Today's Class- Today we talked about monumental art, which I defined as large scale art permanently part of a building, usually done right on part of the architecture, common in every era and part of the world. Slide examples included cave paintings, to Roman era fresco and mosaics, through the Byzantine times, Renaissance, and into the 20th century. Our art exercise today included making a mosaic style collage from color magazine paper.
How to make this up- Start with a color photo of your choice. I provided old magazines to look through, or students could find something on the internet. The only rule was a photo of something real (no graphics/illustrations) and in color.
The photo should be attached to a page in your large pad. Then you should sketch the basic composition of the photo in pencil. It can be at 100% scale, or you can enlarge a section of the original photo. Your new version should be at least 6" x 6" or 9" x 4" (horizontal or vertical), though it can be larger if you want.
Continue to reproduce your photo by adding colors as close to the original as you can, using small pieces of colored paper from magazines or similar sources. The color paper should be no bigger than 1/2" square, but may be smaller. One piece can be layered over another if that makes it easier to handle small details. The color paper can be secured in place with the adhesive of your choice- some options used today included white glue, rubber cement, or glue sticks, each having advantages and disadvantages. Below are some student examples from previous semesters, showing both the original photo and the collage piece.
This is a portfolio exercise and can be made up any time before the end of the semester for full credit.
Homework- If you didn't finish the piece in class, you need to finish it before the end of the semester.
Nothing else new, but remember there are two papers, due starting in November.
For next class 10/13/17- We continue with color, but this time using the watercolor paints. This first time using the watercolors we will be looking at basic color theory and do some exercises involving color mixing. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, watercolor paints, brushes, a water container (old cup or can will suffice) and a mixing palette- anything flat and waterproof.
