SA131.SP2016.CAZ: February 2016

The unique sculptor, Andy Goldsworthy (b. 1956, Cheshire, UK) works with ephemera to create visually spectacular, and structurally stunning Earth works.

Due to the inherent nature of the materials he explores -- from icicles to poppy petals, and more, Goldsworthy's works often only exist for a very brief period of time.

Following their creation, they are documented photographically and exist in this form after the materials have broken down and/or transformed into another state.

assignment

Students of Design + Color theory will put into practice what they have learned in our first six weeks together and will create a self directed assignment that puts found materials to the forefront.

Using your notes from your sketch books, make a list of the concepts covered in class thus far.

In this next work you will use the inspiration gained from the Andy Goldsworthy's RIVERS & TIDES to discover and create a group of 12 designs that make use of ephemera in the landscape.

When I make a work, I often take it to the very edge right before collapse, and that for me is a beautiful balance.

- Goldsworthy

The materials that you will use in this next assignment are:

ephemera

your smart phones

or any camera

video camera

digital printers

consider

organic materials in contrast to geometric forms relationships

color vs monochromatic relationships

scale vs proximity

line being made through form

contrasts between diverse elements

consider what Goldsworthy says about color, line, shape, value, volume and FLOW

Consider what we've learned from McCloud's Understanding Comics when thinking about the frame / cell, the gutter, six steps of sequential art forms.

Consider the way in which the final form of all 12 photographs will visually take shape that may reinforce a conceptual theme that arises from your images.

No doubt you will take many more digital images than 12 to make your selections from.

Either hand these works in via thumbnails or on a thumb drive at the final of this project.

Ask yourself:

How will I make color?

How will I create volume?

How will I create a figure and ground relationship?

How will I activate the space?

How will I take the greatest potential from the area? In winter, in spring, with a lake, with snow, ice, stones, with mud, with branches, et al.

concepts covered

> line

> shape

> space

> figure / ground relationships

> visual weight

> visual speed + movement

> scale and proportion

> gestalt

> balance and unity

> diagonal vs horizontal / vertical speed

> figure / ground reversal

> pattern + rhythm

> sequential works (narratives with more than one panel)

> color schema > primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, complimentary, analogous, vibrating color schemas, simultaneous contrast, transparency, value, intensity + saturation

> metaphor making narratives

> ephemera that speak to transitions of materials and thus, time

> information gained from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics

*Midterm project due first class back from Spring Break

Student Works

Thinking, creating and writing go hand in hand

in all studio practice.

Engagement in research is an expectation of all art and design students beyond what is discussed in class.

Students will engage in research of artists and particular groups of visual makers, traditional or contemporary who have complemented visual culture in some way.

In the weeks that follow, I may give you a specific time period, a particular individual, a location, and/or style of painting I would like for you to engage in for that week. This will allow for you to find a number of historical and contemporary artists and become familiar with their work.

Throughout the term you will delve into research deeper focusing on individual artists, designers and groups of visual makers you are interested in.

Keep your research in your sketchbook with images you are looking at and your notes.

Make sure you keep steady track of all bibliographic information.

The works you select can also be used for your weekly deconstructive work analysis.

Your sketchbooks are the depository for your ongoing research throughout the semester. Write in it daily, keep yourself active in your scholarship.

The sketchbook also serves as material evidence of your how rigorous your practice is.

Each student will be given an artist / designer / group of visual makers to thoroughly research. Students may select their own, with approval of the instructor. Students will complete one formal paper and multi-media presentation prior to midterm in week #6, and one prior to final in week #13.

This research will be organized into a five page formal paper as well as a 7-10 minute multi media PPT delivered to the class as a whole. Individual student media projects will be delivered to the class in the 6th and 13th weeks of the term.

The formal research paper should include the following:

5 page minimum of written text, followed by 3 images: Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3
Images will be placed at the end of the paper pp.6 onwards
One page maximum devoted to the biography of the maker noting birth/death dates, locations, what influenced them in creating the works they did AND their influences on others
Deconstructive analysis on three selections of the maker’s creative work
Please note: that your PPT will only contain 2 of these
Properly cited bibliography MLA or APA style
Must be okayed by Center for Learning & Teaching prior to submission - submit 1.5 weeks in advance to CLT

> I am happy to see drafts, at minimum, 1.5 weeks in advance of their due dates <

student papers

Frank Lloyd Wright

Inventor of the organic style known as the “Prairie School”, Frank Lloyd Wright was said to be the most influential American architect. Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. His family moved a lot during his childhood, he lived in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Iowa before landing in Madison, Wisconsin where he would stay until moving to Chicago in 1887. Here he found what would become the inspiration for the Prairie Style; the Midwestern terrain. Wright graduated from high school in Madison, Wisconsin in 1885, going on to the University of Wisconsin that year. In 1887, after discovering he wanted to be an architect, he dropped out of university to work for Joseph Silsbee in Chicago. A year later he began working at the firm of Adler and Sullivan; an architectural firm in Chicago until 1893. That year he established his own architectural practice, designing many structures and developing the Prairie Style. The three main achievements in Wright’s career are Robie House (Figure 1), Fallingwater (Figure 2), and the Guggenheim Museum (Figure 3). Just before the opening of the Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright passed away on April 9, 1959, at the age 91. Many other architects were inspired by Wright’s Prairie Style design, adopting it and putting their spin on it all over the world. It is because of this and his magnificent buildings that remain standing today that Wright lives on in the modern world.

