Perfect project goes down the tube.
via sprayblog.net
Bulgarian Exchange!
10 years ago
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Elsa Mora, paper-cutter
Did you know that there's a Guild of American Paper Cutters?
Neither did I until I came across the blog of Cuban-born artist Elsa Mora: All About Papercutting. Not only does Mora's blog have links to some great paper-cutting artists, but it also has hints on how to make your Perfect Project even more perfect. She shares a nicely photographed tutorial, and check out the extensive list of papercut artists on her sidebar.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
perfect
I know that the perfect project can drive people nuts. This silhouette is mounted in an acorn cap!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Arcimboldo
Foundations II had fun discussing Arcimboldo today. What's the best project you've ever seen featuring food?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Course Description from catalogue
Syllabus for Art 1210 Foundations Studio I
Fall 2009 Professor Cedar Nordbye
Office: CFA 207 Email: cnordbye@memphis.edu
Phone: 678 1616 Office Hours: Mon & Wed 9-11 AM
Catalogue listing:
“Methods of studio practice including research, creative problem solving, idea development, collaborative operations, integration of digital technology, and engagement with readings in contemporary art criticism and historical and theoretical texts. Emphasis on the development of independent projects and critical and verbal skill development.”
This course is designed to provide you with an introduction to the rich and complex process of the artistic practice. The primary goal of the course is to give you the ability to formulate projects that have meaning to you, projects that arise out of a full array of options, informed by research, critiques and an engagement with contemporary art.
The most challenging part of being an artist is not solving a problem so much as it is formulating a meaningful problem. Several of the projects in the course are almost completely devoid of any directions and are designed to force you to define for yourself, what is important. This will feel uncomfortable. You might feel confused or lost. This is not a defect in the course design, nor a weakness in the teaching skill of your instructor, it is a fundamental part of learning to work as an artist. During this process of self-direction it will be important for you to keep in mind your desired concentration in art, or any known special interest or future plans that you possess.
This course is the first of a two-part course sequence. As such, this course will initiate learning processes that will not be resolved in this course. For instance, this course will initiate a process in which you will see the importance of certain craft-skills. You will not perfect those craft-skills in this class, but you will begin to see how craft is important and the role it plays in the making of art.
Two Guidelines for how to make good work:
#1: Don’t wait for a good idea to float into your head with you sitting still. Ideas come the most to those in motion. Start sketching things out, play, experiment. Try dumb things.
#2: Don’t get seduced by the first good looking thought that comes along. While there might be some nuggets of value in the first ideas that you come up with, you won’t really get a mature idea until you’ve come up with a multitude of ideas, and those ideas have a chance to evolve, building on each other and improving.
The Goals of the Course:
1. To begin to know who you are as an artist. By analyzing your interests, the common threads that connect them, your ways of thinking and working, you will begin the life-long process of working to know yourself and to formulate process of artistic production that make the most sense for you.
2. To learn how to develop an idea from the most general stage to a work of art that meaningfully communicates some insight into that idea. To do this you must learn to analyze your initial idea, research it, brainstorm about it, make a multitude of sketches or models of possible treatments of the idea, select one or two and develop them further, and then critique and revise your treatment.
3. To develop skills of critical reading. To begin to experience how readings of art history, theory or other literature can enrich your artistic practice.
5. To begin to build a working vocabulary of artistic language.
6. To build a familiarity with the issues and the artists of the contemporary art/design world.
7. To increase our abilities to communicate (both visually and verbally).
8.To create an environment in which ideas are born and freely fly about, a space in which we can learn from one another.
9. To become aware of the extensive array of choices embodied in any art work and to be able to understand the impact of those choices on the meaning of works of art.
The Logistics of the Course
Attendance: This course is an experiential course. You will do a large part of your learning in the classroom. Because of this attendance is critical. You will be allowed two unexcused absences. For every absence beyond those two, your grade will drop one third of a letter grade. For instance, suppose you miss four classes and otherwise would have received a B, your absences (two beyond the limit) will each lower your grade one, and your B will become a C+. In addition, should you miss a class, you are responsible for coming to the next class prepared and should contact students in the class to catch up. Coming to class late is extremely disruptive and each tardiness will count as one third of an absence. Excused absences include illness that requires medical attention, a death in the family or participation in a university athletic event. Any of these excused absences require documentation.
