Artist Presentations
Accumulations: Finished Project Photographs
Accumulations: In Progress Photographs
::::IMPULSE::::: weekend research assignments
*** Mark your calendars! *** We will stage a live presentation of your projects on April 27th. *** Your attendance at this event is part of your grade for this project, and you MUST MUST MUST be at the event! ***
WEEKEND ASSIGNMENTS
Step 1: Write about the two impulses you’ve chosen to work with.
Describe each of the impulses and tell how they currently impact your life.
> For the impulse you’ve chosen to FEED, tell why it’s important to make this impulse more pronounced in your life.
> For the impulse you’ve chosen to CONTROL, tell why this impulse is something you’d like to curtail in your life.
Step 2: Borrow a strategy
One great way of improving your artwork is to borrow strategies from other works of art. There are a variety of attributes that you could borrow from a work of art, it could be an aesthetic quality, a compositional arrangement, the subject matter, a means of presentation, a sensibility, a construction technique, a sense of humor… anything at all.
For this step, you are to:
- Find an image of a particular work of art that you find compelling. (The artwork you choose could even come from the artist that you recently presented on in class.)
- Print this image out or post it to the class website.
- In your printout or your web post, include the name of the artist and the work’s title.
- Write just one sentence that specifies the attribute or strategy that you intend to borrow from the piece.
Step 3 : Visual research
Find 5 images that relate to each of the impulses that you’ve chosen to work with (for a total of 10), and print these out—you will use these images as visual references while working on your project.
Step 4 : Create sketches
Draw up plans for 2 three-dimensional forms that would affix to your body — one to FEED an impulse, and one to CONTROL an impulse.
As you create these sketches, please remember/do the following:
> One’s final product can be improved when, at the beginning of a project, one considers a variety of possible end results. For each of the impulses you’ve chosen, create at least three detailed sketches of three distinctly different project ideas.
> As sources of inspiration, refer back to the associative lists you created in class.
> These projects can be fairly large–up to even 6 or 10 feet in length, but keep in mind that you will need to surface your metal structure with a fabric or plastic, so consider your own limitations of time and energy as you draw up your sketches.
Why we write about our ideas
Every decision that you make in the planning and execution of a work of art has meaningful implications. When one begins a project by thinking about what they want to accomplish in the end, this enables them to have more control over the final meaning in their work, AND it provides one with a useful tool for editing their work during the process of creating. While one could employ many methods for thinking critically, writing is especially helpful for developing this skill because it forces one to be precise and clarify ideas.
Why we conduct visual research
Our artwork is in a dialogue with the outside world—this is unavoidable, and conducting visual research enables us to knowledgably position our work in relationship with phenomena from the world. Images are the currency of the visual arts, images are the beginning and end of artistic endeavors; we must conduct visual research in order to tap into this vital resource. Additionally, images can help accelerate our creative thinking and give us raw “material” to work with and respond to. So, collecting images/objects and other source material can practically inform your design, and it can also enlighten your thinking.
Why we create sketches
Preparatory sketches can help you plan your project on a small scale before you commit the time and energy to create the project on a larger scale. Sketches are a very fast means of “testing” possibilities. Sketching enhances creative thinking, and this frequently helps one find innovative and novel solutions to problems. This component is important because the quality of our ideas will have a dramatic impact on the quality we are able to produce in our finished product. When we generate ideas, our first idea is usually not the best idea that we could possibly conceive. Most often, our ideas will continue to improve as we consider a variety of possibilities and think about things from a range of perspectives with a flexible and open attitude. Creative insight does not typically hit a person like a thunderbolt; it usually emerges gradually, through the persistent, patient, tenacious mulling over of an idea or question.
David Brundage Collage
5 Collage, Eric L.
Aaron Meyers artXpose #2 (example)
Example of how to submit artsXpose with the PHOTO option
For each artsXpose you complete, you may submit either a form OR a photo–it is not necessary to submit both. Included below is an example of how you may submit artsXpose using the PHOTO option. For the sake of efficiency, you may want to cut-and-paste the text below directly into your post and then appropriately revise the information.
