writing
Juana Basilia Sitmelelene (Chumash, 1782–1838), coin basket ca. 1815–1822
Happy Indigenous Peoples Day
Indigenous artists/videos/podcasts to check out - thank you to Marisa for compiling this list!
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax) https://galan.in/ ****Speaking Nov. 5 at Colloquium****
Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock Indian Nation) https://www.jeremynative.com/
Bobby Wilson (Dakota) https://themoth.org/storytellers/bobby-wilson
Nani Chacon (Dinè x Xicana) https://www.instagram.com/nanibah/?hl=en
Cannupa Hanska Luger Destroying His Stereotypes: The Barrymore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHKbkCazdDo
All my relations: Indigenous Artist Series https://open.spotify.com/episode/0iWozhN2sLdAMkTscSFBCz
PBS Short Film Festival | Sweetheart Dancers | PBS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUryZDWD6V4
Bryology (MOSS) with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer https://www.alieward.com/ologies/bryology
****Dr. Kimmerer will be speaking October 15th at 6pm at UCSB’s MCC - https://mcc.sa.ucsb.edu/node/2389****
Nicholas Galanin
Shadow on the land, an excavation and bush burial
2020 earthworks, archaeological dig tools, barriers 43.5' x 26.5' x 5.5’
Hyde Park, Sydney Australia
On decolonizing art & design:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hbymt6a3zz044xF_LCqGfTmXJip3cetj5sHlxZEjtJ4/edit
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfdc20/10/1?nav=tocList&
http://thepoliticsofdesign.com/
To understand the place of decolonization within design, it’s vital to first get our terms straight. “Colonization” is rooted in indigenous peoples’ experiences of oppression—specifically, the seizure of native resources, as
well as the embedding of Western ideology into society. The word “decolonization” was originally used to describe the withdrawal of a state from a former colony. Now, decolonization has come to represent a whole host of ideas: It’s an acknowledgement that in the West, society has been built upon the colonization of other nations, that we exist within a system of privilege and oppression, and that a lot of the culture we’ve come to
see as ours has actually been appropriated or stolen.
- Anoushka Khandwala https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/
The Organization of Space: Composition and Form
instinct + skill the secret of successful art-making is...
curiosity responsibility - know your references
creativity risk
hard work resourcefulness
embrace glitches/accidents process
persistence failure
a disregard for perfection (it doesn’t exist)
picture plane: a flat level plane occupied by the surface of the picture
picture frame: boundary of the picture/image VS
ways of looking
looking out vs looking in
looking at looking
looking at looking
Divisions of the Picture Plane: Proportion & Shape
composition: the placement or arrangement of visual elements or 'ingredients' in a work of art
Gerhard Richter, Skull, 1983
Albrecht Durer, c1500 woodblock print
Rembrandt
ways of creating visual interest
POSITIVE & NEGATIVE SPACE CROPPING
SCALE AND PROPORTION OVERLAPPING
TRANSPARENCY SYMMETRY
APPROXIMATE SYMMETRY ASYMMETRY
CENTERED COMPOSITION DIAGONAL
SOFT CURVE, S-CURVE GRID
Negative space
(surrounding and encroaching)
Negative space Use of negative space in making other images
Carmen Herrera, 1960, Blanco y Verde (painting)
Gordon Walters, Painting No. 1, 1965 (koru motif)
Rubin’s Vase, Edgar Rubin, 1915 ambiguous or bi-stable (reversing)
Cropping extending to or beyond the edge of frame (also known as “bleeding”) for dramatic effect, or the effect that the
image goes beyond the frame
Pieter Boel, Etudes d’un Perroquet, c.1650, .98x1.30m
Luc Tuymans, Der Diagnostische Blick IV (The Diagnostic View IV), 1992. Oil on canvas, 22 3/8 x 15 inches
Alexandra Rubinstein, Shower Boss, 24" x 24", Oil on Canvas
Jessica Irish from Digit series 1997-98 ink jet print
Scale
Size: physical magnitude, bulk or extent
Scale: A distinctive relative size, degree
or extent
Issey Miyake magazine ad 1998
Jeff Wall The Giant,
1992, duratrans photograph
over lightbox 15x19”
Video of Toba Khedoori’s Untitled (chain-link fence), 1996, oil & wax on paper, 11’x20’
Ryan McGinness, from Flatnessisgod
Overlapping
Giotto, Lamentation, 1305, fresco, Arena Chapel Padua, Italy
Lari Pittman, Untitled, 1989-90, Alkyd paint on printed paper
Symmetry the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each
other or around an axis
Radial symmetry
symmetry around a central axis, as in a starfish or a
tulip flower
Jay DeFeo, The Rose, 1958-66. Oil
with wood and mica on canvas, 128 7/8 × 92 1/4 × 11 in. (327.3 × 234.3 × 27.9 cm)
Judy Chicago, Heaven for White Men Only, 1973, sprayed acrylic 80x80”
Hina Aoyama, papercuts
Approximate Symmetry
Approximate or Dissymmetry: denotes objects/images which show symmetry in their general features, but wherein
the symmetry is slightly distorted
Portrait of Gabrielle d'Estrées and Duchess of Villars, unknown artist, School of Fontainebleau, c.1594
Herbert Bayer, Lonesome Big City Dweller, 1932, photomontage gelatin silver print , 34x27cm
Diego Rivera, Communication Vessels, 1938, woodcut ad for the poet Andre Breton
Minnie Evans, Untitled (landscape - many faces), 1959-61, mixed media 20x24”
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Perfect Lovers), 1991, clocks 13.5” each
Asymmetry = not symmetrical
15 minute break
***When you come back - have an image that exemplifies one of the terms we have just gone over (cropping, scale, different kinds
of symmetry) as your Zoom virtual background. If you can’t change your background, drop a link or image into the chat!
1. To change Zoom background: 2. Click Settings. 3. Click Virtual Background.... 4. Click on an image to select the desired virtual background or add your own image by
clicking +Add Image. ... 5. To disable Virtual Background, choose the option None. 6.
C E N T E R E D
Alice Neel, Rose of Sharin, 1973, oil 40x30” Imogene Cummingham, Chris Through the Curtain, 1972, Polaroid mistake
Diagonal
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Don't buy us with apologies), 1986, photostat print
Margaret Kilgallen, Linda Mar, 1999, Color Spitbite And Sugarlift Aquatint With Soft Ground, 660 x 483 mm (26 x 19 in.)
Jacob Lawrence, Cabinet Makers, detail, 1946, gouache with pencil 22x30”
Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (Beer Dream), 1998, laser direct C-Print, 50x60”
Golden Ratio 3:5
Golden rectangle: Width is to length as length is to length plus width (w:1 as 1:1 + w).
the grid
Gail Swanlund, designer, Snowflake Magazine, 1997-98
Jenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays, 1979-82, offset prints
17x17” each
Georgia O'Keeffe. Door Through Window, 1956. Oil on canvas, 30 x 14 inches
Keith Secola Jr, Threading Pages, 2019
Ellen Gallagher, Preserve (one of an edition), 2001
Fumio Tachibana, Untitled, 1999, paper, wood, metal, fabric bookcovers
Figure / Ground Relationships
Figure: An object or foreground element.
Ground: The space or volume between figures or forms.
Figure and ground relationships allow us to recognize borders and boundaries.
Jordan Casteel, “Serwaa and Amoakohene,” 2019
Carole Caroompas, unknown title painting, c. 1985
Tattoo on Jack Rudy
Robert Mapplethorpe, unknown title, from the Black
Box series c. 1985
Visual Hierarchy vs
Random Importance of Elements
Visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement or presentation of elements in a way that implies importance. In other words, visual hierarchy influences the order in which the human eye perceives what it sees. This order is created by the visual contrast between forms in a field of perception.
Chris Ware, from Building Stories, graphic novel in pieces, 2016
Georges de La Tour Magdalene with the Smoking Flame c. 1640 Oil on canvas 128 cm × 94 cm (50 in × 37 in)
Barry McGee, Untitled, 2005-13, 400 elements mixed media, 192”x270”x55”
supplies needed this week: x-acto knife
scissors ruler
pencil glue stick
cutting mat tracing paper white paper
black construction paper Gouache or acrylic paints
Nōtan a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark elements as they are placed next to the other in
the composition of art and imagery.
Studio Projects: Giving Form to Qualities
1. Exercise: Cut Paper/Notan - Make three 6”x6” compositions using black cut paper on white to evoke the following: chaos, tension, serenity. One should have radial symmetry, one should have bilateral symmetry and one should be asymmetrical. No representational imagery or non-cutting manipulation of the paper.
2. Project 2: Visual Hierarchy Painting Construct a hierarchical composition using shapes. Use pre-existing image sources (magazines, books, photographs, etc) for the work and/or create your own.
Process: 1. Trace elements from your sources on separate pieces of tracing paper, building an archive of source images to pull
from. 2. Using those elements, create a composition within a designated frame that you trace onto a single larger sheet of
tracing paper. You are encouraged to crop, overlap, confuse, invent from your sources. Avoid being too literal, cliché, centering ‘subjects’ or using whole images from found sources. A hierarchical composition is where the viewer can identify some items as more important than others; in a way, you are guiding the viewer in how to see and move through your image.
3. Paint will be the last step - medium grey, black and white (use the white of the paper as the white value). Gouache is best here!
Project objectives: Learning to achieve visual interest through composition (balance, tension, visual weight, dynamism, proportion, scale, cropping, asymmetry, etc.), imaginative results from limited resources, manipulating pre-existing sources. Supplies needed: pencil and eraser, x-acto knife or scissors, tracing paper, found magazines and other print material, ruler, gouache paints.