start with thoughts of a room in your home where you might fall asleep, imagine passing through a portal into another world, and draw a dream space.
Please open the PDF document of the Art Lab: Night Vision for more information on this hands-on art experience.
