Weighted Mobile

Project Description

We have worked on the floor, table, pedestal, and wall but now it is time to occupy a space in the middle of the room. Hanging sculptures look to be floating, only suspended by thin, unobtrusive support. Each sculpture will use a counter weight in the form of anything you like up to 10 lbs. This counter weight will give your piece mass while enabling you to work on the delicate process of balance.

Hanging Mobiles are free to move and are a great introduction to kinetic sculpture and well as exploring a more formal approach to making sculpture. Answer the following questions, as you prepare to research for your design:

1. Is my piece balanced?

2. Does my piece have tension?

3. Am I occupying volume?

4. Does it work when viewed from all sides(top, bottom, and all the way around since it is hanging in space)?

Documenting your process is hugely important. These projects may not be able to be viewed at juries so it is important to show your thoughts and experiments as well as document the final product.

Optional: Consider how your sculpture can have moving parts, and how it will function. Look for objects in your everyday life that you can use as source material. You don't have to make everything. Some things can be modifications of existing things you already own (or find).

Specifications

Your sculpture must be smaller than 24"x24"x24". There is no limitation on materials, but it must be safe (no dangerous electricity, fire, sharp objects, etc).

Your sculpture must hang from a single point in the room.

It must contain at least 6 hanging elements and the counter weight.

Find materials from the world around you. Be resourceful- there are free materials everywhere. 

Use all the skills you have learned through the year, and build on these. Challenge yourself to think outside of the box... literally. 

Evaluation

You will be graded on creativity, originality, and concept and craft. You will also be graded on your process (time-management, and working through multiple ideas). 

Please note: You will need to take photos through your entire process. These will be submitted along with the final project. No project will receive an A without this documentation. Process is important. 

Lastly, your project must have a title, and you must think of how it will be displayed. Presentation is part of context, and context drives meaning. 

Schedule
Homework- Due March 12th.

Your homework is to exercise the research and development stage of the creative process. You will do this by walking through the steps listed below. Here are the things you will need to bring to class.

5 References w/descriptions
One-page typed document (printed out or emailed) with a list of 5 websites that you visited for your research. At least one of these websites must be an actual article (not a how-to, or list of pictures) that discusses some type of mobile or hanging sculpture. Examples of an appropriate article can be a newspaper story, something written for a journal/magazine, or something from Academia/industry). The one-page document must be printed out (no exceptions). It must include one-line brief descriptions for each website. This must be fully complete to receive credit for this portion.

3 Detailed Drawings of your multiples
The drawings must be in your sketchbook using full pages(both sides when open) The drawing should show good use of the elements of design- line, form, color, texture, etc.  (Note: These are fully-resolved drawings, NOT sketches)

In addition, the drawings should be informative; they should give us helpful information. Please be sure your drawings answer the following questions:
1. How is your mobile physically organized? Show details.

2. How many elements will be used? Be detailed and use color/texture/collage to show this.
3. What do these elements communicate? Descriptions/diagrams in the drawings should address this.
4. What concept are you engaging? Again, descriptions/diagrams could be helpful.
5. How is the form of your elements communicating? Scale, shape, text, etc.
6. What is the working title? This should be clearly labeled in your drawing.

Materials
You must come prepared with all materials and tools to work. 

Rubric for Homework
5 References = 10pts
3 Drawings = 30pts
Materials/Project = 60pts
--------------------------------
Total Possible  = 100pts

A =100 - 90
B = 89 - 80
C = 79 - 70
D = 69 - 60
F = 59 - 0 

Please be prepared at beginning of class with your own self-assessment based on the above rubric. 

Reading 

Krauss_mechanical_ballet.pdf


Write a 2 page synopsis of the essay. Due April 2nd.

Worth 2 Homework Grades!!! As much as a whole project!!!
Final Project Due Date

April 2nd- Project Due/Critique

 

 Alexander Calder

 Aaron Curry

Jean Tinguely 

Sol Lewitt and Carl Andre in Class Project

We will divide the class in half and work together in groups. 

Group #1 will attempt to replicate a Carl Andre sculpture from wood pieces found in the scrap bin. The piece must be precise, even, and stacked perfectly as Andre's work is.

About Carl Andre:

Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist and recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks (such as Stone Field Sculpture, 1977 in Hartford, CT and Lament for the Children, 1976 in Long Island City, NY) to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space (such as 144 Lead Square, 1969 or Twenty-fifth Steel Cardinal, 1974). Andre's early work in wood may have been inspired by Brâncuși, but his conversations with Stella about space and form led him in a different direction. While sharing a studio with Stella, Andre developed a series of wooden "cut" sculptures (such as Radial Arm Saw cut sculpture, 1959, and Maple Spindle Exercise, 1959). Stella is noted as having said to Andre (regarding hunks of wood removed from Andre's sculpture) "Carl, that's sculpture, too."

