#studioproject2

Studio Project #2: Sketches Post

To help you prepare for your last studio project, as I mentioned in class last week, I want each of you to compile your thinking, research, and ideas for studio project #2 into a post on your blogs. You will be meeting with the your assigned small groups to discuss your ideas this week, so be sure that you are prepared to get the most learning value from this conversation by insuring that you are ready to discuss your ideas and have your post on your blog BEFORE class starts today.

Here’s what I’m looking to see in this post:

1.) 3 sketches of different ideas for the project. Try to push into exploring several different concepts, so each drawing or sketch describes a different idea. Use whatever materials make sense to you to work out your ideas, but insure that digital images or scans of your sketches are posted on you blogs so that I can give you credit for your ideas so far.

2.) Indicate what surface design techniques you plan to use and what materials you plan to use. Anything we learn in class is fair game. You can also incorporate other materials along with fabric into this project, but please discuss any unconventional material ideas with the professor to insure they are appropriate.

3.) Indicate your construction plan this project. How will you make it? How will it be presented for the critique? Where in the studio will it be presented? Do you need to make any special plans or preparations to ensure it is presented properly to best express your idea?

5.) Indicate the shape and scale of the work. How big is your project? How does the form and scale of the work relate to your ideas? How does the form and scale of the work relate to your research artist?

6.) Indicate the particular body of work or work you are responding to and describe your response. How does your work differ from your artist source and how is it related?

Please do not consider this post and our small group conversations that we will have on Thursday as an approval process. You are encouraged to start on you project when you have found an idea that you are excited to explore. You are free to get started on your project before you meet with your group, if you have not started already. 

Image above:

Studio Project #2: Response Artwork

For the final studio project of this course, I want you to reflect on the artist you are researching this semester. From this artist’s production, choose a particular artwork or body of work that is of genuine interest to you. Consider carefully the concepts, materials, processes, and presentation strategies involved in this particular artwork or body of work. 

Using the artwork or body of work you have chosen as a reference, you will design, construct, and present an artwork in response or conversation with this artists work.

Please continue to explore at least one of the processes or techniques we have learned in this class so far in the making of this artwork. Other materials and process outside of what we have covered in this course are also welcome to be used, however, whatever you decide to make and how you decide to make it should relate in some way to your reference artwork. 

Why are we doing this?

1.) Art is a conversation. Don’t be afraid of influence. 

2.) Because you are not making art in isolation: You are artists who are making work in light of an entire history of art that informs how your work is understood and accrues meaning. I want you to understand and use this history to become better at what you do.

3.) This response structure forces you to deepen your understanding of artwork, to really know it well enough to respond to it. It also forces you to know an artwork in a bigger perspective: where is the artwork situated in art history? How is it written about? What other artists/works/movements/theories/concepts are discussed in conjunction with it? This assignment functions to force you to know the artwork as well as it’s larger territory within art discourse.

4.) This assignment allows you to isolate your own position as an artist in relationship to another artist and distinguish your own point of view. 

5.) The structure of response can teach you a lot of practical things about making an artwork.

Step #1: Choose your Source

Select a particular artwork or body of work by your research artist that you want to make an artwork in response to. Spend some time making sure that you understand the basic ideas behind the work, and the conversations in art the work was made in relationship to, as well as any other artists who are frequently referenced in relationship to the work. 

Make a list to help you concisely collect all the key aspects of the work, such as the conceptual framework, formal aspects, scale, materials and processes involved, presentation strategies, etc.

Step #2: Define your Response

What is your position in relationship to these ideas? How do you disagree or find yourself to be different as an artist? How can you make your own voice heard, while making sure that a clear reference is present to your source?

Refer to the list you made about your artwork and choose 1 or 2 aspects to respond to. You do not need to respond to every aspect of the artist’s work. Just think about how much quoting is necessary to help your viewers to recognize your starting point. There is a fine line between response and imitation. This is not an imitation project.

The final artwork should be more about YOU than about your source artwork. Determining specifically what will mimic your original artwork and what will be different is an important thing to define early on.

Studio Project #2 will be critiqued in class on May 2nd. Please be prepared and have your artwork installed and ready to be discussed at the start of class.

Images above from top:

These sets of images are examples of artists making work in direct response to other artists. Both of these examples are the most direct and obvious kind of quoted response. You can also decide to make a work with a more nuanced and subtle responsive strategy. This is just to help to make clear some ways that artists respond to other artists with the work they make.

The first images set shows an artwork by Los Angeles based artist Aaron Curry made in response to a cubist sculptural work of Pablo Picasso, an example of which is shown here.

Small Group Feedback Session #2 on Tuesday

You will be meeting with your small groups this week to discuss your ideas for your response artwork in conversation with artist research subject. (You can see the full assignment details linked here.)

This discussion will be facilitated by sharing the 3 different ideas and sketches you have posted to your blog over the weekend. (Group assignments are linked here.)

Please be generous in your conversations. Your task is to help each other make the best possible artwork. You are here to offer each other both the support and criticality we all need to develop our ideas into the best versions possible. 

In order to receive credit for this meeting, please post notes to briefly articulate your conversation on your blogs before Thursday’s class.(Also: Why not take a quick picture to make it cute?)

Images above:

Studio Project #2: Response Artwork

For the final studio project of this course, I want you to reflect on the artist you are researching this semester. From this artist’s production, choose a particular artwork or body of work that is of genuine interest to you. Consider carefully the concepts, materials, processes, and presentation strategies involved in this particular artwork or body of work. 

Using the artwork or body of work you have chosen as a reference, you will design, construct, and present an artwork in response or conversation with this artists work.

Please continue to explore at least one of the processes or techniques we have learned in this class so far in the making of this artwork. Other materials and process outside of what we have covered in this course are also welcome to be used, however, whatever you decide to make and how you decide to make it should relate in some way to your reference artwork. 

Why are we doing this?

1.) Art is a conversation. Don’t be afraid of influence. 

2.) Because you are not making art in isolation: You are artists who are making work in light of an entire history of art that informs how your work is understood and accrues meaning. I want you to understand and use this history to become better at what you do.

3.) This response structure forces you to deepen your understanding of artwork, to really know it well enough to respond to it. It also forces you to know an artwork in a bigger perspective: where is the artwork situated in art history? How is it written about? What other artists/works/movements/theories/concepts are discussed in conjunction with it? This assignment functions to force you to know the artwork as well as it’s larger territory within art discourse.

4.) This assignment allows you to isolate your own position as an artist in relationship to another artist and distinguish your own point of view. 

5.) The structure of response can teach you a lot of practical things about making an artwork.

Step #1: Choose your Source

Select a particular artwork or body of work by your research artist that you want to make an artwork in response to. Spend some time making sure that you understand the basic ideas behind the work, and the conversations in art the work was made in relationship to, as well as any other artists who are frequently referenced in relationship to the work. 

Make a list to help you concisely collect all the key aspects of the work, such as the conceptual framework, formal aspects, scale, materials and processes involved, presentation strategies, etc.

Step #2: Define your Response

What is your position in relationship to these ideas? How do you disagree or find yourself to be different as an artist? How can you make your own voice heard, while making sure that a clear reference is present to your source?

Refer to the list you made about your artwork and choose 1 or 2 aspects to respond to. You do not need to respond to every aspect of the artist’s work. Just think about how much quoting is necessary to help your viewers to recognize your starting point. There is a fine line between response and imitation. This is not an imitation project.

The final artwork should be more about YOU than about your source artwork. Determining specifically what will mimic your original artwork and what will be different is an important thing to define early on.

Studio Project #2 will be critiqued in class on December 5th. Please be prepared and have your artwork installed and ready to be discussed at the start of class. Any unusual installation scenarios will need to be discussed and approved by the professor before the day of the critique.

Images above from top:

The first image is a 2019 artwork by Paul Chan from an exhibition titled “The Bather’s Dilemma”. The next image is “Dance (1)” by Henri Matisse from 1909. Can you see how Paul Chan’s work, though utterly his own, is in conversation with this work from art history? 

These next two sets of images are other examples of artists making work in direct response to other artists. Both of these examples are the most direct and obvious kind of quoted response. You can make a work with a more nuanced and subtle responsive strategy. This is just to help to make clear some ways that artists respond to other artists with the work they make.

The first images set shows an artwork by Los Angeles based artist Aaron Curry made in response to a cubist sculptural work of Pablo Picasso, an example of which is shown here.

I continued to refine my ideas and began constructing my zine! Page 1--accomplished! 

Above: In-depth zine sketch accompanied by initial research/sketch

Above: Close-up of in-depth sketch

Day 13: 

Day 11: