Arts

1

OPEN UNIVERSITIES AUSTRALIA

Study Guide

VAR300 Art Visual Research

UDC: VISA3016

Gina Cinanni Academic Coordinator

Art - OUA

School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry Curtin University

2

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Copyright Regulation 1969

WARNING

This material has been copied and communicated to you by or on behalf of Curtin University of Technology pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act)

The Material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act.

Do not remove this notice.

© Copyright 2021

This publication is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process or placed in computer memory without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Version 7

Prepared by Art - OUA staff, Curtin University.

May 2021

3

CONTENTS

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4

What is Drawing? - A Brief History.......................................................................................................... 4

What is Contemporary Art? .................................................................................................................. 11

What is Research? ................................................................................................................................. 12

Why Research? ..................................................................................................................................... 12

Developing a Fail Proof Research Method ............................................................................................ 12

Self-Evaluation ...................................................................................................................................... 13

Self-Assessment .................................................................................................................................... 14

Visual Diary ........................................................................................................................................... 15

Documentation and Presentation ........................................................................................................ 15

Readings ................................................................................................................................................ 16

Referencing ........................................................................................................................................... 16

About Your On-Line Community ........................................................................................................... 16

Health and Safety .................................................................................................................................. 17

PROJECT 1: Science, Nature and Artifice.............................................................................................. 18

EXERCISE 1: Natural Sciences and the Artifice of Data ......................................................................... 20

ASSESSMENT – Investigation ................................................................................................................ 24

PROJECT 2: Architectural Drawing ........................................................................................................ 25

EXERCISE 1: Architectural Drawing – an Exploration of Place or Monument ....................................... 29

ASSESSMENT – Presentation ................................................................................................................ 33

Reference List ........................................................................................................................................ 34

This unit was developed and written by Dr Anna Nazzari, PhD (Art), BA (Art) with Distinction and First Class Honours (Curtin University) in conjunction with staff from Curtin University Art OUA Studies. The unit was revised in 2019 by Dr Anna Nazzari.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

4

VAR300 ART VISUAL RESEARCH

Introduction In VAR300 Art Visual Research, you will engage with, contextualise and expand upon the notion of drawing through the knowledge that drawing contains many processes, applications and techniques that can include but also extend beyond works on paper. In this domain, you will research and explore an idea of “drawing” through sub categories designed to help you contemplate, explore and reinvent both contemporary and historical perspectives. You will undertake two intensive projects that contain exercises designed to broaden your comprehension of drawing as well as extend upon your technical skills and development of ideas. While each of the projects and exercises has set parameters, you will be required to nurture your own independent perspective in response to these.

You will engage in and develop:

• An understanding of how drawing has been explored by artists throughout history and how it may be interpreted in conventional and non-conventional forms within contemporary art;

• An understanding of how to undertake appropriate research to formulate new ideas; • Knowledge of how to articulate your ideas through written form; • Techniques to assist in the progression of visual outcomes; • The potential of utilising digital media in your creative practice; • An awareness of cultural understanding through materials and imagery; • Confidence in critiquing and evaluating your work and the work of others.

What is Drawing? - A Brief History In Nailing the Liminal: The Difficulties of Defining Drawing, Deanna Petherbridge asserts that drawing, as a topic of research, is a subject awaiting further analysis. She suggests that one of the central reasons reinforcing this need is the fact that defining what is drawing has never been a straight forward process. According to Petherbridge, for those theorists invested in drawing as a field of research, an analysis of drawing rarely promotes harmonious assessment. Instead, she implies, it appears to summon frustrated or obsessive responses which premise drawing as something innately uncertain due to its constantly vacillating state “as performative act and idea; as sign, and symbol and signifier; as conceptual diagram as well as medium and process and technique” (Petherbridge 2008, 27). In other words, as an art form and as a part of a visual art practice, drawing has multiple applications and manifestations which make its definition difficult to pin down. Renaissance The slippery status of drawing has been reinforced in part from its expression and comprehension within history. In Drawing Acts, David Rosand notes that during the Renaissance drawing became associated with the creative process itself: from the initial sketching out of an idea through the expansion of the composition in more enduring motifs to the conclusion of a fully realised design or

