DESIGN II SYLLABUS

Instructor: Louis Katz Office: 112B1 (in the Ceramics Lab)

Semester :991 Office Telephone: 994-5987

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

A. To develop the ability to identify and make use of the formal qualities of three dimensional forms.

B. To develop an inquisitive eye.

C. To further develop the ability to visualize forms.

D. To learn the difference between surface/color/texture through use of various materials effective use these qualities.

E. To learn the difference between size and scale, and form, volume, and mass and effective use these qualities.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Through a variety of projects, this course will help develop a students understanding of three dimensional form. Formal concepts such as, volume, mass, texture, concept, content, context, function, process, and product, will be discussed and employed.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

-Completion of all projects assigned

-Participation in class exercises

-Students are required to come to class prepared to work with reading assignments completed, having read the appropriate assignment handouts

-Tests: students may be tested on class information, vocabulary and reading assignments.

- All students are required to clean up work areas before leaving the studio and do other studio cleaning as necessary.

-ATTENDANCE: - This is a studio class. Attendance is mandatory. There is no "make up work" to compensate for missed class time. Some information will be imparted only during class.

-More than three absences will result in your final grade being lowered by one letter.

-All assignments spanning more than two class periods must be reviewed in progress during class time. It is not acceptable to complete all work on a project outside of class.

-Most projects will require a minimum of three hours work outside of class for every three hours spent in class.

REQUIRED TEXT- Readings from required text and items on library reserve will be assigned and tests will be given.

SHAPING SPACE, BY ZELANSKI AND FISHER ISBN 0-03-001078-0 PUBLISHED BY HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON

-LATENESS- It is essential that students come to class ON TIME. Important information will be given each class during the first few minutes of class. Four "lates" are equal to one unexcused absence. To avoid being marked absent when you are late, it is your responsibility to speak to the instructor to make sure your attendance is accurately recorded.

GRADING CRITERIA:

-Students will be evaluated on their completion of course requirements. Tests will be graded and returned. Class projects are expected to demonstrate understanding of the techniques and concepts each assignment emphasizes.

Project Grading Form.

______1. Completion of assignment as stated.

______2. Inventiveness, originality

______3. Demonstrated understanding of concepts

______4. Overall Effectiveness

Late Assignments will be marked down 1 full letter grade. Assignments 2 weeks late will be marked down two full letter grades.

Vocabulary, the student shop orientation test (if there is one), and a tool test will make up only 10% of the grade total. The remainder of the grade will be the average of the project grades.

There will be an adjustment if attendance is bad, see the attendance policy above.

Students are expected to clean up after themselves and participate in critiques. Good studio work habits may have a positive impact when grades are in-between

Meaningful participation in critiques and discussions may, at the instructors discretion, make up some deficiencies in the students projects.

STUDIO HOURS:

-You may use the 3-D Studio at any time when the building is open except when in use by other classes or when being cleaned by the janitorial staff. The Building Managers or the secretaries can have it opened for you if it is locked.

-Students will remove all of their work from the studio by the end of the last day of final exams. No materials will be left in the studio between semesters. Any work or belongings left in the studio after 5:00 PM the last day of finals will be thrown away.

LOCKERS: See Art Office to reserve a locker in the hallway.

REQUIRED TOOLS:

Metal Straight edge
Ruler (if the straight edge is not one)
Matt knife
Exacto knife (may not be necessary)
pencils, etc.
white glue
scotch tape, clear packing tape may also be necessary.
work gloves (optional)
scissors

Various other materials will be required for assignments Including poster board .7 mil plastic sheeting, clear packing tape and cardboard.

Studio Hygiene

The studio will require constant work to keep it clean enough to use in a safe and effective manner. The room is small and projects and assignments must be removed when they are complete. Materials that harden (paint, glue, etc.) must be kept out of the sinks and quickly cleaned from any room surfaces.
Studio Safety
The studio and tools must be used in a safe manner. Students using any tool in an unsafe manner may be prevented from using the tool again, even if this prevents them from completing an assignment or passing the course.
No spray paints or other sprayed materials are to be used inside the building or near any of the outside doors.
No solvent based paints, epoxy resins, or other such hazardous materials are to be used in the building except with adequate ventilation and the instructor's permission.
Tools in the sculpture, ceramics, painting and printmaking labs are off limits without specific permission of the appropriate studio supervisor.

