Back after a month of hospitals and therapy, but actually back teaching - now for something different
a japanese composition term in design &pictorialcomposition - "Notan" has been making the rounds lately and caught my attention and explains why some art "works" better than others.. Why teach it, because simply it makes sense. How to Make Stronger Compositions Using Lights and Darks
Many cultures throughout history have created artwork using both styles, design &pictorial, although the actual term Notan appeared a lot later. there are actually two approaches to Notan: the first approach is mainly pictorial while the second is more akin to graphic design
-------------------------------------------------
New Semester- New Challenges
Students continue in a new direction - ceramic "model building." The students are going to reproduce the high school lobby in ceramic miniatures as a semester beginning project while they wait for their chance to throw some pots!
Ceramics - handbuilding
Clay has been used for many things throughout human history: a writing surface, building, material money (e.g., In the Near East, the Babylonians issued hollow balls of clay with little stones inside. A mark impressed on the outside showed how much it was worth.), storage containers for food and drink, cooking vessels and serving plates, ballast (weight placed in the hold of a ship to enhance stability) on ships (Clay vessels filled with spices, olive oil, and wine were shipped and traded throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia.), chamber pots, ceramic shields on space ships, in engine parts, and in communications, and a major tool for dating cultures..
Handbuilding This term refers to the one of several techniques of building pots using the only the hands and simple tools rather than the potters wheel. The term used for creating pottery using the potter's wheel is "throwing".
Pinch Pots
"Pinch" in ceramics is a method of shaping clay by inserting the thumb of one hand into the clay and lightly pinching with the thumb and fingers while slowly rotating the ball in the palm of the other hand. Pots made in this manner are called "pinch pots".
Coil Pots
This is the technique of building ceramic forms by rolling out coils, or ropes, of clay and joining them together with the fingers or a tool.
Pots can be formed by joining flat slabs of clay together. These pots tend to be a bit tougher, technically speaking, to produce. The slabs of clay need to still be wet enough to produce strong seams, yet also firm enough to be able to hold up their own weight when placed vertically. Also, joints in slab-built pieces are more likely to crack or split during drying and firing, so especial care must be taken with them when the pot is being built.
Slab Pots
Pots can be formed by joining flat slabs of clay together. These pots tend to be a bit tougher, technically speaking, to produce. The slabs of clay need to still be wet enough to produce strong seams, yet also firm enough to be able to hold up their own weight when placed vertically. Also, joints in slab-built pieces are more likely to crack or split during drying and firing, so especial care must be taken with them when the pot is being built.
String art, or pin and thread art, is characterized by an arrangement of colored thread strung between points to form abstract geometric patterns
or representational designs,
sometimes with other artist material comprising the remainder of the work.
Thread, wire, or string is wound around a grid of nails hammered into a painted or velvet-covered wooden board. Though straight lines are formed by the string, the slightly different angles and metric positions at which strings intersect may give the appearance of Bézier curves (and often construct actual quadratic Bézier curves). Other forms of string art include Spirelli, which is used for cardmaking and scrapbooking, and curve stitching, in which string is stitched through holes.
String art has its origins in the 'curve stitch' activities invented by Mary Everest Boole at the end of the 19th Century to make mathematical ideas more accessible to children. It was popularised as a decorative craft in the late 1960s through kits and books.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering. A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner". The story of writing is one of aesthetic evolution framed within the technical skills, transmission speed(s) and material limitations of a person, time and place. A style of writing is described as a script, hand or alphabet.
Modern calligraphy ranges from functional hand-lettered inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the abstract expression of the handwritten mark may or may not compromise the legibility of the letters. Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may create all of these; characters are historically disciplined yet fluid and spontaneous, at the moment of writing.
The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen, which may be flat-balled or round-nibbed, and the brush. For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens—steel brushes—can be used. However, works have also been made with felt-tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. Ink for writing is usually water-based and much less viscous than the oil based inks used in printing. High quality paper, which has good consistency of porosity, will enable cleaner lines, although parchment or vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to erase work on them and a light box is not needed to allow lines to pass through it. In addition, light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work. Ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used, such as with litterea unciales (hence the name), and college ruled paper acts as a guideline often as well.
Pens may be obtained from various stationery sources - from the traditional "nib" pens dipped in ink, to calligraphy pens that have cartridges built-in, avoiding the need to have to continually dip them into inkwells.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The first assignment of the second quarter is a request from the office of the governor of Montana. Each year for the past seven there have been 56 trees set up in the capitol - one for each county, and students across the state have sent in decorations for their trees. The theme this year is "What 'homegrown' means to you."
Students are decorating old 'cds' with their concepts for their contributions.
The governor's office will take pictures of the decorated trees and place them on their website.
Visit www.governor.mt.gov to View the Trees
Visit www.governor.mt.gov to View the Trees
--------------------------------------
Last assignment of the quarter is to design skull for the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration, to examine the similarities and differences between western, latino, and native american beliefs and viewpoints.Assignment #7
Printmaking
Assignment #6
Packing Tape Castings
Using the work of artists George Segal and Mark Jenkins as references, students began making life-size sculptures of themselves using clear packing tape as a casting material.
This is a project I've wanted to try with students ever since I first heard about it!