Grading: Ideally, you will recognize that grades do not have any deep reality and you will be motivated by your desire to learn and to be a better artist. You will primarily be graded on the effort and engagement demonstrated in your projects. In evaluating your work I will consider the thought put into the formulation of your plan and your preliminary choices; the evidence of work, your diligence in seeking out the problems in your work and attempting to correct them and the level of attention to craft in your work. A grade of an A is reserved for awesome work, work that makes me jump out of my chair, run to get a colleague out of the hall to check out this amazing thing my student just made. If I have to ask if a project should get an A, it doesn’t. Generally, when a project worthy of an A is put on the wall, the class will react. There is no way to receive an A in the course if not all of the projects are completed on time. A grade of a C will be given when a project’s basic requirements are fulfilled and the project is essentially satisfactory. No projects may be handed in late without permission, and then they will be marked down one full grade for each day that they are late.
Special Needs:
If you have any special needs, differences or disabilities (be they physical or cognitive) that may present the need for logistical adjustment of the course, please speak with me privately and I will make any necessary arrangements. Appropriate accommodation will be made for students registered with the Office of Student Disability Services. Please contact me as soon as possible if arrangements are to be made.
Disclaimer 1: This class is an introductory level art course and as such will introduce you to an eclectic array of experiences. Some of these will make you uncomfortable and challenge your ideas of taste or even morality. This is a good thing, as it is good to be challenged and to encounter new perspectives. Feel free to discuss your discomfort with me.
Disclaimer 2: You may not receive credit for any work that either puts your health or the health of another at risk, or is in violation with the law, or with University policy.
It is required that you have a University of Memphis email account. If you receive your email normally through another address, then you will need to make sure that your mail is forwarded automatically from your U of M address.
Cell phones should be turned off before class.
There will be homework due every class. There will be five large projects due throughout the semester. These large projects include:
Project 1: 9-Dots Project. This project is designed to throw you into the process of formulating your own problems. There are no other guidelines for this project.
Project 2: Perfection Project.
This project is designed to introduce you to the perfectionism of craft that is often so important in the making of art. It is also designed to introduce crucial vocabulary for understanding and discussing the formal elements of a work of art. For this project you will research biomorphic forms and typographic fonts and make paper silhouettes of each. You will then make collage of those forms and choose several to translate into wooden objects.
Project 3: Fused Interests
Using the reading “Vermeer in Bosnia” as a model for the weaving together of two seemingly disparate themes you will take two of your seemingly unrelated interests and make a project which makes their relationship manifest.
Project 4: Candle and a Mirror.
This project will be self-directed, the only requirement being that you bring together your interests with an issue/problem from the outside world. Also, for Graphic Design and Interior Design Majors, this project will be “client-based” and will focus on the interests and desires of someone other than you.
Project 5: Signs, Symbols & Metaphors.
This project is similar to the “Fused Interest Project” and will involved you fusing your interests with the ideas presented in the readings,“Introducing Semiotics” and “Semiotics and Cubist Still-Life Collage.”
All Students will be required to attend four qualifying art events. Qualifying art events consist of art openings or lectures and will be announced throughout the term. Your attendance at these events will be documented with notes and sketches in your sketchbook.
Readings:
For the 9 Dots Project:
“Getting Started” and “Shitty First Drafts” two chapters from the book Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. These readings are actually meant to teach writers how to begin writing, but they are very relevant for artists beginning a work of art.
For the Perfection Project: McCreight’s Design Language
For the Fused Interest Project
“Vermeer in Bosnia” by Lawrence Weschler, about Vermeer’s paintings and the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. This article fuses together two seemingly unrelated, disparate topics and through an investigation of the meanings behind each, reveals them to be interrelated.
Other:
“He Fights Terror with Books,”
An article about mountaineer Greg Mortenson who raises money and builds schools in Pakistan and Afganistan.
“Conversations About a Project for a Homeless Vehicle”
A chapter from Wodiczko’s book Critical Vehicles discussing the process of collaborating with homeless people in New York on the design of portable shelters.
Supply List:
These supplies are primarily for the second project: (Perfection Project). Each of the other projects are open-ended enough that you will have to acquire materials specific to each of your projects.
• Books: Design Language, by Timothy McCreight (in bookstore)
Arranging Things, by Leonard Koren (order online)
•Digital Camera •USB Drive (a.k.a. Jump or
Flash drives)
•Sketchbook
•Self-Healing Cutting Mat (9x12 or larger) •X-Acto Cutting Knife
•Portfolio (zipper-type is best) •15 extra X-Acto blades
•pad of Bristol (11x14 smooth) •2 Chartpak blender markers
•Ruler (metal w/cork backing •Tape
•black markers (some Sharpies, some not) •scissors
•1 sheet canson black paper •rubber cement
•additional materials of your choosing
Notes:
Fall 2009 Professor Cedar Nordbye
Office: CFA 207 Email: cnordbye@memphis.edu
Phone: 678 1616 Office Hours: Mon & Wed 9-11 AM
Catalogue listing:
“Methods of studio practice including research, creative problem solving, idea development, collaborative operations, integration of digital technology, and engagement with readings in contemporary art criticism and historical and theoretical texts. Emphasis on the development of independent projects and critical and verbal skill development.”
This course is designed to provide you with an introduction to the rich and complex process of the artistic practice. The primary goal of the course is to give you the ability to formulate projects that have meaning to you, projects that arise out of a full array of options, informed by research, critiques and an engagement with contemporary art.
The most challenging part of being an artist is not solving a problem so much as it is formulating a meaningful problem. Several of the projects in the course are almost completely devoid of any directions and are designed to force you to define for yourself, what is important. This will feel uncomfortable. You might feel confused or lost. This is not a defect in the course design, nor a weakness in the teaching skill of your instructor, it is a fundamental part of learning to work as an artist. During this process of self-direction it will be important for you to keep in mind your desired concentration in art, or any known special interest or future plans that you possess.
This course is the first of a two-part course sequence. As such, this course will initiate learning processes that will not be resolved in this course. For instance, this course will initiate a process in which you will see the importance of certain craft-skills. You will not perfect those craft-skills in this class, but you will begin to see how craft is important and the role it plays in the making of art.
Two Guidelines for how to make good work:
#1: Don’t wait for a good idea to float into your head with you sitting still. Ideas come the most to those in motion. Start sketching things out, play, experiment. Try dumb things.
#2: Don’t get seduced by the first good looking thought that comes along. While there might be some nuggets of value in the first ideas that you come up with, you won’t really get a mature idea until you’ve come up with a multitude of ideas, and those ideas have a chance to evolve, building on each other and improving.
The Goals of the Course:
1. To begin to know who you are as an artist. By analyzing your interests, the common threads that connect them, your ways of thinking and working, you will begin the life-long process of working to know yourself and to formulate process of artistic production that make the most sense for you.
2. To learn how to develop an idea from the most general stage to a work of art that meaningfully communicates some insight into that idea. To do this you must learn to analyze your initial idea, research it, brainstorm about it, make a multitude of sketches or models of possible treatments of the idea, select one or two and develop them further, and then critique and revise your treatment.
3. To develop skills of critical reading. To begin to experience how readings of art history, theory or other literature can enrich your artistic practice.
5. To begin to build a working vocabulary of artistic language.
6. To build a familiarity with the issues and the artists of the contemporary art/design world.
7. To increase our abilities to communicate (both visually and verbally).
8.To create an environment in which ideas are born and freely fly about, a space in which we can learn from one another.
9. To become aware of the extensive array of choices embodied in any art work and to be able to understand the impact of those choices on the meaning of works of art.
The Logistics of the Course
Attendance: This course is an experiential course. You will do a large part of your learning in the classroom. Because of this attendance is critical. You will be allowed two unexcused absences. For every absence beyond those two, your grade will drop one third of a letter grade. For instance, suppose you miss four classes and otherwise would have received a B, your absences (two beyond the limit) will each lower your grade one, and your B will become a C+. In addition, should you miss a class, you are responsible for coming to the next class prepared and should contact students in the class to catch up. Coming to class late is extremely disruptive and each tardiness will count as one third of an absence. Excused absences include illness that requires medical attention, a death in the family or participation in a university athletic event. Any of these excused absences require documentation.
Grading: Ideally, you will recognize that grades do not have any deep reality and you will be motivated by your desire to learn and to be a better artist. You will primarily be graded on the effort and engagement demonstrated in your projects. In evaluating your work I will consider the thought put into the formulation of your plan and your preliminary choices; the evidence of work, your diligence in seeking out the problems in your work and attempting to correct them and the level of attention to craft in your work. A grade of an A is reserved for awesome work, work that makes me jump out of my chair, run to get a colleague out of the hall to check out this amazing thing my student just made. If I have to ask if a project should get an A, it doesn’t. Generally, when a project worthy of an A is put on the wall, the class will react. There is no way to receive an A in the course if not all of the projects are completed on time. A grade of a C will be given when a project’s basic requirements are fulfilled and the project is essentially satisfactory. No projects may be handed in late without permission, and then they will be marked down one full grade for each day that they are late.
