Intro to Art- Final Grading Day

Today's Class- Today we looked at slides of sculpture from the Renaissance, Baroque, NeoClassical, and various Modern and Contemporary. We also looked at more comic strip projects from the class. After the break, students worked independently on various back projects. I also distributed the list of what's expected for the portfolio next week.

Next Week- Final Class Meeting

All work is due at the beginning of class next week. This means the following-

Portfolio

Contour line drawings- shoes
Negative space drawing of chair, bottles
Charcoal value drawing
Mosaic collage from magazine paper
Color wheel and complement mixes
Photography Assignment
Abstract watercolor paintings to music
Collograph Print
2 point perspective drawing of room corner

2D Final Project (comic strip) I have most of these in my possession still

3D Final Project (open box project, see 4/23/07)

Museum Paper

Arrive on time. Students will be dismissed while I grade all of the above. You will be able to return at a pre-arranged time (near the end of class) to pick up your work and learn the grades for each. Unclaimed work may be disposed of at any time following the end of class. Final Class Grade will be available later on the computer.

Friday 4/27/07 2D Design

Today's class- Today was a general work day where students could work on any class related work. Most devoted the time to the Pop-Up Book Final Project that we started last week.

Next Week--Final Class Meeting 5/4/07

At the last class of the semester we will begin by having a critique of all the final projects. Then I'll have everyone disappear for a while while I grade the final projects, portfolios, any other late projects, and the museum papers. At a pre-arranged time, you may return to pick up the graded items. Work that is not picked up by the end of the day may be discarded any time after that. Here are the projects that are expected to be brought in for the last day:

Portfolio (everything not previously graded)

contour lines (exterior/cross/blind) of shoes
charcoal studies of white objects (vine, compressed)
color wheel and complement mixing exercise

Graded Projects (these have been graded, but I want to see them again to look at your overall progress over the semester, as well as to possibly shoot slides/digital images for future use.)

Pencil Still Life
Stipple drawing (dots)
Final Charcoal Drawing
Woodcut
Specific Color Palettes (4 color combinations)
Painted Still Life
Color Temperature Collage

Final Project- the book project (pop-up, transparency, folding flap, or pull-tab)

Museum Paper

When you return to class, you will receive your grades for the portfolio, final project, museum paper, and any back projects. Final class grade will be available online eventually.

Intro to Art- 3D Final- Cornell Theme Box

Today's Class- Today we opened with slides showing the history of sculpture from Prehistoric to the present, concentrating on Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque, and 20th Century. That included looking at examples of Joseph Cornell style boxes, which are 3-dimensional freestanding open front boxes containing a variety of collaged materials and found objects. A similar project is assigned to you as your 3-D final project.

The Assignment- Create a Cornell-style box of your own. The open front of the box must be at least 12"x12" and must be a minimum of 3" deep. It may contain a shelf or other subdividers. The project should have a specific theme, and contain both 3D and 2D elements. These elements can be found objects, crafted by you, or a combination of those. The box must be able to stand upright on its own.

The box at the top is a sample that I made using wood, with objects and 2D art relating to the theme of an old fashioned hardware store. You may use wood, but cardboard is fine as well. The other examples are from students, each using cardboard boxes. The themes of the other projects are (in order) Jail, an Apple computer, a photography dark room, and a baseball stadium.

Museum Research Assignment

The assignment- Choose 3 works of art that you like, and 3 that you don't like. For each do the following:

1) Stand in front, looking at it carefully for a full 5 minutes

2) After 5 minutes of concentration, state what you like and don't like about the piece, and analyze it using the Feldman Criticism Method (description, analysis, meaning, judgement), using formal art language when possible. Description is what you can see- shapes, colors, objects depicted, etc, as well as materials used, and the processes if you know them.  Analysis is how things work together, things like size relationships, shape relationships. color relationships.  Meaning is what you think the piece is about based on your observations, what you believe the artist was trying to communicate, if anything, and the judgement information is below.  Descriptions and analysis are based on observations of what you actually see, while meaning and judgement are your opinions- as long as you can provide reasons for what you write, you can't be wrong.

