Today's Class- Tonight we started a new graded project involving mixed media collage. I showed a few slides of historical collages through the 20th century, as well as student examples of this project. A random process was used to come up with the subjects, after which students used all the materials from the semester to create visuals of those subjects. We also took a few minutes to finally have a brief critique of the wood cut projects.
How to make this up- This project borrows two aspects of the Dada movement, the use of collage and the use of random elements to create art. You will need a randomly generated phrase to be your subject. I had students pick slips of paper with words printed on them out of two bags, one with nouns, one with modifying words and phrases. If you weren't there tonight, you can either e-mail me and have me pick a phrase for you, or wait until next week's class and pick it yourself. Then you will create a mixed media collage about your random phrase. The piece must include collaged elements (magazines, etc), painted elements, and drawn (pencils, markers) elements, along with the phrase that you drew from the bags. The student examples shown here are City of Zoo (above) and Everything Turns to Thinking (below). Several more good student examples, as well as more details about this project, can be seen here.
Homework- This mixed media collage graded project is due at the beginning of class on December 13, 2012.
The limited palettes color studies project that we began at our last class meeting is due December 6, 2012.
Anyone who still hasn't had their wood block printed should bring it in as soon as possible to receive partial credit.
For next class 12/6/12- We will have a critique of the limited palettes project and then start our final project of the semester. The project will involve making use of elements taken from the work of a historical fine artist (someone found in major museums and art history textbooks) from the 20th century or earlier. The artist must work in two dimensions (painting, drawing, prints), and use full color and representational imagery (no total abstraction). If you have an artist that you'd like to work with, bring color images with you to class. If not, consider a book covering a particular style, culture, or subject, and narrow it down later. Also bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, and all your painting related materials.
Today's Class- Tonight the class started a new graded project involving specific limited palettes. Rather than just imitate the local colors of the subject, sometimes an artist will choose a different but logical color scheme for the depiction. I showed slides of historical art, and pointed out examples of monochromatic, complementary, split complementary, analogous, and triad palettes. Students then started with a composition and value structure from a black and white photo and used it as the basis for four painted studies with different color combinations.
How to make this up- Start with a black and white photo of something real (person, object, scene, etc) with a mix of values from light to dark. Use pencil to divide a piece of your 18" x 24" paper into four equal boxes of about 9" x 12". Sketch the basic composition (can be vertical or horizontal) four times in pencil, once in each box. Use your acrylic paints to create color versions of the image in the photo, in four of the six possible color schemes available for this project. Above are two examples from a previous semester. Additional student examples and the full directions and color palette options can be seen here.
Homework- This limited palette graded project is due at the beginning of class on December 6, 2012.
Those who still owe me their completed woodblock should bring them in as soon as possible to be printed.
***Thanksgiving Break November 21 to 23***
******No class meeting on 11/22/12*******
For next class 11/29/12- We will start a new graded project involving mixed media collage. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, markers, paints and painting materials, scissors and glue. If you have any old magazines that you'd like to make available to be cut up as part of the collage, bring them along.
Things look good for school to open this week, and so we can expect to return to class this Thursday. We have missed two weeks of our 15 week schedule, so I've had to make some adjustments. This meant dropping a few planned items, but this still leaves us with three more graded projects, including the final.
Homework- Nothing new, but if anyone hasn't printed their cut woodblocks yet, bring them in as soon as possible. I'll collect them, print them in my home studio, and return them the following week.
For next class 11/15/12- We will start a new color related graded project. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, all your paints, brushes, palette, palette knife, and water container. This project will require a black and white photograph to work from. As with the dot project, it should be of an actual object/scene and works best if there are a wide range of values from light to dark. You may bring a photo of your own or pick through my bag of magazines.
Coming to you again courtesy of my brother, as I am still without power or internet at home.
I learned today that OCC has cancelled all classes through the end of the week, so we will be missing another Thursday night (11/8/12) class. Sometime over the weekend I'll come up with a new plan for the remaining weeks, deciding which assignments will have to be skipped, etc. All the projects have a purpose and contribute to the understanding of 2D art, but we can't get them all in now. Check back here early next week, but whatever we do, assume that you'll need the big pad, pencil and eraser, and all your painting related materials.
Like many of you, I am still without electric power or internet at home, but I found a place to get on the web today to update my college classes.
We missed our planned meeting last week. As of now the college has committed to being closed Monday (11/5) and Tuesday (11/6). I don't know if this means that they will be back in session in time for our next Thursday class, or if they just don't know yet. If school is open on Thursday, I expect to be there. At that time we will continue with the previous planned lesson, beginning a new graded project relating to color. (if the school doesn't open this week, I'll come up with a new plan later)
Homework- Nothing new, but if you did not have your wood block completed last time, bring it as soon as possible. I will collect them, print them in my home studio, and return them the following week.
For next class 11/8/12- We will start a new graded project relating to color. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, all your acrylic paints, brushes, palette, palette knife, water container, along with pencil and eraser, and scissors and glue (white or rubber cement).
