Creating pieces of visual art for creative responses

Symbolism

is using items to represent other ideas (using symbols).The items might be:physical objects (eg. a rose)coloursbehaviours (eg. raising binoculars)sounds (eg. thunder)

TerminologySometimes, one small part of a thing can represent the whole thing (eg. fireman’s helmet conjures images of fire fighting; a crown represent royalty or the monarchy).This is called metonymy.

The meaning that is carried or conveyed by a symbol is called the connotation.

A symbol that reoccurs throughout a text is called a motif.

What connotations do these symbols carry?

*shared cultural understandings

If we wanted to convey these ideas, what symbols could we use?

• love• jealousy• history repeating itself• the end of something• the 1960s• feeling restricted or trapped• loss of soldiers in war

Examples from the

initial advice...

Other basic examples of symbolism...

(Wartime cartoons and propaganda)

Think about the simple symbolism that has been used in these images…

Examples of student

work

Examples of artistic works that use symbolism

• http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/s/symbol.html• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/symb/h

d_symb.htm#slideshow1• http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ngvschools/Traditio

nAndTransformation/symbols/• http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/portraits/

theme/settingSymbolism/settingSymbolism.html