Choose one of the three pieces the that you like and answer the following three questions:
a)What period or art movement does this work belong to?
b)Why (other than the date) do you link this artwork to that period?
c) What connection does this piece have to the society in which it was created?

The judgement step is deciding which of the following criteria you believe was the intent of the artist, why you believe this, and were they successful:

a) formalist- relationship of parts to the whole, pleasure comes from viewing the object itself, visual organization is more important than symbols, narrative, life experience.
b) expressivist- focus on the depth and intensity of experience of viewing the artwork, success comes from work with the greatest power to arouse emotions and communicate significant ideas.
c) instrumentalist- art that serves a particular purpose (political, religious, etc) and is successful when it helps advance a cause or change behavior- the idea is more important than the artist's emotions or formal art theory.

If you think more than one applies (and in some works all three could apply), choose the one you think most important for the work being analyzed.

3) Do a small sketch of the piece, or arrange to provide a photo.

The eligible museums are-

Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Ave, Montclair
Newark Museum, 49 Washington St, Newark
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave (near 82nd), New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd (near Fifth), New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave, New York
The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St. (at Fifth), New York

Grounds For Sculpture 126 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, NJ (3D Class Only)

Click the links to learn about hours, admissions, rules, and special shows.

Other institutions may be acceptable, but you must check with me first.  Some classes may have to deal with specific works- for a 2D class, the chosen works must be two dimensional (paintings, drawings, prints), for a 3D class the works must be sculptural (carved, cast, assembled) and for a drawing class the works must be drawings (pencil, charcoal, ink, pastels, etc)

2D Design- Transforming Book Project

How to complete this assignment- Start by choosing a two dimensional color artwork from the history of fine art, something I'll define as more likely to be found in a museum of art history textbook, and not in stores that sell collectibles. You will be transforming it in some way based on the idea of children's books. Examples and descriptions of four such possibilities can be found below. All have in common that they have a cover that opens and closes.

A) Folding Flap Book- In this type, when the cover is opened, the image appears like the original artist's work. A flap that runs the length (horizontal or vertical) of the image is down in one position. When the flap is folded back the other way part of the image is hidden, and another new part revealed, with the new part matching up to the parts of the painting visible when the flap is down on either side.

A) above- original position, below- second position (pink elephant and tiki statues)

B) Pull Tab Book- In this variety, when the cover is opened, the artist's original painting is shown. A tab extends out from the top, bottom, or side. When the tab is pulled, it changes one or more pieces of the painting by sliding out the original bit and sliding in a new one.

B) above-original position, below- second position (Mickey Mouse head)

C) Transparency Book- When the cover is opened, the original painting is shown. However, when a clear plastic sheet is lifted, some changes are revealed. These changes can be found anywhere in the composition.

C) above- original position, below- second position (skulls and skeletons)

D) Pop-up Book- The book starts flat, but can be opened to a 90 degree position, which pulls at least 3 levels of picture elements up in front of the backdrop, creating a 3D object

D) First Layer- skater and ice, Second Layer- background figures and tall tree, Third Layer- deep background trees, Inside Cover- sky.

Intro to Art- 2 Point Perspective Project

Today's Class- We reviewed of the history of architecture, starting with prehistoric Stonehenge, through the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Medieval, Gothic, Neoclassical, and ending with Contemporary, as we discussed materials and goals of builders. For the art project we did a two-point perspective drawing of a corner of the classroom.
Today's Assignment- I demonstrated the procedure on the blackboard for drawing in one and two point perspective, then led the class through a 2 point perspective drawing. The class drew one of the classroom's corner's using 2 point perspective. Shown above is a sample diagram of a 2 point persepective drawing of a room interior. (Click on it to enlarge) You may make up this assignment by doing such a drawing of a corner in your own home, but I recommend that you wait until next week after I review the procedure with you. However, when you are ready to do it, choose a corner of a room. The corner should have a doorway, a piece of furniture (bookcase, dresser, end table, etc) and at least one item on the opposite wall (framed artwork, poster, window, etc).

