Found Objects Project

A total of six (6) objects are required for this assignment.

Look at the artist Nigel Poor. 

Website link here. 

Go to the "Found" project.

Step 1: Collect found objects.

Step 2: Keep notes on all info you associate with finding of each object.  For instance, where you found the object, what the weather was like, who you were with

Step 3: Photograph each object on a black/gray/white background and post on your blog. The visual goal here is to focus on the qualities of the object.  Allow the object to "float" in the black background.  Refer to the images Nigel Poor took of her found objects.  Post images on your blog.

Step 4: Make a sculptural response for each object.  You may use the same process and materials for each response or change it up.  Installation, performance and video are also acceptable.

Step 5: Write a statement for each response.  Incorporate your notes from when you found each object.  Rather than post the text, record your statement and post the audio on your blog.  Organize audio and images so that the experience of looking and listening are unified. You can refer to Poor's process of using audio.


Below is an excerpt from the book Collections of Nothing. What King has to say directly applies to this assignment.

Amazon link here.

"I have long been a collector, but I recognize now that I am not the same as other collectors. My own collecting is different because I refuse the object that cries in the marketplace. I respond to the mute, meager, practically valueless object, like a sea-washed spigot, its mouth stoppered by a stone. My collecting is perverse and paradoxical. It is still collecting, especially as it corresponds to the compensatory pattern widely observed among collectors, the making up for a love lost. What I like is the potency of the impotent thing, the renewed and adorable life I find in the dead and despised object, something in nothing. I am held by this divinity, and I like to think there is warmth there.” From Chapter II, Collections Of Nothing, William Davies King, Chicago Press

Tool Collection, Project Guidelines

Choose “make a mark” or “make a sound”.  Design and construct a collection of tools that accomplish these tasks.  Your collection should include five (5) tools.

Materials: your choice

No size limit. Tools can be all the same size or various sizes.

Consider: Will you design rudimentary tools?  Or will the tools appear contemporary? Or perhaps another word to use is futuristic?  A mixture?  Who will be using your tools?  Adults, children, a person with a disability? Or maybe you are designing for giants or lilliputians?  Again, can be a mixture.

Listen and Respond:
Below are two links to This American Life.  Select one to write a response to.  Post your response on your blog.
441: When Patents Attack!  Link here.
399: Contents Unknown.  Link here.

A drawing will accompany the final solution.  Size and medium your choice.  Also, what you choose to draw is your choice.  The entire form?  Detail(s)? An aerial perspective? Color?  Or not? The drawing should demonstrate time and effort.  The drawing is due the last week of class. 

Here is a list of what needs to appear on your blog for this assignment:
-Response to article "Assemblage'.
-At least three influences/ideas that you thought about/looked at/read/listened to while formulating your ideas for this project.
-Any in process pictures, scans of sketches and/or notes.
-Professional images of the final solution.  Take a group shot - the entire collection.  Then photograph each piece alone.
-An image of your drawing.
-A written statement about your final solution.  The statement should be reflective and discuss your thought process and your intentions. 
-A written response to one of the stories (listed above) from This American Life.  

Peephole Sculpture Project Guidelines

This piece is inspired by your favorite novel, poem or song lyrics.  Create a situation that requires the viewer to view your interpretation of a narrative through a peephole.  You may have more than one peephole.

Materials: Peephole(s), other materials are your choice.

No size limit.  Can be free standing or an installation.

Read "The Veldt" a short story by Ray Bradbury.  PDF link here.  Write a response and post on your blog.

A drawing will accompany the final solution.  Size and medium your choice.  Also, what you choose to draw is your choice.  The entire form?  Detail(s)? An aerial perspective? Color?  Or not? The drawing should demonstrate time and effort.  The drawing is due the last week of class.

What to put on your blog:
-Written response to "The Veldt".
-At least three influences/ideas that you thought about/looked at/read/listened to while formulating your ideas for this project.

-Any in process pictures, scans of sketches and/or notes.

-Professional images of the final solution.  Need at least three images for 3D work. In addition, detail images are also helpful.
-An image of the drawing.

-A statement that discusses your final solution.  Statement should explain your visual interpretation of the novel, poem or lyrics that inspired you. 

Summer 2012 Projects

Deconstruct Project Guidelines
Use three to five found objects.  For each object, deconstruct it from it’s original form.  Use these deconstructed parts to create your final solution.  The degree to which you deconstruct an object is your choice. Here is the catch – you have to use all parts of the original form.  And, final solution should be meaningful and materials significant - so carefully choose your found objects. 

Materials: found objects of your choice and whatever adhesives/methods of attachment are needed.  No size limit.

This assignment is based off the ideas encompassed in Assemblage art.  Assemablage is the use of found or every day objects in visual art.  The roots of assemblage can be traced back to early twentieith-century European collage. What items are used and how they are display/incorporated is significant to the visual language of assemblage art.  To begin this assignment, check out the artists I posted on this blog, under the "Assemblage Deconstruct Visual Research" category.

Read the article entitled "Assemblage", link below.  Create a vocab list for the aricle and write a response.  Post vocab and response on your blog.

Assemblage, Zwirner and Wirth, link here.

For further reading:
This brief statement regarding the history of assemblage, from MOMA.  Link here.

A drawing will accompany the final solution.  Size and medium your choice.  Also, what you choose to draw is your choice.  The entire form?  Detail(s)? An aerial perspective? Color?  Or not? The drawing should demonstrate time and effort.  The drawing is due the last week of classes.

Here is a list of what needs to appear on your blog for this assignment:
-Vocab for article "Assemblage".
-Response to article "Assemblage'.
-At least three influences/ideas that you thought about/looked at/read/listened to while formulating your ideas for this project.
-Any in process pictures, scans of sketches and/or notes.
-Professional images of the final solution.  Need at least three images for 3D work. In addition, detail images are also helpful.
-An image of your drawing.
-A written statement about your final solution.  The statement should explain how and why you chose your objects and what decisions you made when deconstructing and assembling.

Ed Kienholz, The Widow, 1959

Plaster, Phase 1 and Phase 2, Assignment Guidelines

Phase 1:

-Experiment with making solid forms, sanding, adding color and including found objects.  

-Do not replicate already existing objects and forms.  Strive for expressive, emotional, intricate forms.

-Make a lot of plaster sculptures.  

-No size restrictions.

Materials: Plaster, sander block, dust mask, found objects and/or materials. 

Materials: Plaster, water, plastic bags (to put down in work area), Ziploc baggies (can use as gloves/to mold plaster with your hands), sander block, dust mask, color (ink/acrylic paint/pastels/colored pencils/ graphite pencil/natural color), found objects, cheesecloth/gauze/cotton muslin.

Phase 2

-Select at least 5 plaster pieces to be part of a larger sculpture.  

-Idea for larger sculpture is your choice.  However, in class we will discuss everyone’s plaster pieces so as to offer each of you possible ideas.  

-Keep in mind, “larger”does not necessarily mean scale, - it also implies concept.  

-No limits on scale – only that you will be adding other/more components/materials to the already completed plaster pieces.    

-These additional materials/processes are your choice, as such decisions will influence/determine your intent for the visual work.
-Phase 2 may include representational imagery.  

What to put on your blog:

-At least 3 professional images of Phase 1.

-At least 3 professional images of Phase 2.

-A statement about the work upon completion of Phase 1.

-A statement about the work upon completion of Phase 2.

Note - The statement should be reflective and demonstrate your ability to observe the formal qualities of your work while discussing your thoughts about content and meaning.  

-Research (can be imagery and/or audio and/or text).  At least 3 forms of research for Phase 2.