What are we doing?
You will create a layered mixed-media artwork on cardboard that combines collage, typography, drawing, and painting to represent a place that matters to you.

We are using leftover cardboard from our sculpture project as the base surface. That cardboard already has a history — printed text, graphics, wear, and marks — and we’re going to build on top of that instead of covering it up completely.

This is not a collage project and not just a painting. It’s about building an image in layers, where earlier decisions still matter even if they become quieter over time.

Why are we doing this?
This project is about learning how artists:

• Build complex surfaces instead of starting with a blank one
• Use typography as texture, atmosphere, and meaning rather than decoration
• Let materials influence decisions instead of fighting them
• Turn personal experience (places you know or care about) into visual imagery
  
  

Catherine Mackey’s work shows how images of real places can feel layered, weathered, and lived-in. Her paintings often include fragments of text, collage, and surface texture that sit underneath the final image. We are borrowing those ideas while making something that is specific to you.

We’re also reusing materials on purpose. The cardboard already has a story. Your job is to decide how much of that story stays visible.


The Big Idea
Place has memory.
Buildings, rooms, streets, and structures collect time, wear, text, and traces of people. This project is about showing that through layers.
Your place might be:

• Your house (interior or exterior)
• A place in the city where you live
• Somewhere you’ve traveled
• Somewhere you want to go
• A space that feels important for personal reasons
  
  

The place should feel grounded and real. Mechanical elements, architecture, structures, or constructed spaces work best.


Project Steps

1.Cardboard Base

• Choose the size you want to work.
• Use cardboard from the sculpture project or other provided cardboard.
• Pay attention to what’s already printed on it. Logos, text, shipping marks all count as material.

2. Collage Foundation

• Glue down magazine imagery, typography, and graphic fragments.
• This layer is not the final image.
• Think of it as a foundation or texture layer.
• Overlap, crop, and arrange without worrying about perfection.

3. Quieting the Surface

• Dry brush primer over parts of the collage.
• Some areas should become muted and pushed back.
• Some areas can stay fully visible.
• Decide intentionally where text and collage should show and where it should fade.

4. Choosing Your Place

• Collect reference images of a place that matters to you.
• You can use your own photos or images you find online.
• Think about what makes this place recognizable. Shapes, structures, angles, surfaces.

5. Drawing the Image

• Draw your chosen place on top of the prepared surface.
• The drawing should respond to what’s already there.
• Let the typography and texture influence your lines and shapes.

6. Building with Paint and Drawing Media

• Use acrylic paint along with charcoal, pen, pencil, or other drawing tools.
• Work in layers.
• Allow cardboard, typography, collage, and paint to all remain visible in different ways.
• Use Catherine Mackey’s work as a guide for color, not a template.

How do I know I’ve been successful?
You’ve done this well if:

• The cardboard, collage, and typography are still visible somewhere in the final piece
• The image clearly represents a place, not just an abstract surface
• The layers feel intentional, not accidental
• The drawing and painting respond to the surface underneath
• Color choices feel thoughtful and connected
• The work feels personal without needing an explanation

Success here is not about realism or perfection. It’s about decision-making and layering.

What this project is NOT

• Not a neat collage
• Not a flat painting
• Not a copied version of Catherine Mackey’s work
• Not about hiding all the text or cardboard

Messy is fine. Thoughtless is not.

The Challenge
Using only cardboard and hot glue, students will create a mechanical object from a reference.  Having the actual object as a reference is helpful but not required for this challenge.

Machine - an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task

Planning 
Search the internet for cardboard sculpture ideas!  Create multiple research sketches and fill one entire sketchbook page with ideas. Your first idea is never your best, so keep digging. Designs will need to be approved before you begin your sculpture.


