Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Texting

Texting is a contemporary form of communication - we use text everyday, to decipher meaning, to guide us, to connect.... So, why shouldn't we use it in our artwork?

There are many artists who have a text-based practice. Looking to Pop art in the 60's and 70's we find artists like Ed Ruscha and Roy Lichtenstein not only using text, but using imagery and process' from an emerging "popular culture."


Moving forward into the 80's, feminist artists like Barbara Kruger and The Guerrilla Girls paired relevant imagery with bold statements to convey their criticism of sexism and the circulation of power within cultures.


Contemporary artists have been using text in an interactive way, combining architecture and text.
The artists are, in a way, narrating your experience of/in that space.


You can communicate in a different way using text in your art. First you must come up with a concept. What do you want to say? What imagery will accompany your text? Will the imagery support or oppose the imagery? How will your layout effect the message? Think about your concept and do some preparatory sketches. The finished piece with be an 18"x24" drawing on the heavyweight white drawing paper, using any of the materials we've used in class (graphite, charcoal, pen). Be prepared to discuss your concept and process in the critique.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Homework #12 (Assigned 4/1 - Due 4/13)

-Metamorphosis
-5 step transformation
-Transform yourself (your portrait, your entire body, just your hands...) into another thing (a
bird, an umbrella, a stapler, a pineapple...)
-Think about your concept, your layout, your technique, and your medium
-Full sheet of heavyweight white drawing paper
-Medium of your choice

Homework #11 (Assigned 3/18 - Due 3/23)

-Two-Point Perspective Interior
-Full sheet heavyweight white drawing paper
-Graphite
Homework #10 (Assigned 3/16 - Due 3/18)

-10 Two-Point Perspective Boxes
Two-Point Perspective

Instead of viewing a box straight on, as in one-point perspective, we are viewing it at an angle. Two-point perspective describes objects that are oblique, or turned at an angle to the picture plane. No planes of the cube or cube-like form are parallel to the picture plane.

In one-point perspective, the height and width of the object are parallel to the picture plane. In two-point perspective, the height only is parallel to the picture plane. Verticals all remain parallel to the vertical edges of the picture plane, but the two sides of the box lea
d to two vanishing points, one on the right and one on the left.

The vanishing point for one-point perspective is located in the picture plane because parallel edges in the subject are angling sharply away from the picture plane. The vanishing points for two-point perspective are often located some distance away from the drawing, out of the picture plane, to the left and right because the two sets of parallel edges in the subject are angling slightly away from the picture plane.



The location of the vanishing point left (VPL) or the vanishing point right (VPR) for any given set of parallel edges of the subject depends on two factors.

One, the angle between the edges in the subject and picture plane. The closer the edges are to being parallel to the picture plane, the farther away to the left or right the vanishing point (VP) for those edges will be. If the edges of the subject seem to be parallel to the picture plane and not converged in the drawing, it is because the VP for the edges is, in effect, an infinite distance away.

Two, the distance between the observer and the subject. The closer you are to the subject, the closer the VP's are going to be to the center of the subject in the drawing. The farther away you are from the subject, the farther away and the farther apart are its vanishing points in your drawing.

Homework #9 (Assigned 3/11 - Due 3/16)

-One-Point Perspective Interior
-Draw an interior (i.e. hallway, kitchen, bathroom, living room...) in 1pt linear perspective
-Full sheet of heavyweight white drawing paper
-Graphite
-Leave receding lines, horizon line, and vanishing point
Homework #8 (Assigned 3/9 - Due 3/11)

-10 One-Point Perspective Boxes
-5 stacked
-3 cylinders
-1 odd shape