NUMBERS

NUMBERS

Crits:

15

25

35

Participation:

15

Exploratory Studies

10 light box

Total 100

UNIT ONE ASSESSMENT total 15

Exploration and Discovery 3 Points

There is an exploration and discovery in the design of the piece. There has been thought and exploration of the design and design here is the way it appears; it is the dynamism of the work. You can change and influence this by the way you emphasize different aspects of the constructed materials to affect the balance, the unity and the variety in the work.

Is it 2D or is it 3D 2 Points

The two forms are joined such that it is difficult to discern whether or not the work is a sculptural work or an image based work.

3D substrate is an abstraction and 2D Image is figurative 2 points

Execution and ARTISTRY 5 points

connections between the materials, glueing, additive processes, execution strong, transitions clean, edges well sanded etc. In other words PRESENTATION is strong and consistent with the desired outcome. There are not surfaces or finishes that DISTRACT from the overall effect.

Judgement and Editing in the Design 3  points

The Work demonstrates a solid design, and the artist is able to speak to the design qualities in the work. You’ve explored what design is to you in the execution of this work. You’ve looked into other fields for inspiration; you’ve expected the unexpected and gone for it; you consider more than one possibility for the display.

Transitions between one material and the next and or one area in the sculpture and the next are fluid or are consistent with the overall feel of the work. A gradation between stages in the work creates sequential change within the entire system itself.

Choose your Materials Brightly

Composition and Construction

Choice of Materials

The materials used in a project may affect the range of possible solutions. In selecting a material, consider these qualities in relationship to your intended design.

• Strength. How much weight can a given material support? What is its breaking point when stressed?

• Workability. How difficult is it to alter the shape of a material? Does it cut and bend easily?

• Durability. How long must a project last? In what context will a sculpture be shown? The hard basalt used for many Egyptian sculptures has endured for millennia, while the flexible fabric used in a temporary installation may last less than a year.

• Weight. A material that is too light for a  given purpose can be as problematic as a material that is too heavy. What is the function of the design, and how can weight serve that function?

• Cost. Can the material chosen be obtained easily and at a reasonable cost? If your budget is limited, expensive materials will have to be removed from consideration.

• Toxicity. Many plastics produce toxic gases when cut, etched, or burned. Paints and solvent may require the use of masks and gloves and often present significant disposal problems. Is the ventilation of your workspace appropriate for your work process? Are less toxic materials available?

•  Function. Most important, how appropriate is a given material for a particular purpose? A teapot will be useless if the material used is porous, and a chair that is too difficult to construct can never be mass produced. Any material chosen must serve both the structural and aesthetic needs of the physical object.

From Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design 2001, Mary Stewart

Opening paragraph Part Three Ch. 8 Three-Dimensional Design: Organization, 8-10

3D is physical

 ...[In] two-dimensional design, we use our technical, perceptual, and conceptual skills to create flat visual pattern and convincing illusions. It is the viewer's mental response that gives the artwork meaning. By contrast, our experience in the three-dimensional world is physical and direct. As we traverse an architectural space, we alter our perception with each step we take. When we circle a sculpture, we encounter new information on each side. The materials used in the construction of a three-dimensional object determine its structural strength as well as its aesthetic appeal.

The physical connection gives three-dimensional design an inherent power. When we shift from an illusory world to a tangible world, a substantial shift in communication occurs. Confronted by the physical presence of the three dimensional object, the viewer responds viscerally as well as visually.

From Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design 2001, Mary Stewart

Opening paragraph Part Three Ch. 7 Three-Dimensional Design: Aspects and Elements

2D Images and their formats

There are really only a very few ways in which images are made, and expressed in the world, whereas with the course's counterpoint "sculpture" there are probably hundreds.

A quick review in the class we came up with they ways images are shown, or made:

Projections, cinema, television, internet, mobile phone (tablets etc), and images made with light (holograms?), and through the computer ( and all the file types and digitization that correspond to that production). X-rays, MRI scans, CT scans and CAT scans are some medical image types. Then there's the cellulose/plastic substrate the image is printed on, transparencies, etc.

Paper based productions: newspapers, magazines, labels, photocopies, prints, books, all print material in general (maps, pamphlets, stamps, postcards, tickets, blueprints), advertising signage, billboards.

Museums, and libraries are host to images, as are the sides of buildings, buses, and cars, Human bodies too with tattoos.

Caves, rock petroglyphs, parchment, papyrus, sand mandalas are other forms of image making. We didn't discuss these as of yet.