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

5

cartoon (Rosand 2002, 184). Rosand observes that disegno (design/drawing)1 was a pivotal force in Renaissance art theory and accepted as the basis of all visual art. Often labelled the “father” of the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, disegno was pitched as the indispensable creative or

formative faculty that married the arts together. Its processes enabled the artist to imitate nature and the quality of such imitations were often measured against the ability of the artist’s hand and mind to accurately reproduce three dimensions on a flat surface. In the aesthetic magniloquence of the Renaissance, a talent in disegno was something the artist shared with God and for this reason, it was often characterised as “divine speculation.” This idea is exemplified in the praise bestowed upon Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, who was skilled in the three arts of disegno. Giorgio Vasari, who is famous for writing The lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects and The Lives of The Artists asserts that God had taken pity on human beings and decided to protect them from their imperfections by delivering them an artist whose work could disclose perfection through the art of disegno. Vasari indicates that Micheangelo (see Fig. 1) validated disegno as a result of his emphasis on the “the delineation of contour and shading” (Vasari quoted in Rosand 2002, 185). By prioritising Michelangelo’s exceptional graphic skills, Vasari illustrates how disegno becomes a religious

celebration through the functional act of drawing.

Age of Enlightenment While drawing in the Renaissance was aligned with religious ideas of perfection epitomised through technical modality, Petherbridge notes in the age of Enlightenment theoreticians began to position drawing as a system of signs, implying more broadly that drawing reflects a grammar of art. In the Second Discourse on Art Sir Joshua Reynolds states that, “The power of drawing, modelling and using colours is very properly called the language of art” (Reynolds quoted in Petherbridge 2008, 29). As a language of art, drawing began to be understood as a form of literacy that could successfully convey an idea of communication through meaningful text2. Thus, while drawing was still assessed in the Age of Enlightenment by means of technical quality (colour harmony, composition, light and shadow etc.), it also began to communicate other modes of thinking and doing by addressing issues of imitation and by beginning to contemplate the development of the artist’s own style. In this sense, drawing became less concerned with copying the classics or reinforcing the beauty of nature and instead focused on the act of seeing as a form of knowledge. A well-known architect and Medievalist of the time, Eugene- Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc summed this up when he wrote: “Drawing, properly taught, is the best way of developing intelligence and forming judgement, for one learns to see and seeing is knowledge” (Petherbridge 2008, 31). These progressive approaches shifted drawing from a talent gifted from God to something that could be learnt.

1 Disegno primarily refers to design but drawing, as the chief element of design, is often used to directly to define disegno. 2 In this context, text refers to literature as well as visual art.

Figure 1: Michelangelo, A Male Nude, 1504- 1505, Drawing in black chalk heightened with lead white, 40.4cm x 25.8cm. Teylers Museum, Haalem, Netherlands, Europe. Reproduced from The Michelangelo Gallery website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

6

Modernism From the Renaissance up to the middle of the nineteenth century, Western art endeavoured to duplicate illusions of discernible reality. In the early twentieth century, a dialogue between the act of drawing and looking still underpinned most art movements. Even abstract art, which created a visual language of shape, form, colour and line to compose works that were liberated from accurate representations of reality, persisted with notions of drawing through observation. Artists such as Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Malevich, Gleizes, Paul Klee and Mondrian, involved in movements such as Suprematism, Constructivism, Cubism, Expressionism and de Stiijl, never rejected the significance of drawing as an act of

looking and openly discussed the structural importance of this type of drawing in relation to the development of their abstract concepts (Petherbridge 2008). Observation, for example, is not ignored in the included examples of Piet Mondrian’s trees (see Figures 2 & 3). While he painstakingly observed his subjects, their real-life representation is secondary to his ideas concerning abstraction. In this sense, although the work is informed by observation, his lines do not accurately portray a tree branch; instead the lines are used as a device to perform the idea. Mondrian’s experiments with drawing communicate the significance of outer and inner visions. In this way, the drawn line, as an element of the language of art, supports his perceptual observations and his conceptual thinking.

While drawing in Modernist times was still situated as one aspect of painting’s ensemble, as well as being instrumental in the constructive and abstract functions of design, it was also influential in abandoning replication and imitation by choosing to commit to the authenticity of what was occurring within practice.

Early Post Modernism According to Petherbridge, it wasn’t until Phillip Rawson isolated drawing from painting or other forms of art in his

instrumental book Drawing that it was understood as something autonomous in its own right. Rawson suggests that drawing is fundamentally unique to other art forms “because of its difference from the colour and pigment of

paint, or the inflected surface of sculpture” adding “. . . a drawing’s basic ingredients are strokes or marks which have a symbolic relationship with experience, not a direct similarity with anything real” (Rawson quoted in Petherbridge 2008, 32). In Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, Laura Hoptman also notes that drawing came into its own in the 1960s and for post war modernists, drawing appeared to be the most direct and intuitive way of recording the creative process as it occurred. At this time, drawing was observed as part of a pure, experimental practice that favoured the artist’s hand and elements of non finito3. Hoptman asserts

3 Non finito refers to sculptures that are incomplete because only part of the block is sculpted.

Figure 2: Piet Mondrian, Study for the Gray Tree. 1911, Charcoal on paper, 58.4cm x 86.5cm. Gemeentemuseum Den Hagg, The Hague. Reproduced from Khan Academy website.

