Sculpture -- Transformation

Our assignment was to take an everyday object or series of them and transform it. I chose drinking straws. My artist statement follows the photo of the sculpture.

The Transformation sculpture, Spiral Trapezoid, is a symmetrical, standing sculputure created from plastic drinking straws and glue with a paper-covered mat board base. The sculpture is mounted to the base and should stand slightly below eye level. Its dimensions are roughly 7” high x 10” wide x 10” deep. It is a mostly “closed” form and should be viewed from all four sides.

The sculpture was created from seventy-six drinking straws, including nineteen of each color: striped red, striped yellow, striped green and striped blue. Each trapezoid contains one straw of each color. Straws were trimmed so that as the spiral rises, the ends of the straws converge. Each straw was also notched twice with a paper punch, Lincoln-log style, so that the structure would have more stability.

The sculpture is designed to explore color and line. First each straw itself is a line in a trapezoidal structure and each straw has several straight, colored lines on it running from tip to tip. Second, these colored lines form the basis of the exploration of color in the sculpture. The colors are the three primary colors plus green. The order of the colors as the spiral is formed is always red, yellow, green and blue. As the colors revolve around the spiral, one complete rotation is created. Third, there are eight implied lines formed by the ends of the straws that rise in the shape of the spiral and converge slightly above the sculpture. The movement of these implied lines, up and toward the center, and converging above the structure, provide the “open” aspect of the form.

Art Foundations -- "Self Portrait"

More than a likeness

Our assignment was to create a kind of self portrait that was "more than a likeness". It needed to show two or more aspects of our personality but not what we looked like. We could use any media. I chose drawing and collage. This is my artist's statement:

This self-portrait collage explores two aspects of my personality, my analytical/engineering side and my creative/artistic side. The black that is revealed near the edges and corners represents the void out of which all things arise and into which everything later dissolves. The background of the work shows four aspects of my analytical side on sheets of numbered, green, quadrille engineering paper. The sheets represent tasks that I performed during my work as an engineer. They include flow charting diagrams (59), integrated circuit design (49), logic gate design (78) and system and data flow design (92). One number is partly obscured.

In the foreground are shown various aspects of my creative/artistic side. The melting snow and mountain stream are used to represent the thawing out of my creativity after being frozen for a long time. The streaking bird represents my work as an artist that is just taking off and getting going. The fire represents my passion for learning and trying out new skills. The zigzag path shows how I have gone from one kind of task and interest area to another, both as an engineer and as an artist. The mountain is to represent my determination to study and succeed. I feel as solid as a rock about this. The shifting sands represent my outlook. Conditions in the world are uncertain, one can never be absolutely sure of anything and one has to be very flexible. I feel I have to be ready for any sudden shift and nothing is completely fixed. Everything is held together by threads and in the center is my eye, calmly observing.

Art Foundations -- Unity

Fire Head
I collaborated with another very talented art student in creating Fire Head, a collage that was to create unity in the composition in several ways. First we wanted to create unity through continuation. The line that forms the right edge of the figure’s head continues into the flames. There are also dark shadow lines that continue from the figure’s right and left ears. Second we wanted to create unity through shape. The shape of the face is continued and completed by the flames. Third, we wanted to create unity with color. This was done by the green of the flaming car matching the green of the figure and the orange of the flames complementing the green of the face. Fourth, we wanted to create a new idea that was not present in either of the original pictures. We believe we did this with Fire Head.

Art Foundations -- Collage

Objects in Space

Our assignment was to create a collage of two kinds of objects in space. They needed to be of various sizes and the composition had to be open, so that some objects continued outside of the picture plane. The purpose was to invoke a third idea that was not present in the composition. This was a fun project, although the glue can be a little sticky at times.

Art Foundations -- Value Study

Volcanic Glass

Our assignment was to do a non-objective value study in graphite with five distinct values. I call this Volcanic Glass, after images of the volcanic glass crystals that are created in every volcanic eruption. This drawing was done very early in the semester, but note the black around the edges of the drawing. I term this the void. It sometimes creeps into a composition, just as portions of the compositional subject sometimes escape from the picture plane into the space around it. The void will also show again in later compositions.

Art Foundations -- Blind Contour Drawing

Blind Contour

This drawing was done with my non-dominant hand and without being able to see the sketchbook while I was drawing. I was pleased with it. It has an interesting shape and balance.

Art Foundations -- Background/Foreground

Ordered

This is the ordered composition. I wanted something that was stronger and more dynamic. With the square that I started with, I think this was my best option.

Art Foundations -- Foreground/Background

Random














We did some work in compositions with foreground/backgound reversal. I completed two compositions: random and ordered. To complete the random work, I created a random number generator and used it to select the order of the individual squares. The odd thing is that the order did not turn out very random.

Art Foundations 107

I have just completed Art Foundations 107. It has been an interesting semester since the BSU Art Department is undergoing its decennial departmental accreditation. In class, as soon as our work was complete, it was whisked away from us and not returned. We wondered if we would ever get it back. At the end of the semester, some of it was returned so I'll post some images in subsequent postings.