Most of these are rectangular in format, and rather 2 dimensional, with the exception of forms replicated on natural substrates.

UNIT ONE project sheet: the physical image

Sculpture and Image 2925

UNIT ONE PROJECT SHEET Title: Physical Image

DUE DATE: FEB 4, 2014 all work from each student will be presented in critique on this date

prof JEN HAMILTON, January 14, 2014

Value of final outcome (to total grade of course): 15%

Need: 2D photographic image; can be original image or ‘changed’ according to need

(photocopied, scaled, transfer to gel medium, slide in projection  etc.)

cutting tools/process e.gs: mat knife, xacto, scroll saw, band saw coping saw, as needed

adhesives/bindings e.gs: glues, gel medium, tape, as needed

mounting substrate: wood, luan,  plywood, solid wood, or plexiglass, plastic sheeting, folded paper

Purpose: Take 2D photographic image and 3D form and combine them into a single work.

The two forms are joined such that it is difficult to discern whether or not the work is a sculptural work, or an image based work. The ‘sense’ of the piece is that is has very strong three dimensionality, but the 2 dimensional image is distributed throughout the form.

Parameters:

FORM: The 3D form provides the ‘substrate’ or support to the 2D. This 3D structure will consider one or more design principles in the final formal analysis. These principles are: balance, emphasis, movement, pattern, repetition, proportion, rhythm, variety, and unity. A sheet outlining these principles is available for photocopy in an envelope outside the office LLR 106- marked JEN HAMILTON).

The 2D image and the form of the 3D substrate do not have to relate to each other conceptually.

In the final work you can identify the 2D image, ie the image remains in the work.

Use of colour and texture is left up to the student. It will be assessed against the final outcome particularly if it obscures or distracts from the final design result.

Assessment:

           Craftsmanship: Neatness of gluing, clean surfaces, use of materials, and overall finished quality will be assessed.

The 3D substrate will demonstrate one or more design principle. It can be seen more than simply an armature for the work. It is a viable component in itself.

The final work is viewable from only two or three vantage points; it has a main point of view.

Outcome examples: See artworks by Micah Lexier, Bill Viola, Letha Wilson, Nobuhiro Nakanishi, Maya Lin, Murray Favro as shown in class.

Brainstorming: Expectations are that you participate in demos in sculpture studio, woodshop and metal shop to further explorations for this project.

Relevant words “to bring together”: Combine, join, ply, attach, render, mix, associate, stir, layer, converge, rabbet, fix, handshake (see thesaurus for more e.gs)

Relevant words “to transform”: cut, pixelate, stack, dice, shred, morph, distort, exaggerate, process, organize, sort, weigh (see thesaurus for more e.gs)

Next Action: Know the purpose, and the direction you want to take your project. Brainstorm through ideas and experiment with materials. Organize the data of your research and determine your next action to get the work done. See Getting Things Done: Enhancing Vertical Focus on Google books. Photocopy available LLR106 office door.

one plus one = three or more

The one plus one is equal to three or more is a metaphor borrowed from Joseph Albers we are using to discuss sculpture and image.

Joseph Albers was a phenomenal teacher and artist. Check him out if you don't know about him already-->Josef Albers, "One Plus One Equals Three or More: Factual Facts and Actual Facts,"

in Albers, Search Versus Re-Search (Hartford, 1969), pp. 17-18.

Divergent Thinking, what is it again?

A main concept introduced in intro class (Jan7) and again in class 2 (Jan14) is DIVERGENT thinking. This is related to mind mapping or even brain-storming.

Divergent thinking is a way to generate ideas in a whole, non-sequential, quantitative and non-structured way. It's a way to get projects creatively underway (see David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity).

Principles of Design sheet: understanding formal analysis, from the Getty Institute

Design Principles for 2D planes (balance, emphasis. movement, pattern, repetition, proportion, rhythm, variety, unity) were discussed in the context of 3D form. See examples on pinterest ---> x.

One Plus One: Things are not what they seem

Sculpture and Image Intro:

It's an amazing range for a course as it really encompasses most of what you'll look into in art making. 2D and 3D and their junction points. It's the invention of photography that provides the backbone of this type of art made for over 100 years.

What do we have? Sculpture on the one hand and image on the other. It's really a sculpture course; it's sculpture with image, but it's the image part that changes everything. It's the spanner in the works. It's the game changer, so to speak.