Figure 3: Piet Mondrian, The Gray Tree. 1911, Oil on canvas, 78.5cm x 107.5cm. Gemeentemuseum Den Hagg, The Hague. Reproduced from Wikipedia website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

7

that all of these aspects of drawing became indistinguishable from the term “process,” and referenced art that, over time, materially assumed the traces of its own making. One protagonist of this type of drawing, Richard Serra, remarks that, “There is no way to make a

drawing – there is only drawing” and “anything you can project as expressive in terms of drawing---ideas metaphors, emotions, language structures---results from the act of doing” (Serra quoted in Hoptman 2008, 11). In this setting, Serra is re-clarifying the verb ‘to draw’ by deciphering it as more than a transitive verb. His drawings are not premeditated and do not involve reference material but come together through a process of seeing and arranging space that occurs in the act of doing (see Fig. 4). He believes the only entity revealed by the material traces of this “doing” is the moment of making the drawing itself (Richard Serra n.d.). As such, for Serra and for many artists working in this media, “drawing is a verb.”

At this time, drawing also began to extend beyond the surface of the page or canvas to include architectural and environment surfaces. This idea is evident in Richard Long’s 1967 work: A line Made by Walking (see Fig. 5). He created this work by walking forwards and backwards along a strip of field until it became flat and visible as a line. In doing so, Long advanced the idea of drawing by framing it as part of a performative, ephemeral intervention with the natural world (Richard Long n.d.).

At the close of the twentieth century, ideas concerning the legitimacy of drawing as solely a process had changed. In Some Kinds of Duration: The Temporality of Drawing as Process Art, Pamela Lee suggests that identifying drawing as a process is fairly redundant, for it is clear to everybody that the act of drawing is a process that innately registers what the artist is doing (Hoptman 2008). Hoptman notes that at the dawn of the twenty first century, drawing, while maintaining its autonomy from other art forms, embraced a diverse range of techniques, mediums, sizes, scales and imagery. In this pre-noughties space, process based drawings were less dominant and began to be replaced by drawings that were representational or contained elements of representation. These types of drawing were labelled projective because they illustrated something that had been imagined

before it was created rather than something disclosed in the process of making. Hoptman confirms that this shift away from process enabled descriptive and narrative based components that were aligned with other techniques and visual languages to emerge. In this setting, precision drawings from industry, analytical diagrams, architectural forms, scientific drawing, ornamental embellishment, vernacular sketches and fashion illustration became recognised as informing what a drawing could be. As such, Hoptman suggests that Serra’s sentiment that “drawing is a verb” moved to “drawing is a noun” (Hoptman 2008).

Figure 4: Richard Serra. Untitled. 1971. Charcoal on paper, Private collection, New York. Reproduced from San Francisco MoMA on the Go website.

-Figure 5: Richard Long, A line Made by Walking. 1967, Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper and graphite on board, 37.5cm x 32.4cm, TATE UK. Reproduced from TATE website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

8

Paul Noble’s drawings epitomise this period (see Fig. 6). He created his own rich narrative and descriptive graphic visuals for a metaphorical urban space called Nobson Newtown. On first glance, his drawings appear to express a visionary utopia, however, on closer inspection, these imagined scapes point to an industrialised dystopia in which factories pour out pollution, different scaled modernist cubes symbolise discrepancies in wealth and the lack of community buildings such as town halls, churches, theatres, pubs and

stadiums all point to a sort of social futility. The Present and Beyond

While the early noughties did not place as much emphasis on the significance of process, books such as Drawing Now: Between the lines of Contemporary Art, first published in 2007, once again illustrated its importance by suggesting that drawing is an ongoing process attentive to traditional drawing materials that have been utilised in a manner which conveys drawing as a conceptual process. In Simon Evans’ Ideas for New Continents (see Fig. 7), for example, he explores the absurd and implausible measures of human truthfulness in the context of a world that belongs to everyone. His drawing follows a known and consistent language of mark-making as evidenced in diagrams, charts, maps, lexicons, diary entries, inventories, cosmologies and epistolary entreaties (TRACEY 2011). Other drawing books such as Hyperdrawing: Beyond the Lines of Contemporary Art, which was published in 2012, endorsed a broader approach

to suggest that drawing is beyond rather than in-between and, can be understood across a multitude of material approaches. In other words, drawing now exceeds the normal expectations, materials or traditions usually aligned with drawing.