What You Must Include

• Your machine can be inspired by real life or your own imagination, but you must have a quality reference to work with.  If you are working from your imagination, you must have detailed drawings to use as references and guidance. 
• Your work must showcase interesting 3D forms.  This work should not be flat or without a variety of textures. ​
• Your sculpture must be freestanding and have height, width, and depth. This is a three dimensional object that occupies space and should be interesting to view in 360 degrees. 
• Think life size!  If possible, try to have your sculpture match the actual size of the object you choose.  This is not always possible, but it adds a very strong conceptual layer with these objects are life sized. 
• Sculptures must not contain any hand drawn or painted elements. All details need to be sculptural. ​

STILL LIFE SELF-PORTRAIT
This will be your first big project of the year, and it is designed to show both your technical skills (your ability to draw, shade, and handle your chosen medium) and your creative thinking (the meaning, ideas, and choices behind your work).

Instead of making a traditional portrait of yourself, you’ll create a Still Life Self-Portrait. That means you will gather and arrange objects that represent you,. Think about your personality, interests, habits, fears, or passions. The objects you choose should say something about who you are, almost like clues in a puzzle that only you could put together.

1. Choosing Your Objects

• You must include at least 4 objects in your still life.
• Each object should have personal meaning to you—something that connects to your character, hobbies, or experiences.
• Think about variety: include objects with different surface textures (something shiny, rough, soft, patterned, etc.) so your drawing feels more alive and challenging.
  
  

2. Arranging the Still Life

• Place your objects in an arrangement that feels intentional—not random. Think about composition (where things are placed) and balance (how your eye moves across the arrangement).
• Use dramatic lighting (like a lamp, flashlight, or sunlight from one side) so there are strong highlights and shadows. This will make your drawing more expressive and powerful.
• Before you start drawing, take photographs of your still life. These photos will serve as references while you work, so you don’t have to keep the setup in place for days.
  
  

3. Creating Your Artwork

• You may work on any surface (paper, cardboard, wood, etc.) but it must be at least 11 x 14 inches in size. I will provide paper for this, but you may use your own surface if desired. 
• Focus on both the realism of your drawing/painting and the story your objects tell about you.
  
  

4. The Goal
By the end of this project, you should have a still life that not only looks strong technically (realistic shading, proportion, detail, texture, etc.) but also speaks to who you are as a person. This artwork will act as a self-portrait without ever showing your face.

Project Description:
The IN OUR TIME unit explores the history of art in the 20th century, focusing on Modern Masters such as Picasso, Dali, Rothko, Pollock, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Warhol, and Jeff Koons.  As we discuss the evolution of art over the 20th Century, the students will create digital collages that are inspired by recent global and domestic events.  Once complete, those digital collages will become references for mixed media paintings.

The final products will clearly indicate inspiration from Rauschenberg and Rosenquist, as the students will borrow the color, pattern, rhythm, and arrangements used by those artists.  The final products will have a similar DNA to the studied artists works, but will contain content that speaks the language of contemporary culture.

Past Student Examples

Project Criteria:

Designs clearly show the influence of the color, composition, and overall aesthetics of Rauschenberg and or  Rosenquist.

Students should be able to explain how they were inspired by the studied artists, and how they borrowed  elements from the works of those artists during our verbal critique.

Designs should contain at least 5 images

Photoshop designs should contain at least 5 layers 

Students used Photoshop to create a custom designed brush in at least one area of the digital collage.

Designs contain a  clear connection to contemporary culture or a specific personal narrative that is aligned with the past year of life.

Designs should include at least one piece of collage material, and one gel transfer, in addition to the painted and drawn areas. 

Helpful Tips for Design:
As you create your design, remember that you will have to translate the digital collage into physical media.  This means that you will be using paint, collage, gel transfer,  and drawing materials to re-create your digital work.  Be aware of how complicated your design becomes.  The examples I've posted on this page will help you see the power of simplifying your design.  Painting is no easy task, so do yourself a favor and keep your design simple to save yourself some frustration as you paint.

Printing in color and pasting the image or transferring the image can be a great way to save some time with this project.  You are encouraged to use collage for some of the more complex design elements.