In loose terms we have components: #D and 2 D

The 3D is the physical and exists through time. and then we have sight. Sight is the 2D.

With 3D there is body/form / and space and with that you get action, motion/ movement in time. You move around an object.

With 2D you get perception, the picture plane, the frame, the point of view, illusion, and an anchor point to hold on to, a fixed point in which to view something.

We are looking at the work in terms of the inherent qualities and throughout the course we will understand what those qualities of sculpture and image are and reflect on them. For instance the differences and similarities of 2D and 3D....

syllabus A2925

Sculpture and Image  

Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Arts – University of Ottawa

Tues 8:30 a – 12: 30 p | Sculpture Studio LLR01 | tel: 613-562-5868

Art 2925 | (0,0,4) 3 credits | Studio Contact Hours: 52

Prerequisites: ART1311, ART1321, ART1331, ART1341. Reserved for students registered in the Bachelor of FIne Arts or in the Major in Visual Arts. Previously ART2025.

Jen Hamilton jhamilt5@uottawa.ca |  office hours: Tues 1:30 – 2:30 LRR 106

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: to develop practice-based investigation of art using sculpture and image; to place sculpture and image within a contemporary art context; to develop students’ independence with the production their work within the studio.

CONTENT

This practice-based course addresses how to make sculptural work that uses imagery as a starting point, as content and as structure. It uses the interplay between these two realms as a strategy from which to make art.  The basis for investigations comes from slide presentations, class discussions, and student research and exploration with materials.

CALENDAR OF SESSIONS:

WEEK                         TOPIC

1	Greetings; Rules and regulations (syllabus review) and some new math (1+ 1 + =___ );build from the image and project acceleration how-to;
2 - 6	WATER FTW: Two into One: The Physical Image Planes, Organizing Principles and 2D as 3D Prototyping and problem testing Creative Process, Outcome Visioning, The Idea of Critique Connections and Disparities between 2D and 3D    WATER FTW: One into Two: Image/Action/Document/Book Possible Transitions
7	Study/Review Week
8-12	WATER FTW: Two into Many: Image as Story The Hierarchies of the Image and the Object; Things Fall Apart    The Frame and point of view, Ways of Seeing, episode One    Sculpture and Installation Reflection, Feed-Back Loops, Noise The Critique of an Idea
13	Final Critique

There are three main studio sessions scheduled for this course. Each one is roughly 3 to 4 weeks long. Studio Session 1 begins January 7 and continues to February 4 (critique day). Studio Session 2 runs from Feb 11 to Mar 11 (critique day). And Studio Session 3 runs from Mar 18 until the last day of classes. Final critique for this session is on April 8.

The topics for each studio session are interrelated and interchangeable. They are intended to relate directly to the course objective and learning outcomes. The sessions investigate the following topics: Two into One The Physical Image Integrated: the picture plane, and some ways to organize; One into Two Each part identifiable as separate entities with transitions that help connect them into a whole; and Two into Many: The Hierarchy of the Image at a given instance, personal view point, and the frame.

It is expected that there will be corresponding demonstrations in the woodshop and metalshop during the course. Depending on input from students and the direction of class discussions and critiques other topics may be introduced and investigated.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

In this course the student will have developed their knowledge of sculpture and image art through practice based study.  Three-dimensional form and the 2-dimensional plane will be used in the production of studies and projects. The student will have a position on what constitutes sculpture and image in art, and will have an understanding of its history and its context within contemporary art practice.

EVALUATION:

Final Critique: 30%

Continuous assessment: 70% (of which at least 15% is allocated to participation)

Continuous assessment involves research and explorations, artistic investment, editing and execution.

REFERENCES

Mary Stewart Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design (2001)

John Berger Ways of Seeing, Episode One BBC (1972)

David Allen Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

Roger Von Oech A Kick in The Seat of The Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior to Be More Creative (1986)

PARTICIPATION:

Participation requires that you are physically and mentally alert and active in the class. You are expected to respond and have a position, and/or belief/opinion about the ideas and work presented in class (active reflection). We will review critique techniques and practice responding to peer presentations during project review. On workdays I will spend time consulting with you individually about the status of your projects. The community of the class is an essential part of this studio experience. Plan to stay and participate in this studio environment even after I have spoken with you.

Your participation grade also reflects your role as a responsible studio mate and ability to enact “no-trace” camping, or in this case: leaving a space cleaner than when you found it. You need to be fastidious about using tools properly and putting them away. Students are expected to be considerate studio mates, and exhibit a positive attitude. Extreme neglect to tools, space, and dangerous performance, or actions will result in the temporary barring of a student to a workspace.

