Exercise 1: Magazine Page Modification and Interpretation. Due Wed, January 17th.

Project Description 

This assignment is about slowing down and learning to look carefully and intentionally.  It's about observation, interpretation and response. As we stated in class, we spend much of our time reacting to the visual stimuli around us without much conscious thought as to what is being communicated. Our goal is to work on conscious viewing. 

You will start by breaking down the magazine page you picked in-class today. For this exercise we will be studying visual language in terms of both the Elements and Principles of Design.

Please be careful and concise with this exercise.

All work for this exercise will be posted to your blog.

Process

Step 1- Select an interesting Image

Select an image- Find an interesting page from a magazine to use as your source image. Be sure it has lots of details, contrast and variation. Images that contain both representational elements and text may be easier to use. 

Step 2- Scan Original

Take a photo (or scan) of the original source page and post it on your blog. Be sure to crop the image so it looks professional. 72ppi is proper resolution. Label this image as Original. 

Step 3- Analysis of Original

Write two paragraphs identifying all the basic elements of design you can find in your source image. Try your best to find as many elements as possible. Use the lists I posted to the blog to break down your image in terms of the Elements and Principles of Design. You can find that reference page by clicking here.  

For the Interpretation, use your own language to try and break down the communicative (semiotics) aspect of the magazine page you are analyzing. Be specific and be sure to qualify every statement you make by answering the questions why? or how? For example, if you say an image is sad, please describe Why you feel the image is communicating sadness and how. What aspects of the magazine page are communicating sadness?

Step 4- Modification (through Deconstruction and Reconstruction)

Use analogue cutting and pasting (x-acto and rubber cement) to deconstruct the page from your magazine and create a new composition that communicates something in stark contrast to the original source image. Start with a piece of paper the same size as the original magazine page. Create a composition that activates the whole page. Label this image as Modified.

Important notes: 

1. Every part of the original image has to be used. You can't throw anything away. 
2. None of the text from the original should be recognizable in your modified compositional. It should all be used as line and shape. 
3. Don't add any other elements or remove any. 
4. Glue your collage down on to a sheet of poster board or matt board that is the same size as the original source image. 

Step 5- Analysis of Modified Composition

Using the same approach as step 2, analyze your new composition. Be sure to qualify your statements by answering the questions why? and how?

Step 6- Scan Modified

Take a photo (or scan) of the Modified image and post it on your blog. Be sure to crop the image and fix the levels so it looks professional. Label this image as Modified. 

Due Wed, January 17th.  Start of Class. 

Rubric

You will be assessed on the following:
30% Analysis- both the quality and quantity of the break down of your two images (original and modified). 
30% Craftsmanship- precision of your cutting and pasting. Does everything look intentional? No rubber cement globs, etc. 
30% Creativity- how much you have changed the message of the original image/magazine page. The quality and originality of your new/modified composition. 
10% Presentation- Display at critique. Hung straight. Mounted on Matt Board. No bent edges or marks on Matt. Professional presentation. 


Helpful Hint- It's not necessary to completely cover every inch of your Modified composition with cutouts from the Original. Instead, think about how the white of the page can be used as shape and how it can add to the overall composition. 

Required Research- Week 1: John Berger- Ways of Seeing Video, Due Jan 14th.

Form Due Jan 14th by 11:59pm

Please watch the following 30 minute video (all of it) and answer the questionnaire I will send you through Google Forms.

John Berger-Ways of Seeing. Episode 1 (1972)

Here's a link to the video without the annoying ads.

Required Research- Week 1: Elements and Principles of Design. Due Jan 14th

Intro

The Elements and Principles of Design are the building blocks of visual language. This page is a starting point for your research on the subject. Remember, every author will present a slightly different list of things as "the" elements and "the" principles of design/art. The main thing to remember is that every image, regardless of how complex, can be disassembled into basic core components that are shared by all images. In this sense, all images have a simple shared core language. 

Please read the following link to an introduction on Formal Analysis:

http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/formal_analysis.html

Basic lists of the Elements of Design and Principles of Design:

Note: the language we are learning will be used to analysis the images in this week's assignments. Do you best, with what we have discussed in-class and with what you will be reading this week. There is no Google Form for these readings. 