One of the most important bits of information to remember is that the first layer is put on sticky side UP and then 3-4 more layers of tape are applied sticky side DOWN. Students cast themselves (with help from other students) in sections and used rounded-tip scissors to carefully remove each cast. Seams were taped up and the body section casts were taped together.
Assignment #5
"Your Life As A Movie"
The "Your Life as a Movie" (*or "Video Game", “Music Album” or "Novel") poster assignment is a project I've used and adapted. It allows me to get all art students working on a project, while getting a feel for their skills and knowledge that we’ve covered so far in my Art I and Art II classes.
We begin this project by looking at a wide variety of posters and discussing what makes them effective.
We begin this project by looking at a wide variety of posters and discussing what makes them effective.
Students discuss the use of color, title placement, and what can be learned about each movie, based on the images. They also discuss the "mood" of each poster, as well as the overall composition and design.
Their assignment is to pretend that a movie* has been filmed about their life and they are to design a poster that will advertise it. They must include an original title for their movie, their name, and images that show their interests or that tell something about them. Their posters must include tempera paint and at least two other mediums.
Students usually have about a week and a half to complete their posters. This project allows them to demonstrate their general creative ability; their sense of design and composition; their ability to do lettering, use color and demonstrate their color mixing, painting and drawing skills. It also shows their ability to make good use of class time and meet deadlines.
When the posters are finished, students are randomly assigned a poster to DESCRIBE (no judgement allowed) in a written paragraph or two and they must also do a written critique of their own poster. Having them slow down, look, think and write at the beginning of the year--with their very first project--helps them gain appreciation for their own skills, as well as for those of their peers. And given the nature of the project, they also gain insights into the lives and interests of their new classmates!
Their assignment is to pretend that a movie* has been filmed about their life and they are to design a poster that will advertise it. They must include an original title for their movie, their name, and images that show their interests or that tell something about them. Their posters must include tempera paint and at least two other mediums.
Students usually have about a week and a half to complete their posters. This project allows them to demonstrate their general creative ability; their sense of design and composition; their ability to do lettering, use color and demonstrate their color mixing, painting and drawing skills. It also shows their ability to make good use of class time and meet deadlines.
When the posters are finished, students are randomly assigned a poster to DESCRIBE (no judgement allowed) in a written paragraph or two and they must also do a written critique of their own poster. Having them slow down, look, think and write at the beginning of the year--with their very first project--helps them gain appreciation for their own skills, as well as for those of their peers. And given the nature of the project, they also gain insights into the lives and interests of their new classmates!
Assignment #4
Linear 3-D Sculpture
Purpose:
To create a free standing linear sculpture composed of units.
Objectives: Student will
- design modular unit using two or more toothpicks - construct as many modular units as possible with 100 toothpicks
- design sculpture made from modular units
- show awareness of art vocabulary - critique works of art
Assignment #3
Dream Catchers
The Lakota legend - Long ago when the world was young an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a vision. In this vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi the spider picked up the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horsehair, beads and offerings on it, and began to spin a web. He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life; how we begin our lives as infants, move on through childhood and onto adulthood. Finally, we go to the old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle. "But," Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, "in each time of life there are many forces; some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But, if you listen to the bad forces, they'll steer you in the wrong direction, and may hurt you. So these forces can help or can interfere with the harmony of Nature.
"While the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web. When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the elder the web and said, "the web is a perfect circle with a hole in the center. Use the web to help your people reach their goals, make good use of their ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas and the bad ones will go through the hole."
The elder passed on his vision to the people, and now many Indian people hang a dream catcher above their bed to sift their dreams and visions. The good is captured in the web of life and carried with the people, but the evil in their dreams drops through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of their lives.
Assignment #2
The Huichol Indians of Mexico and the Aymara Indians of Bolivia weave brightly colored yarn on a simple frame of crossed sticks to make a design called "Ojos de Dios" or "Eye of God". Originally, "God's Eyes" were made to be placed on an altar so that the gods could watch over the praying people and protect them. They are now more often sold in markets, reminding us that God looks with love on people everywhere.
This project is divided into 2 steps. The first is a single "God's Eye" made with 2 crossed sticks. The other is a multiple series of "God's Eyes" which should be attempted only after you have made the single one first.
Assignment #1
1. Using just a sheet of card stock, students trace both hands in pencil and then with a Sharpie so that they can see the lines a bit from the back.
2. Moving quickly (some younger studnets can get distracted with this process) students cut about 6 or 7 biq squares of magazine pictures that they like, about 2" square. All are glued down to cover the back of the hand cutouts. All should overlap so no white is showing.
3. Students cut close to the edge of the hand, but leave about 1/4" around the edge.
4. Students cut out the hand from the marker side.
5. Students glue each hand to a cardboard backer
6. Each hand gets a different height block to create 3D effect glued to it
7. A sheet of textured/colored paper is glued to a piece of card board. Their 'hands' are glued on the background, (watercolor paint is applied around the hand, and faded to nothing with the brush.)
8. Lastly, names should be added.
9. Variations are to be encouraged - maybe 3 hands, multiple background levels... ?
9. Variations are to be encouraged - maybe 3 hands, multiple background levels... ?
Students will develop skills while working with a variety of techniques and media such as ceramics, fibers, jewelry, mosaics, etc. They will recognize and demonstrate a working knowledge of the elements and principles of design and learn about cultural and historical significance of media and techniques.