Attendance and Special Circumstance: You are responsible for all the information received in every class both written and verbal. I will make periodic announcements about due-dates, materials, techniques etc. It is the student’s responsibility to be in class on time, and ready to work, even on workdays, in order to receive information. It is critical for your success in the course to be a participant in all of the technical demonstrations.

If you are extremely ill (and/or contagious) don’t come to class, but make sure to follow up on missed work! It is your responsibility to let me know if you will not be able to attend class. If you are sick it is your responsibility to give me written confirmation from a doctor or it will be considered an unexcused absence.

****Much of what we do in this course involves using your body to manipulate materials. If you have a disability or medical condition that you think might affect your performance in this class, make an appointment to speak with me so we can find a way to make the class accessible to you.

Letter grades are assigned as follows: Average work completed on time that fulfills the parameters of the assignment usually earns a ‘C’. Work that is thrown together at the last minute or does not follow the parameters usually earns a ‘D’ or ‘F’. An above average grade is a ‘B’ and denotes a solid work effort, innovative problem solving, good craftsmanship and enthusiastic participation. An ‘A’ is an exceptional grade that is reserved for outstanding exploration, in-depth research and problem solving, excellent craftsmanship, and demonstrated artistry.  You are expected to work a minimum of 5 hours outside class time each week to complete work for this course.

In order to pass this course you must complete all major assignments and receive a passing grade for attendance and participation.

STUDIO WORK :

To complete course projects students are expected to research and experiment with ideas, imagery and materials, to edit and revise, and to make! In-depth exploration, consistent studio activity and timely progress is expected of each student.

A portion of class time will be dedicated to group discussions, critiques, and other activities. Beyond scheduled class studio days you should expect to work at least 5 hours per week outside class time.

Be prepared to work during class. Do not come to class with the intent of leaving to purchase or collect materials. Homework that is not completed by the due date will receive no credit. Projects that are not completed by the due date will be lowered 10% for each additional class period that passes until they are turned in.

Projects not finished for critique will NOT be discussed. Contact me immediately if you need an extension based on a documented illness (note from physician) or extreme family emergency.

Critiques are mandatory; it is an expectation that you have your work finished and set-up before class time. Critiques are extremely important aspect of studio courses and should not be missed. Your participation in critiques are as critical as your mere physical presence; plan on being present and an active member of the group.

PROJECTS:

You will have three main projects to complete during the semester: These projects will have an in-progress due date as well as a due date for critique. In progress due-dates are relevant to the assessment of the overall project. You will have 3-4 weeks to complete all stages of the project. Start your projects early! Starting to work straight away allows you to take risks, to re-work solutions, and solve technical problems.

NB : You will need to purchase additional items as individual projects dictate throughout the semester. Budget approximately $85 - $150 for additional materials (plus the studio fees already allocated to this course).

MANDATORY STUDIO RULES :

COMMUNITY: Sculpture is a medium that involves physical labour; everyone is expected to help out with the day-to-day responsibilities of maintaining the studio and supplies.

WOODSHOP and METALSHOP: Current sculpture students may use the tools in these two shops after they have been taught how to use them safely by the sculpture technician. If you forget how to use tools after the demos, make sure you ask the instructor or technician for assistance. There are more rules and guidelines posted in each of the rooms.

Don’t know what is is? Don’t use it! Many of the materials used on sculpture are hazardous to your health. Never use a tool or chemical until you have been taught how to use it, safely. Do not bring chemicals such as solvents, strippers, spray paints, or resins etc. into the classroom without consulting with the instructor.

Respect the tools! Always clean off the tools before you put them away. Don not use non-plaster tools for working with plaster. All metal tools that come in contact with plaster need to be wire brushed after each use and oiled regularly.

Clean up after yourself: Always leave your work area cleaner than you found it. Failure to clean up after working in the woodshop or welding area will result in the loss of your privileges in those areas. Together we can keep this space safe and pleasant to work in.

Clean Carefully: Many of the dry materials in this studio (including sawdust and plaster) are bad for your lungs. Wear your mask when you clean. You will have required reading about health and safety in sculpture. Read it carefully and live by it!

Dress for Mess every class: Wear clothes that are easy to work in. Tie long hair back especially when working with machines. Do not wear loose fitting clothing when working with power tools. You must wear closed toe shoes while working in and out of class.