3D Design Found Objects- Plastic

The Assignment-    For this project, you will be creating a sculpture from found objects, meaning items that already exist in the world, previously manufactured for some other purpose.  Materials should be chosen and used for their shape, texture, and color.  The materials may be used whole or broken into smaller pieces.  You may use wood for structural purposes, and any way of joining it (hot glue, nuts and bolts, etc) that you want.  For larger volumes, plastic bottles and containers make a simple and lightweight support structure. The subject should be some kind of representational sculpture, and your sculpture should bear strong resemblance to the chosen subject.  It must be 12 inches in at least one dimension.  Above and below are student examples from last semester.  

3D Design- Coffee Trays Portfolio Exercise

The Assignment- Get yourself 3 or 4 of the coffee trays, which are generally available at any place that sells lot of take out coffee.  Carefully observe all the parts of the trays, noting the convoluted shapes, bulges, and curves.  When you are ready to start, cut your trays apart into the pieces that will be used to make your sculpture and glue it together.  As for the piece you make, no particular subject here, so you may make something based on an object, or work more in an abstract design approach.  (the above student examples from last semester's class include a flower, a dragon, a mutant duck, and an abstract snowflake) I do ask that you try to push the use of negative spaces in the work, which can include spaces that go all through a part of the work, or interior spaces surrounded by the cardboard.  

This is a class portfolio exercise, which is due by the end of the semester, but I suggest you get it done as soon as possible so you aren't worried about making it up at the end of the semester..

3D Design Canon of Proportions exercise

Today's Class-  Today's subject was the idea of a canon of proportion, the idea that at times societies have established specific rules for the depicting of ideal figures.  We looked at slides of Ancient Egyptian and Greek sculpture and talked how canons existed in each case, and compared those to Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, which also dealt with the same concept, and the extremes of mannerist painting.  The class then started a portfolio exercise relating to the concept.  

The Assignment-  Students selected an image of a human figure from ads in magazines, and then started reproducing it using foam core (as a skeleton/support) and bristol board to build form (similar to examples from the bamboo show).  Above is a student example in progress.  When that is completed, a second figure is to be completed using the same process, but changing the proportions of specific parts of the body:

head, torso, feet, upper arms, thighs remain the same size.
neck will be done at 2 times the current size
forearms, lower legs will be done at 3 times the current size
width of shoulders should be twice the current size

Use the same construction technique for the second figure.  You may glue the figures to a small base to get them to stand up.  Adding color is an option.  Below are two student examples of original sized and re-proportioned figures.

3D Design Natural Materials Assemblage

The assignment-  Much 3D art of the cave dwelling period was created by altering found materials in nature, such as rocks, wood, bones, etc, through carving, incising, or adding items.  I showed some slides of such artworks, and I brought some stuff from home, to which we added stuff from the classroom and campus.  

How to make this up-  I had brought in an assortment of shells collected from the beach (mostly broken clam shells) and some dried out bamboo shafts from a small grove near my home.  I allowed students to take small pieces of wood from the scrap boxes there in the classroom, and some foraged outside for such things as small stones, leaves, acorns.  (in a nod to the 21st century I am allowing the use of hot glue to attach these items to each other)

The assignment is to create a free standing sculpture, looking to see what the pieces bring to mind, then building something that would be seen as that thing.  For our purposes the subjects will be those things that cave artists regularly depicted- people and animals, as well as specific parts of those things (for example, a human hand, an animal's head, etc.)  Mythological creatures are also allowed.

Above is a representation of a bull made from wood scraps from the bins in the classroom, pieces of bamboo, and broken shells, while below is a perching bird, with a supporting skeleton built from small pieces of wood and whole and broken shells used to make the feathers and body.

You may use any naturally occurring material in your sculpture.  You must include some hard items that can't be readily altered by hand (such as the shells, or rocks), to which you may add wood, and any naturally growing plant products (branches, roots, bark, leaves, acorns, etc).  Wood can be cut up and carved.  You have the option of using color as well, including both natural pigments and modern paints, but it's not required.  Below are more student examples from a previous semester.

3D Design-Planes exercise

How to make this up-  Students were asked to pick a favorite vehicle purely from a design point of view.  Most common were sports cars and trucks.  The first part of the assignment was to reproduce the basic shape of this vehicle, especially the broad planes on all visible surfaces, using foam core for broad structure and support, and bristol board over the surfaces, especially those with curves.  I used white glue for the example I made, but you can go with hot glue if your prefer.  Meanwhile, everyone made a second copy of every single piece that went into their cars using the same materials.  The second part of the assignment was to take that second set of parts and create an abstract sculpture that had no resemblance to a car.  Above are four examples of cars and related sculptures from a previous semester.

This is a portfolio exercise and must be completed by the end of the semester to receive full credit, but I suggest finishing it by the time we return from spring break.