2D Design- Color Temperature Season Collage Project

Today's class- We began with a few slides of paintings, discussing the overall color temperatures in the works. Since most colors can be perceived as either warm or cool, a whole painting can feel warm, cool, or balanced. Then we started a graded assignment related to color temperature and the seasons.
The Assignment- Take a sheet of your 18"x24" paper, use a pencil to draw 2 boxes on it, each 10" square. Set it aside. On separate paper, start making small swatches of color using your acrylic paints. The pieces of color should be no larger than 1" square. The goal is to make as many different colors as possible, and group them into temperature ranges that represent two of the seasons of the year. For example, summer would be all warm colors, winter would be all cool colors, spring and autumn have a mix of warm and cool. Colors can be made from mixing primaries together, mixing in white or black, layering one color over another. Be creative. You can make colors to fit two seasons that you choose, or make a bunch of colors first and decide afterwards which seasons they feel like.

Once all the paint is dry, cut out the painted pieces and glue down in the 10" boxes in any arrangement you like as long as you fill the space. You should have a minimum of 100 pieces in each large square, and each should be a different color. If your pieces are clean 1" squares, then a grid of 10 by 10 fills the season box. A little overlapping or slight white spaces between are acceptable. If your seasons are adjacent you may use some of the same colors in both seasons. (For example, if you choose winter and spring, some of the cool colors used in winter can also be used for spring, along with some new warm colors representing that aspect of the season.) The samples shown above depicts the color temperatures for Autumn and Winter. On the back of the page, write which two seasons are represented by your two collages.

Intro to Art- 2D Final- Narrative/Symbolism Comic Strip

Today in Class The topic was Narrative/Symbolism in art and we started the major 2D Final project, which will be the first individually graded project of the the semester. We looked at slides of art through history that stressed narrative (story telling) and symbolism, including Bronzino, Lorenzetti, and Hogarth. I also discussed the long form black and white sequential artwork Maus by Art Spiegelman, two pages of which are shown above. It is a story told in 2 parallel times- part in the present (late 70's) as the author/artist deals with his sometimes difficult elderly father, and part in the past (mid 1930's-mid 1940's) as his father relates the story of growing up Jewish in Poland before being imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, and how he survived the camp. Spiegelman chooses to depict all his characters as animals symbolic of the situation. All the Jewish characters are mice, Germans and Nazi soldiers are cats (which pursue and kill mice), American soldiers are dogs (which pursue cats), with other animals used as for other groups. (Click on the images above to enlarge them)

The assignment is to produce a comic strip about some bit of your own personal history. It can be a major event or something inconsequential. Your comic must be a minimum of 12 panels over two pages, and done in full color using pastels. You and all the characters must be symbols that either relate to the story (such as Spiegelman's animal conflicts) or be personal symbols relating to the people. In the student example shown above, the symbols are beach related items (beach ball, shovel, pail, beach umbrella) because the student and her friends love the beach, while the story itself was about an injury sustained during a roller hockey game. You may draw in pencil first, then color with the pastels. (if you aren't used to using them, practice coloring in shapes on scrap paper first) Pastels can be thick or blended smooth. Text for dialogue/thought balloons can be done with pen, markers, or even a word processor.

Friday 4/6/07 2D Design

There was no class today, as Kean University was closed down for Good Friday. Scroll down to the entry for 3/30/07 if you need a reminder about assignments and materials for the next class.

Intro to Art- Collograph Project

Today's class- The topic today was printmaking. We looked at slides of various print media- woodcut, etching, lithography, screen print, monotype- covering from the early Renaissance to contemporary art. After that I showed the above example of a collograph plate and print and talked about the process. Students started making a collograph plate using various materials I provided. Some students did their oral presentations regarding their research papers.

How to make this up- Build your own collograph plate. A collograph (from the word "collage") is a print made from a plate that is made by attaching items with a variety of textures to a flat surface. Start with an 8"x10" piece of cardboard. Materials can include both natural and artificial items. The above example includes fabric, textured vinyl, 3 different kinds of leaves, yarn, corregated cardboard, crumpled paper towel, and a plastic candy wrapper. On the right is the collograph plate, on the left is a print on paper made from the plate. You need to have a minimum of 8 different textures in your collograph. The items in yours should be arranged to make some kind of recognizable image (landscape, interior, person, thing, etc). Don't worry about the color of the items you attach, in the print made from the plate all will be colored by the ink used to print it.