Younger Children

Joel Perlman

Canadian, born 1936

Square Tilt

1977

Subject: Frame
Activity: Experiment with framing
Materials: Paper, scissors, tape or glue, and picture books or magazines
Vocabulary: Frame, conceal, reveal

Introduction:

Joel Perlman makes sculptures that often remind us of doors or windows. When we look through windows and doors, we get a limited view of what is on the other side. Pictures and paintings are often hung in frames. In sculptures like this one, the frame draws our attention to what is on the other side. It also blocks out part of our view through the frame, limiting what we can see.

Questions:

How is Square Tilt like a window? How do windows frame what we see?

What do frames reveal or highlight? What do they conceal or hide?

What do you normally see when looking out a window? What do you see when you look at things that are framed?

Activity:

Have your child cut out a border (the outline of a square or rectangle) from paper, as well as squares and rectangles of different sizes and shapes. Help your child create a frame with squares and rectangles that are attached to it. Place this over pictures in a book or magazine. By experimenting with this frame, ask what can you bring attention to and what can you hide?

Vocabulary:

Frame —A border around something, such as a window, door, or painting
Conceal —To hide something
Reveal —To show something, to make it visible or apparent

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