Frank Lloyd Wright uses many of the principles and elements of designs in his work. The Robie House (Figure 1), is located in Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois and was built between 1908-1910. The Robie House is one of Wright’s most famous Prairie Style homes. A characteristic of Prairie Style is having a horizontal emphasis in the design. Wright’s Robie House runs on that horizontal plane. With the lot being long and narrow the structure, although it is multiple stories, has a more dominating horizontal plane than it does vertical. Continuing with this idea Wright uses shape in the form of long, narrow bricks in his design to emphasis the horizontal plane of his structure. Horizontal lines are once again used to emphasize the horizontal plane of the design while vertical lines bring interest and vertical height to the design. Wright uses brick to create texture to bring the structure together with its natural environment, creating the indoor/outdoor space he is so famous for. The Prairie Style is known for uniting the structure with its site, Wright uses a neutral color palette of reds, grays, browns, and beiges to tie the structure to its environment, making the Robie House one of his most famous Prairie Style houses. The Robie House has a slow visual movement as the viewers’ eyes move horizontally across the structure. Wright’s contrasting media in the Robie House and his other Prairie Style designs include neutral, earthy tones, brick, and other resources to bring in the environment around the structure. While tying the structure to its surrounding environment is a characteristic of Prairie Style, the lot of the Robie House certainly made that a challenge for Wright when he built it. The lot effected the placement of the structure, because the lot is so long and narrow, Wright had to create a design that was long and narrow, hence the horizontal placement of the structure. The Robie House is a great example of Prairie Style, and uses the principles and elements of design.

Another of Wright’s famous buildings, Fallingwater (Figure 2), also uses the principles and elements of design. Fallingwater is located in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, and was built between 1936-1939. Wright unites the structure with nature by building directly over a waterfall and building around existing trees, incorporating them in his design. This creates a sense that the building and surrounding environment are one. With the structure nestled into this small natural oasis, framing is used as the surrounding woods frames the structure in nature. Line also plays a major part in this design and among all of his Prairie Style homes. Flat horizontal lines that contrast with vertical lines are a characteristic of Prairie Style and he uses many of them in the design of Fallingwater. Another example of Prairie Style characteristics is the relationship between nature and architecture, bringing them together as one. This use of how Wright juxtaposes space and form that contrasts so greatly, is another principle of design. As explained above, in Fallingwater, Wright literally merges his structure with nature, making the two seem completely unified. Continuing with the theme of indoor/outdoor space, Wright creates diversity in texture using stone in his design. Wright designed this structure completely around the waterfall. This creates contrast between the vertical waterfall and the horizontal sharp stone in the structure, making it the focal point of the design. Just as the trees create a frame around the structure they also create figure/ground relationship. The background consists of the trees, the middle ground or main focus is the structure and the waterfall, lastly the foreground are the trees in front of the home. Wright also uses a neutral color palette of cool grays in this design, thus, heightening value and variety. Another element of design is movement; with a strong verticality juxtaposing horizontal lines, movement is created among the design. Visual movement occurs because they seem to move as one, slowly flowing through the environment around them. Not only is Fallingwater is a great example of Prairie Style architecture, but also of the principles and elements of design.

Lastly, the Guggenheim Museum (Figure 3), designed by Wright between 1943-1959, located in New York City, New York, uses many of the same principles and elements of design. Being on a corner lot, framed by the intersecting streets, the streets offer a great location for the museum. There is a lot of repeating pattern in this structure, such as, the cement elliptical forms ranging in scale from smallest to largest. Repetition works with pattern to create unity and movement within the piece, repetition occurs in the smooth curvilinear stacks of each floor as they continue to spiral up the structure getting slightly larger on each step. Another element of design is rhythm, the rhythm in this design is found in each step of the top of the structure. The vertical cylindrical stacks add a high contrast, vibrant and fun mood to an otherwise white modern piece. This structure has a high contrast to the surrounding buildings. The cement structure is small in comparison to the surrounding New York City steel and glass skyscrapers. Despite these contrasts the structure still has a vertical visual movement. The viewers’ eyes travel from the base to the top of the stepped piece of the structure slowly almost stopping at each step. Another principle of design is figure/ground relationship, which in this design is seen in the form of a landscape. The background is the cityscape of New York City, the middle ground is the structure, and the foreground is the intersecting streets. Similar to the visual movement, the emphasis is on the vertical stepped part of the structure. It is by far the highest point of the structure which is why it draws the viewers’ eyes to it. Much different from his Prairie Style designs, Wright uses a clean, modern, white cement for the color palette of the Guggenheim Museum and an organic flow of materials for visual interest. Frank Lloyd Wright has many phenomenal structures remaining today, but these top three; Fallingwater, Robie House, and the Guggenheim Museum, are his most influential designs. All three are great examples of architecture and the principles and elements of design.

Works Cited

"About the Robie House." Scholastic. n.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

“Frank Lloyd Wright Biography.” Biography. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

"Frank Lloyd Wright Trust." Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Robie House, Figure 1: