Next Steps ... Moving from Papermaking into Collage

Kurt Schwitters Collage

Review the powerpoint shared in class on Monday (found in our class Google Folder - it is called Composition & Collage). Using what you have learned to date about composition and space and integrating image, word/text, found materials develop a new composition that emphasizes a collage technique. Start by selecting a theme for your work from Linda Weintraub's list of Pioneering EcoArt Themes:

1. Desire
2. Newness
3. Power
4. Nature
5. Globalism
6. Diversity
7. Mercy
8. Death
9. Decay
10. Dirt

Gather images, text and materials that relate to your theme and use that to create a new work that explores composition and space as we have been discussing it. Consider new options for use of text and image. Consider your choices about placement and position and how you will lead your viewer through the composition/collage. You can do this in paper if you wish, or move to new materials as long as you still include at least image(s), text/words, and mixed media and concentrate on material integration and conveying your theme. Size is up to you as well.

Work to get as close to completion as possible so we can look at these on Monday. Don't work too large or it will require more time and materials and meeting the Monday goal may feel really hard. Please just do what you can but be sure to invest the required outside of class time!

Remember, "If you are dealing only with what you know, you may not be doing your job. When you discover something new, or surprise yourself, you are engaging in the process of discovery. Making art is an act of discovery. "

And, "The Studio is more than a place to work: it is a state of mind. It is a place where your practice is established, and the place where you experiment and meditate on the results. Whether it is a room or a computer, the studio is your locus as an artist." 

Both from: 101 Things I Learned in Art School, Kit White

Making Paper, Exploring Composition, Integrating image, text (words), and found materials + Deforestation ... Blog Reminder!

40 sheets of handmade paper by students in Art 156 Art-En

Last week began with an exploration of papermaking and consideration of how artists can use the power of art to explore environmental themes. We watched the film Chasing Ice and talked about how photographer James Balog's Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) resulted in amazingly gorgeous photographs that reveal the speed at which the ice caps are actually melting.

Following discussion of Balog's work, and the oals/parameters of our project,each student was asked to make 3 - 5 sheets of handmade paper using waste paper from the office of Campus Involvement. We discussed the papermaking process, general ideas about color (since our waste paper is colored paper), composition and space. Students were asked to explore the papermaking process and to integrate one image that relates to deforestation, one fact about deforestation (text) and one found material/object into each sheet of paper they made.

While not every student followed the directions explicitly (some forgot to use text or images or the found materials), the collective results are visually wonderful and troublingly provocative.

Once the paper was pinned up we began a more indepth conversation about composition and collage (including info on collage history and the impact on contemporary art)

Reminder to students: for your blog entry this week (due Sunday 9/15 by 9pm) - choose one sheet of paper made by one of your classmates and one sheet of paper that you made. Photograph both sheets and put them on the blog and do a compare/contrast critique of the two works. Please model this after the compare/contrast critique response found in Chapter 6: Critical Thinking, by Mary Stewart, which was our reading for Monday's class. Be sure to post images of your 3 - 5 sheets of paper too!