Special Needs:
If you have any special needs, differences or disabilities (be they physical or cognitive) that may present the need for logistical adjustment of the course, please speak with me privately and I will make any necessary arrangements. Appropriate accommodation will be made for students registered with the Office of Student Disability Services. Please contact me as soon as possible if arrangements are to be made.
Disclaimer 1: This class is an introductory level art course and as such will introduce you to an eclectic array of experiences. Some of these will make you uncomfortable and challenge your ideas of taste or even morality. This is a good thing, as it is good to be challenged and to encounter new perspectives. Feel free to discuss your discomfort with me.
Disclaimer 2: You may not receive credit for any work that either puts your health or the health of another at risk, or is in violation with the law, or with University policy.
It is required that you have a University of Memphis email account. If you receive your email normally through another address, then you will need to make sure that your mail is forwarded automatically from your U of M address.
Cell phones should be turned off before class.
There will be homework due every class. There will be five large projects due throughout the semester. These large projects include:
Project 1: 9-Dots Project. This project is designed to throw you into the process of formulating your own problems. There are no other guidelines for this project.
Project 2: Perfection Project.
This project is designed to introduce you to the perfectionism of craft that is often so important in the making of art. It is also designed to introduce crucial vocabulary for understanding and discussing the formal elements of a work of art. For this project you will research biomorphic forms and typographic fonts and make paper silhouettes of each. You will then make collage of those forms and choose several to translate into wooden objects.
Project 3: Fused Interests
Using the reading “Vermeer in Bosnia” as a model for the weaving together of two seemingly disparate themes you will take two of your seemingly unrelated interests and make a project which makes their relationship manifest.
Project 4: Candle and a Mirror.
This project will be self-directed, the only requirement being that you bring together your interests with an issue/problem from the outside world. Also, for Graphic Design and Interior Design Majors, this project will be “client-based” and will focus on the interests and desires of someone other than you.
Project 5: Signs, Symbols & Metaphors.
This project is similar to the “Fused Interest Project” and will involved you fusing your interests with the ideas presented in the readings,“Introducing Semiotics” and “Semiotics and Cubist Still-Life Collage.”
All Students will be required to attend four qualifying art events. Qualifying art events consist of art openings or lectures and will be announced throughout the term. Your attendance at these events will be documented with notes and sketches in your sketchbook.
Readings:
For the 9 Dots Project:
“Getting Started” and “Shitty First Drafts” two chapters from the book Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. These readings are actually meant to teach writers how to begin writing, but they are very relevant for artists beginning a work of art.
For the Perfection Project: McCreight’s Design Language
For the Fused Interest Project
“Vermeer in Bosnia” by Lawrence Weschler, about Vermeer’s paintings and the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. This article fuses together two seemingly unrelated, disparate topics and through an investigation of the meanings behind each, reveals them to be interrelated.
Other:
“He Fights Terror with Books,”
An article about mountaineer Greg Mortenson who raises money and builds schools in Pakistan and Afganistan.
“Conversations About a Project for a Homeless Vehicle”
A chapter from Wodiczko’s book Critical Vehicles discussing the process of collaborating with homeless people in New York on the design of portable shelters.
Supply List:
These supplies are primarily for the second project: (Perfection Project). Each of the other projects are open-ended enough that you will have to acquire materials specific to each of your projects.
• Books: Design Language, by Timothy McCreight (in bookstore)
Arranging Things, by Leonard Koren (order online)
•Digital Camera •USB Drive (a.k.a. Jump or
Flash drives)
•Sketchbook
•Self-Healing Cutting Mat (9x12 or larger) •X-Acto Cutting Knife
•Portfolio (zipper-type is best) •15 extra X-Acto blades
•pad of Bristol (11x14 smooth) •2 Chartpak blender markers
•Ruler (metal w/cork backing •Tape
•black markers (some Sharpies, some not) •scissors
•1 sheet canson black paper •rubber cement
•additional materials of your choosing
Notes:
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