1.2 Assignment
For this assignment, you will be creating a visual representation of the development of Canada's autonomy since the end of World War I. You will also write an artist's statement.
Step 1
You will need to be sure that you have a solid understanding of how Canada went from still being under the control of Britain during World War I to being an independent nation that was equal to Britain in every way by the late 20th century.
You will need to include at least five of the following events in your image and may include all of them if you choose.
| Paris Peace Conference | Chanak Crisis |
| Halibut Treay | King-Byng Crisis |
| Balfour Report | Statute of Westminster |
| Parliamentary Vote to join WWII | Suez Crisis |
| New Canadian Flag | Repatriation of the Constitution |
Step 2
You will be using a central metaphor to bring some structure and focus to this work. It could be a staircase, ladder, railway, road, or building or another image that you envision. It should fit your idea of how our nation achieved autonomy.
You can either collect images for each event for this (through online searches), create your own, or use a combination of both.
Below, you can see a visual timeline for the 1980's created by Peter Goes for his book Timeline.You can see how he uses a landscape as his defining metaphor. There is water in the foreground, a skyline and moon. Don't expect your creation to be this sophisticated, but you can get the idea of what you are aiming for.
Step 3
Once you have the images that you have chosen, you will need to put them together into a coherent, visual statement. The viewer should be able to see the development from one image to the next.
You will need to use a software program to create this. You can use a word processor such as MS Word or Google Docs (Google Draw is worth looking at). Or if you know how to use an image editing program such as Photoshop or GIMP, that can also work well. You can discuss this with your teacher.
Give your work a title.
Step 4
Write a one paragraph artist's statement in which you explain the metaphor that you used, why you chose these events as significant, why you picked these images as representative and how you organized them for maximum impact.
Upload both your visual representation as a file below. Type your artist's statement into the text box below.