Visual Language I
Fall 2006, Massart


Jane D. Marsching email
office 3rd floor south 309 , hours: Mon 1:30-3 Tue 2-3:30 signup sheet is on the door

 

MODULE 1 : RESEARCH AND MAKE (six weeks)

Research Project week 7

syllabus monday

syllabus tuesday

projects

requirements

vocabulary

tools

critique

help

email info

links

 

Description:
You will research, prepare, and present a 5 minute Artist Research Presentation with examples of 3 art works by 3 different artists containing basic design fundamentals. The examples may be in the form of slides, reproductions, or actual periodicals and books.

Objectives:
You will learn to define and organize research practice and begin to see the relationship of this activity to your studio practice. You will also become more familiar with research tools, strategies and presentation forms. You will also further develop your understanding of and ability to participate in critique.

Historical/Cultural Perspective:
Art, in most cultures, is a socially realized and experienced phenomenon. We examine the work of fellow artists, historical and contemporary, to deepen and extend a collective vision. Digital images will be shown. Much of what we know occurs as a reciprocal process between individual and collective knowledge.
Guidelines:
* The artworks will be representative of at least 3 different artists at least one of whom you are not familiar with; include some biographical data
* You may choose to examine an element or a principle in more than one work, comparing and contrasting them for their strengths and weaknesses.
* Try speculating on why the artist may have chosen to use the element and principle in the way it is used. To what end? What is the relationship between the fundamental and the art materials used? The processes? What might be the relationship between the fundamental and the artist's conceptual intentions? What might you have done differently?

Conceptual Development
Research and critique deepen and broaden our understanding of the artistic process. These activities enable us to more fully understand the relationship between the formal and the conceptual. Analyzing, speaking and presentation skills are strengthened as you begin to shape your own identity as an artist with personal intentions, material preferences and a unique voice.

Formal Development:
Research processes; familiarity with library resources and equipment; preparation and handling of materials.

Proceed/Strategy:
Record your thoughts, questions, sketches, etc. in your sketchbook and journal. Plan to spend a sufficient amount of time in the library/slide library browsing through books and periodicals. Use the Library's Electronic Search Data Base (ask for help if you've forgotten how). Practice your presentation with a friend; be prepared; use note cards if you'd like; try to stick to 5 minutes. Prepare list of artists you chose, and next to the names, the titles of the works, and the fundamentals you cited (this will be handed in).

List of Fundamental Terms Used to Describe Art and Design:
concept in a work of art (Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Ann Hamilton, Vanessa Beecroft)
Line (Sandro Cinto,
composition (Thomas Struth, Frank Stella, Sugimoto, Susan Rothenberg, Carl Fudge)
space: positive and negative (Rachel Whiteread, Vija Celmins, Helen Chadwick)
form ( Ken Price, Frank Gehry)
shape (Donald Sultan, Takashi Murakami, Gary Hume)
the dual concept of form and content (Matthew Barney, Barbara Kruger, Lorna Simpson)
contrast( Gerhardt Richter, Warhol)
tension (Kenneth Snelson, )
symmetry and asymmetry(Ellsworth Kelly)
movement(Alexander Calder, William Kentridge)
proportion (Louise Bourgeois, Olafur Eliasson, Charles and Ray Eames)
scale(Sarah Sze, Nancy Rubin, Charles Ray, Christo)
semiotics (Cara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Cindy Sherman)
pattern (Christopher Wool, Sigmar Polke, Fred Tomaselli)
references and associations (Wolfgang Leib, Martin Puryear, Jana Sterbak, Daniel Buren)
value (Catherine Opie, Abelardo Morell, Francesco Clemente, Cy Twombley)
texture (Anselm Kiefer, Chris Ofili, Mathew Barney)
line (Brice Marden, Ghada Amer, Beatrice Caracciolo)
plane (Richard Serra, Fred Sandback)
volume (early Anoush Kapoor, Ernesto Neto, Taylor Davis)
random (John Cage, Jackson Pollack)
narrative (Jeff Wall, Mark Tansey, Duane Michals)

GUIDELINES:
1. Magazines to research in: ArtForum, Art in America, Parkett, Blind Spot, Sculpture Magazine, Freize, or Aperture. After you have found articles in recent periodicals, look up books on these artists as well. Seek additional information from Who's Who in American Art or other reference books.
No research can be done on the internet.