Brick Exercise

In groups make stacked brick forms that are three dimensional and self supporting. Discover through innovation and variation and permutations what is possible with brick. This will not be graded.

Use these ideas as starting points:

That the bricks are affected by gravity and your forms can do their best to deny or acquiesce to this universal force.
That forms using repetitive units can be symmetrical. What are the different forms of symmetry?
That at some scale the units become textural
What size does a sculpture need to be before it imposes itself on your space?
How dense can an object be made with brick?
How light can brick objects be?

Texture, Rhythm. Context. Surface.

Buy at least 100 Styrofoam cups
Attach cups together into a solid form with a repetitive pattern.
Light them effectively.

In what configurations can two cups be put together. How about 3 cups. How about four. What configurations do the form of the cups suggest?

How is this object best displayed?
What is its natural orientation to the ground. Is this its best display orientation?
How is this cup different that the brick? Why?
How is it the same as the brick

Illustrations 5.9

Scale, Volume, Planer Surface, Perspective (the viewers).

A. Using adding machine paper and clear "Scotch®" type tape make a model for a hand tool, no larger than 8" tall, do not make it life size.

B. Using Packing Tape and .7 mil or .35 mil plastic reproduce the tool made in part A. with a finished size of 9-18 ' in its longest dimension. Craft it well, use as little tape as possible to keep it light.

Scale, Transformation,Planer, Volume/Mass

Illustrations page 1(3.9), 1.22,1.27, 1.32,1.34,2.4,2.23, 2.22,4.8, 4.9,4.12, 4.16, 5.12, 5.13, 5.19

Form

Copy a complex natural form in clay, The form must be approved by the instructor and it must be available in class each day of the project and for the critique. Get the form as close as you can. Ignore the texture. If the original has much color variation paint it a solid color first. This will help your ability to see form .

This project will not need to be fired, it should be solid.

Make sure you keep it sufficiently wrapped to stay wet, but remember that clay holds it form better as it stiffens.

Hints:

Make a few reference points on the original and the copy
Think about the cross sections.
Look at the object and copy from a distance.
Hold a straight edge up to the object and copy and look at the negative space.
Most importantly work on the general proportions and forms before dealing with detail
Where are the points of maximum width, and minimum width. Where do the curves of the form change from being convex to concave.
Wrap the object loosely in paper and observe the form.

Interior Exterior, Texture/Surface

A. Make a closed form out of Poster board. It may not have any 90 degree (right) angles. Make the form dynamic and interesting.

B. Cut into the form and using more board make the object have an interior with a different form than the exterior.

C. Paint the object all gray, black or white

D. Place it on a pedestal and light it

Things to consider:

Will your exterior be a "regular solid" with all of the faces the same shape?
Will it be symmetrical on any of its planes?
Will it be compact, flat, or long?
How will the inside form relate to the outside. Will it mirror the outside, or contrast it?
If you filled your object with plaster, how would the form of the solid plaster appear? Would it have a relatively even thickness or would it have variations from massive to light?

E. Alter the object by painting or taping parallel stripes on it to obscure the form.

F. Apply a textured to the piece using plaster or some other material that can cover the surface.

Things to consider:

How did the stripes alter the piece. Does the striped piece it a different story or was it only formally different. How does the texture alter the piece?

Related Artists: William (Bill) Daley,

Richard DeVore.

Bruce Mitchell(2.17 pg. 45)

Bruce Beasley page 49,

Hans Coper pg. 73, pg. 80

Arnaldo Pomodoro, pg. 80,81

Shiro Kuramata pg. 82,

Barbara Hepworth pg. 85,

Great Pyramids pg. 87,

TWA flight center page 102,

Michael Heizer page 120

Machu Picchu page 215

Questions:

1. How heavy is your sculpture.

2. Is it a model?

3. is it solid? Hollow?

What material is it made from? What material should it be made from.

3. How big should it be?

4. Is bigger better?

5. What changes when it is bigger other than scale. Does your perception of form get altered as size increases? If so , how?

Project Five To Be Announced. May not be given.