0 The Brainstormers Guide to Transformation

A few years ago, my colleague Ellen introduced me to the book Art Synectics by Nicholas Roukes.  The section on Operational Techniques for Transformation has become a mainstay in my classroom when discussing surrealist techniques, but the more I've used them, the more I've become convinced that these techniques are brilliant brainstorming strategies for almost any project.  Once the students have a basic idea or subject, they can use these techniques to challenge themselves to look at their idea in a wide variety of ways.  Techniques can even be combined to create more unusual and unique approaches.


Of course, this is indeed a perfect exercise for any surrealist project, and since we're working on a certain international collaborative surrealist project, I've converted the list of techniques into a slideshow.   

Transformation: Operational Techniques

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These techniques have helped my students develop a wide range of imaginative responses in my IB Art class, and so I've also turned this into a handy booklet.  Feel free to print it out and use it with the Surrealistic Me project... or anything else that your students are working on.   In order to print it out properly, change the properties in your printer settings under 'layout'.  You'll see a place to select 'two sided printing'.  Under that drop down tab, choose 'short edge binding'.  Print, fold, viola!