HOT SPOT Week 7

Summer Readers: Keep Sizzlin'

Artist Salvador Dali was a Surrealist, which means he depicted scenes and objects in dreamlike or bizarre fashion. You are probably familiar with his famous “melting clock” image. This week’s HOT
SPOT is all about the world of newspapers and one of newsprint’s greatest fans, Salvador Dalí.

This Week's HOT SPOT activity
As a Surrealist, Salvador Dalí used techniques to challenge people’s ideas of reality. Sometimes the artist would use transformation, turning something familiar into something unusual or disturbing; dislocation, putting something where you wouldn’t expect to see it; and juxtaposition, placing two things near each other that don’t usually go together. One only needs to look through the advertisements in the St. Petersburg Times to see the influence of Surrealism in our culture. Whether it’s a lizard selling car insurance or people playing Frisbee across a mountain range, the techniques of juxtaposition, dislocation and transformation are so familiar to us that we barely even notice them until we step back and consider what’s really going on. During this week, look for photos, cartoons and advertisements that depict a form of Surrealism. Paste the examples you find on a poster board. Create your own style of collage with the art you have found. What is your favorite image? Share your thoughts with others. Share your thoughts with others in this blog. Just click on the comment button below to share your thoughts.

If you want to participate in the Summer Reader program, go to tampabay.com/nie/summer for details on how to get started.