Designer Tea

Posted on by
Reply

Students in Doug Barrett’s Intro to Graphic Design course gain familiarity with prominent designers as well as a solid understanding of historical references in his “Designer Tea” project. This project helps students synthesize and reinterpret the style of a preceding graphic designer. This project also insists on the importance of research in the development of a final design. Students are paired with a designer from history (El Lissitsky, Art Chantry, David Carson, Paul Rand, Banksy, Warhol, Lester Beall, Murakami, Shepard Fairey, to name a few). Students start by researching the designer’s work: what keywords can be identified to capture the look and feel of the work? What images are most indicative of the designer’s style? Students then create sketches, and create a concept statement that will guide the creation of their work. The final product includes both a three-dimensional tea box, as well as a flat cut-out on presentation board. Barrett is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Alabama – Birmingham, and his work can be viewed at http://www.dougbarrett.net/

“Vermeer in Bosnia”

Posted on by
Reply

Cedar Lorca Nordbye’s Foundations students at the University of Memphis read the short essay “Vermeer in Bosnia” by Lawrence Weschler, and use the text as a model for creating a work of art that weaves together two disparate themes.

In “Vermeer in Bosnia,” Weschler recounts his experience of being in the Hague during the trial of war criminals from the Yugoslav/Bosnian wars. After hearing numerous stories of atrocities committed during the war, Weschler asks the Hague Judge how he can be “regularly obliged to gaze into such an appalling abyss.” The judge replies, his face brightening “Ah,” he said with a smile. “You see, as often as possible, I make my way over to the Mauritshuis museum, in the center of town, so as to spend a little time with the Vermeers.”

The author is struck by the aptness of the judge’s reply. He remarks that the Vermeers “radiate a centeredness, a peacefulness, a serenity…a sense of perfectly equipoised grace.”

Yet Weschler’s important observation is that, while the Vermeers are an emblem of serenity, “All Europe was Bosnia…awash in incredibly vicious wars of religious persecution and proto-nationalist formation, wars of an unprecedented violence and cruelty, replete with sieges and famines and massacres…”

 The critic Harry Berger asserts the notion of “conspicuous exclusion” or, in other words, of themes that are “saturatingly present but only as felt absence.”  Vermeer’s work depict a world where things are being held at bay – a state of inner peace, solace, and intimacy – amid an external turbulence and uncertainty.

For Nordbye’s students, this can be seen as an investigation into simultaneity and contradiction, two prominent themes in artistic practice. Students’ works reflect two disparate themes, that when juxtaposed, make their relationship manifest.

Student work:

Cut Paper Project

Posted on by
Reply

This is a great project for courses such as Advanced Drawing Problems and Mixed Media. In this project, students are asked to envision the potential for paper as a medium. The objective of this project is to use paper in a manner where it becomes the prominent facet of the object/image. It can be collage-based, installation based, sculptural, or a combination of all three. This assignment is given in upper level courses, and has been useful to get students to think beyond the rectangular format for 2D work.

Paper is the one of the most mundane commodities yet it is so central to our lives. In most art courses, we think of paper merely as a surface – a material to absorb an image.  Often we do not even give much consideration to how we choose the paper surface — it is merely a ‘backdrop’ or ground for our artistic intervention. In this project students are able to imagine the creative potential of paper. Artists for reference include Devin Troy Strother, Christa Donner, Tom Friedman, Andrea Deszo, Brian Dettmer, Beatrice Coron, among many others. At the beginning of the assignment, students read short essays from “Collage: The Unmonumental Picture” and “Slash: Paper Under the Knife” to learn how contemporary artists utilize paper as a creative medium.

All examples are by Montevallo student Ryan Chandler

Sitting “Idol”

Posted on by
Reply

Melissa Vandenberg, who teaches at Eastern Kentucky University, asks her Three-Dimensional Design students to design and create a chair or a chair-inspired work of art. The result can be functional or non-functional. Potential results include prototypes, maquettes, models or sculptures in nearly any medium.

In this project, students are able to see the application for three-dimensional studies in both studio and commercial circumstances. They make a conscious selection to create something utilitarian or purely sculptural. Sitting Idol also allows for a wide variety of tools to be demonstrated and utilized on both traditional and non-traditional media.

She asks her students to consider: What constitutes a chair?  In western culture it is usually four-legged thing, maybe hard and made of wood, like Amish or Shaker furniture. Or perhaps a lazy boy, with bells and whistles like fine upholstery and even a cup holder. Across the globe it might be a mat or even a conveniently proportioned rock.  Consider a chairs function, is it for rest, eating, meditation or worship? How does its function influence form?

Students may deconstruct salvaged chairs to create a new chair or sculpture. They can alter a functional chair so it has new and improved function or no function at all. Students can design a chair with a specific task in mind, i.e.: Is it for camping, singing, sleeping? Is it designed for the disabled, the elderly, to pay homage to Elvis?

Vandenberg shows her students a slideshow featuring work from Charles & Ray Eames, Joseph Kosuth, Joseph Bueys, Marcel Breuer, Claus Oldenburg, Le Corbusier, Nam June Paik, Henri Bertoia, Gerrit Rietveld, Yvonne Fehling & Jennie Pelz, Marcel Duchamp, Loris Cecchini, Ivan Navarro, Doris Salcedo, Lucas Samaras, Christo, Knoll Studio, Herman Miller, Vitra Studio, Artifort Designs and cardboard furniture.


Environmental Design Project

Posted on by
Reply

In Min Sun Lee’s environmental design course, students learn how to effectively extend visual communication to public space. The students explore how display and signage impacts space, both in terms of functionality and aesthetics.

The other great thing about Lee’s project is that students are asked to think outside the two-dimensional space of graphic design. By considering how graphic design work can influence real space, they gain an additional layer of experience in their field.

At the beginning of this project, students go to an actual public space and take photographs. They can choose a store-front, hotel, or conference area. Subsequently, they create a new design for that particular place.

Lee directs the Graphic Design program at the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, AL.

Ribbon Project

Posted on by
Reply

Deb Karpman introduces color in Drawing I through her Ribbon Project. She starts by discussing the relationship between color theory and practice, and shows Albers, as well as Janet Fish, Wayne Thiebaud, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, and Edward Hopper, and also demonstrates the most effective ways to use pastels through both blending and layering.

Students pick out a few feet of colorful ribbon, and start by attaching them to the wall with pins. Each student creates his/her own setup. Students asked to consider issues of composition and design in their layout of the ribbon, as well as to think about references for particular color combinations. Using a sheet of 18″ x 24″ mid-tone Canson Mi-Tientes, students start by drawing a quick but accurate contour with white charcoal, lightly in case they must erase. The scale of the drawing must be appropriate to the size of the paper, so students are encourage to consider the edges of the paper.

Students then continue with the pastels, ultimately eliminating their contour drawing. The goal is to depict the ribbon in relation to the wall, and to create a drawing that gives the illusion of the texture and the folds and twists of the ribbon. They are also required to draw the wall and the shadows, and if they are up for the challenge, the pins.

Karpman teaches drawing and co-directs the Foundations program at the University of Montevallo.

36 Views Project

Posted on by
Reply

Kristin Skees’ project is given at the beginning of Digital Photography. The class is structured as a beginning photo class and is designed for both art and non-art majors. By the time this project is assigned, students have studied aperture, shutter speed, ISO, the qualities of light, and have just begun to discuss composition. Previous to this assignment, students have completed compositional exercises and demonstrated concepts such as leading lines and the rule of thirds. We discuss being aware of what is or isn’t included on the edges of a composition, finding unusual perspectives, and using other objects for framing.

For the assignment, students are asked to turn in images of one subject with 36 unique compositions (no post-processing is to be done). The purpose of the assignment is for students to exercise their knowledge of the compositional elements we have discussed, while practicing the basic skills of photography. But more importantly, by limiting their subject matter to one object, they are forced to spend more time and stretch beyond their initial ideas to find the unexpected image. This is also the first assignment where they have to really edit their photos down to 36 photos from the hundreds that they may have taken. Students then turn in a disc of 36 images to me, but choose their 4 best images to upload to a Flickr group for critique. In critique, besides evaluating their compositional decisions, we also talk about the editing process and the importance of being able to objectively evaluate one’s own work.

Skees teaches at Christopher Newport University.