Group #2 will attempt to create a Sol Lewitt Wall Drawing on the dry erase board. You will pick one of the following sets of directions and complete it to the best of your ability. The drawings are very precise so rulers should be used. Examples are of other Wall Drawings.

At 2:30, we will stop to critique then switch, group #1 will do a drawing and group #2 will make a sculpture.

Wall Drawing 1

Bands of lines 12 inches (30 cm) wide, in three directions (vertical, horizontal, diagonal right) intersecting.

September 1969

Black pencil

Collection Michalke

First Installation
Institute of Contemporary Art, London

First Drawn By
James Walker

MASS MoCA Building 7
Ground Floor

Early in his career, Sol LeWitt began to have others help execute his wall drawings. Wall Drawing ##, for example, was first drawn by James Walker. By allowing other draftsmen to realize his work according to his instructions and diagrams, LeWitt addressed practical concerns such as the time-consuming nature of the drawings. More significantly, however, this choice articulated LeWitt’’s belief that the conception of the idea, rather than its execution, constitutes the art work. He was also rejecting the traditional importance assigned to the artist’s own hand.

LeWitt executed the earliest wall drawings within a square, usually four by four feet wide, but by 1969 he was using the entire wall, as evident in Wall Drawing ##.

Wall Drawing 2

Vertical lines, not straight, not touching, covering the wall evenly.

May 1970

Black pencil

LeWitt Collection, Chester, Connecticut

First Installation

Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris

First Drawn By

Sol LeWitt

MASS MoCA Building 7
Ground Floor

This wall drawing is dedicated to sculptor Eva Hesse. Sol LeWitt and Hesse were close friends, and LeWitt credits Hesse’’s aesthetic sensibilities with motivating his use of the ‘not straight’ line. This type of mark appears here for the first time, in the drawing originally executed two days after Hesse’’s death. Subsequent drawings saw the use of not straight lines in four colors and in various combinations with straight lines, broken lines and arcs.

The drawing is often done by a single draftsman in order to achieve a consistency in line density and thickness. The process of drafting Wall Drawing ## begins with stretching vertical plumb lines in string over the wall to help the draftsman maintain the essential verticality of the lines. Then, the draftsman begins by making longer marks all over the wall, filling in the available spaces with shorter lines until the wall is evenly covered.

Backstory

Not explicitly involved with the retrospective, Jo Watanabe, Sol LeWitt’’s long-time associate and the current director of the print shop for PaceWildenstein in New York, agreed to execute Wall Drawing ## at MASS MoCA as a tribute to LeWitt. This wall drawing is often referred to as LeWitt’’s favorite, and certainly connotes a personal significance to the artist in its dedication.

Wall Drawing 3

A 6-inch (15 cm) grid covering the wall. Within each square, not straight lines in either of four directions. Only one direction in each square but as many as desired, and at least one line in each square.

June 1971

Black pencil

Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Friends of Art, M2006.1

First Installation

The Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee

First Drawn By

William Torphy

MASS MoCA Building 7
Ground Floor

Dating from June 1971, Wall Drawing ## is exemplary of Sol LeWitt’’s interest in indeterminacy. The piece embraces a dynamic relationship between the artist, the draftsman, and the work itself, in which the parameters of the work are predetermined by the artist, but certain fundamental elements –the direction, number, and form of the lines – are left to the draftsman’s interpretation. Thus, each execution of the drawing differs greatly, challenging the notion that there is one specific realization of an artwork. The boundaries of Wall Drawing ## extend beyond this wall to the infinite set of hypothetical instances. The wall drawing was created during a period of broad experimentation for LeWitt.

SketchUp

SketchUp is a Free Google software which enables you to draw and model in 3D. The web based program is free to use at www.sketchup.com Your assignment is to go to the site, select "Using for Personal Projects", create a Trimble ID and create a 3D object with it. You are completely free to create whatever you like but as always need to back it up with a concept. You will need to download your project and email me your finished .skp file to long.nwsa@gmail.com before class starts.  Please save file as firstname.lastname.title.skp There is no make up for this assignment, if you are going to be absent you need to still email your file for critique.

All class readings are now in the Reading Dropbox link on the right side of the class blog by the syllabus.

Critique and Homework due March 3rd.

Please read Hito Steyerl: In Free Fall a thought experiment on vertical perspective 

and answer the following questions: https://goo.gl/forms/qAAitv1spdLThjCY2

Hito Steyerl

SketchUp Creations

Site Specific

Using cardboard, glue and tape, you will construct a 3 dimensional object that occupies a specific space. This object must come in contact with at least 6 surfaces and will not fit in any other location. You will have 2 class sessions to work on this project.

Homework- Due February 18th

Your homework is to exercise the research and development stage of the creative process. You will do this by walking through the steps listed below. Here are the things you will need to bring to class:
5 References w/descriptions
One-page typed document (printed out or emailed) with a list of 5 websites that you visited for your research. At least one of these websites must be an actual article (not a how-to, or list of pictures) that discusses some type of site specific sculpture. Examples of an appropriate article can be a newspaper story, something written for a journal/magazine, or something from Academia/industry). The one-page document must be printed out (no exceptions). It must include one-line brief descriptions for each website. This must be fully complete to receive credit for this portion.

3 Detailed Drawings of your sculpture
The drawings must be in your sketchbook using full pages(both sides when open) The drawing should show good use of the elements of design- line, form, color, texture, etc.  (Note: These are fully-resolved drawings, NOT sketches)

In addition, the drawings should be informative; they should give us helpful information. Please be sure your drawings answer the following questions:
1. How is your sculpture physically organized? Show details.

2. How will the viewer be engaged? Be detailed and use color/texture/collage to show this.
3. What formal qualities are you focusing on? Descriptions/diagrams in the drawings should address this. (positive/negative space, weight/tension, balance, representational/abstract)
4. What concept are you engaging? Again, descriptions/diagrams could be helpful.
5. How is the form of your sculpture communicating? Scale, shape, text, etc.
6. What is the working title? This should be clearly labeled in your drawing.

Read Chapter 1: 

GENEALOGY OF SITE SPECIFICITY

Questions:
https://goo.gl/forms/CQAdwJ7g5Csi10Ui1

Rubric for Homework
5 References = 10pts
3 Drawings = 30pts
Reading and questions = 60pts
--------------------------------
Total Possible  = 100pts

A =100 - 90
B = 89 - 80
C = 79 - 70
D = 69 - 60
F = 59 - 0 

Please be prepared at beginning of class with your own self-assessment based on the above rubric. 


Final Project Due Date

February 25th - Project Due/Critique

Richard Serra

Ruben Ochoa

Valerie Hagarty

Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty

Additive Project

Each of you will be given a 24"x24" piece of Plywood. This project has been designed to let you come up with new ways of creating volume with a flat object. Each finished product must fit within a 24"x24"x24" cube and come in contact with all six sides. The focus of this project is volume and achieving 3 dimensionality from a limited amount of flat material. It is up to you to choose the subject matter, must be referential or figurative. Emphasis on round, smooth, well constructed and finished pieces.

Completely abstract pieces are not allowed. 

Homework- Due Feb. 4th

Your homework is to exercise the research and development stage of the creative process. You will do this by walking through the steps listed below. Here are the things you will need to bring to class on August 29th:

5 References w/descriptions
One-page typed document (printed out or emailed) with a list of 5 websites that you visited for your research. At least one of these websites must be an actual article (not a how-to, or list of pictures) that discusses some type of additive sculpture. Examples of an appropriate article can be a newspaper story, something written for a journal/magazine, or something from Academia/industry). The one-page document must be printed out (no exceptions). It must include one-line brief descriptions for each website. This must be fully complete to receive credit for this portion.

3 Detailed Drawings of your sculpture
The drawings must be in your sketchbook using full pages(both sides when open) The drawing should show good use of the elements of design- line, form, color, texture, etc.  (Note: These are fully-resolved drawings, NOT sketches)

In addition, the drawings should be informative; they should give us helpful information. Please be sure your drawings answer the following questions:
1. How is your sculpture physically organized? Show details.

2. How will the viewer be engaged? Be detailed and use color/texture/collage to show this.
3. What formal qualities are you focusing on? Descriptions/diagrams in the drawings should address this. (positive/negative space, weight/tension, balance, representational/abstract)
4. What concept are you engaging? Again, descriptions/diagrams could be helpful.
5. How is the form of your sculpture communicating? Scale, shape, text, etc.
6. What is the working title? This should be clearly labeled in your drawing.

Materials and project ready to work
You must come prepared with all materials and tools to work. All sketches must be done and a plan made to execute your Project.

Essay: Large Scale of the 1960's and 70's

Read as much as you can and look at the images. Answer the questions here: https://goo.gl/forms/Qt4loFBUVCzege1k1

Rubric for Homework
5 References = 10pts
3 Drawings = 30pts
Questions = 30pts

Materials/Project = 30pts
--------------------------------
Total Possible  = 100pts

A =100 - 90
B = 89 - 80
C = 79 - 70
D = 69 - 60
F = 59 - 0 

Please be prepared at beginning of class with your own self-assessment based on the above rubric. 


Final Project Due Date

February 11th- Project Due/Critique

Tom Friedman

Mark Di Suvero

Martin Puryear

Tony Cragg

Louise Nevelson

Richard Artschwager