Today's Class- Today we continued with the idea of proportions that we started a few weeks ago. For that one, we took a figure and made a distorted version, reflecting how societies will sometimes impose unusual proportions on figures, whether it be classical or heroic ideals, or the extremes of 16th century Mannerism or contemporary photoshop ads. Today we took a page from the concept of installation art, creating a whole environment for figures. Sculptor George Segal made a career out of creating small environments for his life sized figures from plaster life casts of people. We worked with the more practical small scale from a few weeks ago.
How to make this up- The starting point is one of the figures you made on March 24th. If you haven't made up that exercise yet, you will need to do so soon. Use the one based on actual photo, not the extremely distorted version. You will be creating a portion of our classroom that matches the proportions of your figure, using foam core and glue. You must include your work table, with one of the clamp vices, one stool, and one other item from the room. The one above from today includes a standing fan. Other things made today include a broom, garbage cans, etc. You can also go bigger as in the examples below from previous semesters, and create portions of walls, cabinets, and other classroom furniture. Use the body of your sculpted figure as a measuring tool; you decide what height it represents and make everything else fit along side. Attach the table and other items to a base to act as your floor. Bring the figure with you on the day your present it to the class.
This graded installation inspired project is due at the beginning of class on April 21, 2015.
Homework- The stone age inspired natural materials project is due at the beginning of class on April 14, 2015.
For maximum points, the museum paper should be turned in by April 28, 2015, though it will be accepted as late after that until our last meeting of the semester.
For next class 4/14/15- We will start a new graded project with the medium of book sculpture. Books are three dimensional objects whose dimensions vary constantly as the pages are turned. You will be carving those pages to create a piece that will be viewed after the cover is opened. You will have two options for your approach:
Above is an example of a continuous change abstract style. Viewers can start at the beginning of the book and as the pages turn, negative spaces (empty volumes) appear and disappear, constantly evolving and creating constantly varying three dimensional shapes. Below is another option, to create a single sculpture viewed from one position in the book, which can be a scene with layers of depth, or like this one, an object in the round. The dark "marks" seen are not ink or paint, but shadows created by light over the surface.
Bring two hardcover books, I suggest about 6" x 8" or larger, and at least 300 pages, though larger and thicker won't hurt. Pages can be all text, but printed images on the pages can lend interesting effects. You will be creating one for the class, with the second book as back up in case you have a need to start over. Also bring a sketchbook and pencil to work out some ideas, x-acto knife and extra blades are recommended, as dull blades are more likely to tear the paper than cut it smoothly.
