 Hi, I'm Xandria. Hi, I'm Liz. And this is Art Lab, a place to explore and create with art. Let's go. Today, we're going to play with surrealism. The surrealists were a group of artists and poets who enjoyed using their imaginations to make weird and wonderful artworks and poetry. Surrealists were interested in things like dreams, fantasies, and our unconscious thoughts. Surrealist art can be surprising combinations of people and objects or figures that are both highly realistic and strange. Some famous surrealist artists are Salvador Dali, Renee Magritte, Dorothea Tanning, and Leonora Carrington. If you've read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, you've read a surrealist's work. Now that you know a little about surrealism, it's your turn to experiment with it as well. Let's get started. Next, let's gather our supplies. You'll need magazines, a couple of sheets of blank paper, scissors, tape, glue, or glue stick, any drawn utensils. This could be a pen, marker, or pencil. Once you have all your supplies, you're ready to go. Start looking through your materials and cut out anything you think is funny or interesting. Look for backgrounds or scenes for your surrealist creation. Take a look at the people and animals you come across. Cut out eyes, noses, mouths, etc. of all different sizes. Don't forget to cut out accessories, too. Hats, glasses, jewelry, etc. Arrange your collection of cutouts and start to put together new faces. The stranger looking, the better. It's a plus if they make you laugh. Glue or tape down your collage character to one of the backgrounds you found earlier or to a sheet of blank paper. Repeat the process until you've made a couple more characters. Make variations of the faces you made. Give your character a personality. Are they mean or grumpy? Try looking for a furrowed brow. Is your character a jewel thief? You've got to make them look sneaky. Where do you think your character would live? Try and make their home in the background. Experiment and continue to make stranger and stranger characters. Why not try to recreate a dream you had? Or create a surrealist version of a family photo. Try doodling on your collage. Experiment with your creation. There is no wrong way to make it. Anything goes. If you want to keep your artwork, make sure to sign it, especially if you plan on giving it to a friend. You don't need to keep your artwork if you don't want to. Half the fun is making it. If you try this out and want to share, we'd love to see what bizarre creations you come up with. Use the hashtag LBPLArtLab and don't forget to tell us your process. We want to try it as well. That's it for today. This has been Art Lab, brought to you by the Long Beach Public Library. See you next time!