Your photograph should depict you at the event with some distinctive features. This will make it obvious that you attended.
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Title of Event: Joe Meiser Artist Lecture
Date & Time of Event: Friday February 3rd 7 pm
Location of Event: Samek Art Gallery
Type of event: Artist lecture and reception
Aaron Meyers ArtsXpose #1 (example)
Example of how to submit artsXpose with the FORM option
For each artsXpose you complete, you may submit either a form OR a photo–it is not necessary to submit both. Included below is an example of how you may submit artsXpose using the FORM option. For the sake of efficiency, you may want to cut-and-paste the text below directly into your post and then appropriately revise the information.
– – –
Title of Event: Bill T. Jones Lecture
Date and time of event: Monday January 30th 7:30 pm
Location of Event: Harvey Powers Theater
Type of Event: Guest Artist Lecture
1.) Provide a brief detail-oriented technical description or summary of the event you attended. (This section should remain journalistic and should not be reflective of your opinion.)
Bill T. Jones gave an hour lecture with almost a full half hour of questioning. During the lecture he spoke from memory and showed a 15 minutes video of one of his dances being performed by different dancers. He also showed brief examples of his movement throughout the lecture.
2.) Use the section below to write a well-structured paragraph focusing on your personal criticalinsight / response to the event. How did you interpret or react to what was presented to you?
It was clear that Jones was a stage performer. Even in a lecture he had an amazing presence and was very confident. I enjoyed seeing him show bits of his dance moves. He also told a lot of very interesting stories about both his dad and his long time partner. One thing that I found interesting was at the beginning of the lecture he talked a lot about being a part of a counter culture and pushing against society. He described how fruitful it was for him to live in an artist colony that had no concern for material success. However at the end of the lecture he was described some of his current financial realities and the trouble of maintaining a dance company.
3.) What information, ideas, images, etc. most impressed you and why?
I was most impressed by his presence, story telling, and his brief dance moves. They were all very clear but also very unique.
4.) Overall, how would you rate this event (10 being the most worthwhile)?
(10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )
eight
5.) Justify your rating in the question above:
I think for he was a really articulate speaker and was also entertaining. He also gave me two really valuable messages: don’t let yourself get in the way of the work, and why does it have to be anyone in particulars body?
5 Collages IDEATION assignment
Assignment summary: Create five different collages that demonstrate five distinctly different ways of bringing your cast objects together to create a finished work that is visually and intellectually compelling.
Please return to the research assignment that you completed at the start of this project and reflect on the particular type of ACCUMULATION that you set out to explore. Then, think about the best way to arrange the objects you’re casting in order to address this type of accumulation in a way that is also visually compelling. Be inventive, and consider incorporating found objects and/or building some additional elements to produce a more dynamic finished product. In sculptural projects, ideas are often developed slowly over time through a process of making, reflecting, making, experimenting, reflecting, making, experimenting, etc. This exercise is one final step of reflecting and experimenting that will help you create a stronger finished project.
While sketching is generally a good method of working through ideas, since you’re working with multiples in this project, it would take too much time to actually sketch out five detailed drawings of different solutions. However, on the computer you can easily create a number of images of whatever object(s) you’re molding, and then print these out. This is easy to do even with Microsoft Word by just cutting a pasting a small image over and over again. Then, by printing and then cutting these images out and arranging them in various configurations, you can quickly visualize some possible end products.
The playfulness and easy experimentation of the collage process is highly conducive to the consideration of various possibilities. Writing will always have a place in the clarification of ideas, but the collage approach is valuable because it is a visual method for working through a visual problem. Collaging will allow you to quickly and vividly SEE what your end product will be, and I think you’ll find it quite useful.
Feel free to simply bring hard copies of your collages, or if you prefer, then you may submit your work digitally via the class website on the “news” page.