Welcome- Spring 2018

This is ART1202C
Tuesday/Thursday
10:30am - 12:50pm.
Rm 5208
Don Lambert

Here is a list of things you need to do before next class:

1. Subscribe to this blog using the link on the right-hand of the page just below the blog archive.

2. Review the blog archive to get an idea of the types of assignments you will be doing in this course.

3. Send me an email before the end of the day so I can add you to the distribution list for the class. An email will be sent to the class containing a copy of the Syllabus; you can also find a copy of it in the upper right-hand of the blog.

4. Review Syllabus

5. Purchase required materials

6. Set up your personal blog and send link to my email address. I will link your blogs to the class blog.

7. Secure the following items in addition to the required materials list:
magazines for collage
plastic containers for cleaning paint brushes (yogurt, etc)
portfolio of some kind to transport your work (you can make one out of cardboard)
Bag to transport your materials and tools
9x12 cutting matt is a strong recommendation, I have some for you to use in-class.

Looking forward to a great semester; your first assignment will be posted shortly.

Email me with any questions.

Best,
Don

Albers Exercise 6, 7 and 8. Due Wed. April 12th

Class, Because of time constraints, we are skipping exercise 5. For Wed, please do Exercises 6 and 7. Each exercise should be mounted to mat board with 2" border. 

DUE WED, APRIL 12th. 

Exercise 6

 consists of 4 different compositions. Each composition should measure 4" x 2.5" overall. NOTE:  FOR EXERCISE 6 ONLY, YOU MAY USE ILLUSTRATOR, OR ANY OTHER MEDIA, INSTEAD OF PAINT SWATCHES. Regardless of the medium you choose, you CAN NOT blend colors. They must all be solid and limited to 4 colors used across all 4 compositions

Ex. You could use the following paint swatches in 4 different compositions that communicate very differently: canary yellow, periwinkle blue, sun red, lemon. Each composition would use only these 4 colors, but in different quantities, in different placement, and interacting differently.

Exercise 7

THIS MUST BE DONE USING PAINT SWATCHES. Your composition must measure 3" high x 12" wide. Cutting clean and straight will be important. The goal is to use color repetition and proximity to create the illusion of more colors that you are using. YOU WILL ONLY USE THREE DIFFERENT COLORS of paint swatches. How many more colors can you create through Visual Mixture? Challenge yourself to make at least 6 colors appear.

Exercise 8

 Exercise is done with 3" squares and 1" squares. Should be mounted with 2" border. 

 Do your best with this one. You will need to pick three colors that give the illusion of 4 colors. The small 1" square is the color that will appear to shift into a 4th color depending on the ground (large square surrounding it). 

Do this exercise once with a shift in value (grayscale)  and another time with a shift in hue. 

Required Research: Interaction of Color historical background. Due Monday, April 10th.

Please watch the two videos on the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College and visit the website on Josef and Anni Albers.


https://safeshare.tv/x/ZWO0wx53r6E

https://safeshare.tv/x/G3xSAew7vEU

http://www.albersfoundation.org/artists/biographies/

Josef Albers- Interaction of Color: Exercises 2, 3 and 4. Due Monday, April 10th.

Project Overview

Using the color swatches you brought from the paint store, complete the following exercises. All exercises should be mounted to mat board with a 2" border. The color swatches can be glued directly onto mat board or first onto bristol board and then mounted to the mat board.

A new X-acto blade should be used.

Evaluation

You will be evaluated on two components
50% Craft- cutting, layout, gluing, presentation, following directions.
50% Demonstration of desired effects- Study should achieve the stated effects.

Due Date

All exercises must be mounted and ready for critique at start of class, Monday, April 10th. 

Notes

There are three basic attributes of color- Hue, Value, and Chroma. Identify how each of these exercises use the relationship between the attributes of colors to create the desired effects. Once you can identify the color relationships, you will be able to choose colors of your own to replicate the effects.

Here are more notes and examples for the Josef Albers Exercises 2.

Exercises 3 & 4

Notes: the larger squares are 2" x 2" and the smaller squares are 1" x 1". So, for exercise 3 you will need to cut two squares 2" x 2" and remove a 1" corner from each of these. In the empty space, place your 1" square of the appropriate color. The goal is to make the bottom right-hand color appear to be floating above the upper-left color. If this is done correctly, you will create an illusion of transparency and 3-dimensional space/depth.

Keep in mind the rendering device of atmospheric perspective- as objects move away from the viewer they decrease in both chroma and contrast. Therefore, a prismatic color may appear "closer" to the viewer while a chromatic gray may appear "more distant".