Figure 6: Paul Noble, Ye Olde Ruin (detail), 2003-2004. Pencil on paper. © Paul Noble. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Collection: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Reproduced from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen website.

Figure 7: Simon Evans, Ideas for New Continents. 2004, Mixed media on paper. 41.3cm x35.6cm. Courtesy of Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco Reproduced from TRACEY. 2011. Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art. London: I.B.Tauris.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

9

This idea is exemplified in the work of Ulrich Vogl (see Fig. 8), who describes his mixed media practice as an extension of drawing:

The expression "extension of drawing” can be considered the leitmotiv of my artistic practice. While my overall topic would be the “extension of drawing”, the focus of the past years has been on “drawing and light”, working with shadows, reflections, movement and drawing. Many of this time-based works are playful and some are interactive. The balance between the object and the phenomena that they produce is important. I want to create a magic world - that works like a catalyser to the viewer’s own thoughts- without ever hiding the simplicity of its creation. (Ulrich Vogl n.d. para. 7)

So what is drawing? The truth of the matter (if there is a truth) is that “what is drawing?” will forever be open to interpretation. For drawing can be described as a verb and a noun, a process-driven concept or a concept-driven process and a performative act or idea. It can also be expressed through various disciplines, evoke a range of signs, signifiers or languages and employ a multitude of materials, processes or techniques that are applicable to its purpose.

Approaches to Drawing In this unit you may approach drawing in any number of ways. While it is anticipated that more traditional approaches to drawing will form the fundamental premise of your idea development and exploratory extension (visual diary thumbnails and preliminary sketches), your final outcomes may articulate an idea of drawing through multiple processes, applications and techniques. IMPORTANT NOTE: if you adopt this approach and, for example, create a sculpture, photograph or other as an example of drawing, it will be vital that you can succinctly connect this approach to “drawing”. In other words, it will be crucial to reflect on contemporary examples of work such as Ulrich Vogl’s projections to contemplate how your own work may fulfil a drawing genre.

Figure 8: Ulrich Vogl, O.T. 2008, Slide Projectors with tinfoil, 340cm x 180cm. Version 1 of 3. Reproduced from Kevin Kavanagh website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

10

Online Discussion Activity # 1

View the following video: Tim Cowie ed. 2010. Rachel Whiteread: Drawings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpnkNdYQ_0 In the discussion room post a 100-200 word critique describing how Rachel Whiteread has approached drawing and how you think it informs her practice.

Web-based Artist Research The following videos provide some insight into how different artists have approached the topic of drawing. Neil Farber. 2012. In Conversation about Drawing: Gavin Delahunty, Dr Tobias Burg, Rachel Goodyear & Ruth Claxton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ot6jUOgAHk Mathew Collings. 2012. In Conversation: Clem Crosby with Mathew Collings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax-ojusIAXM Dieter Schwarz. 2009. Gerhard Richter Drawings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE8zRtEsxUk Mike Enright. 2008. Drawing Revealed: Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-Bb2intM0 Mike Enright. 2008. Drawing Revealed: Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjzarlA2Ge4 Mike Enright. 2008. Drawing Revealed: Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w840dLYWJ7E Mike Enright. 2008. Drawing Revealed: Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoJ9Qh9qo2E Mike Enright. 2008. Drawing Revealed: Part 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q3nHvqfJyY

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

11

What is Contemporary Art? Context refers to the setting or circumstances that frame an idea, event or situation. Humanity’s understanding of art is based on recorded or discovered histories of doing and thinking – all of which have been shaped by specific contexts. As such, when thinking about the type of work you will create, it is important not to duplicate the art of the past but rather to make art which reflects your time. This does not mean ignoring history, but rather considering historical references and contexts as starting points for further exploration and development. To consider this idea it is important to reflect on what contemporary art is, in relation to your study.

It is likely you have already asked yourself, what is contemporary art? Through your own research, practice and feedback from your tutors/peers you may have concluded that contemporary art is art with an unknowable point of reference; art which is non-essentialist; art that is free of elitist theories and imposed histories or art that has destabilised the grand narratives and the certainty of absolute meaning and knowledge. According to Terry Smith in What is Contemporary Art?, there is a persistent understanding among artists, curators, critics, auctioneers, collectors and the public that one can, even should, be uncertain about what contemporary art is. Yet, Smith suggests, in the first instance, contemporary art is art that is made in the here and now (Smith 2009).

The term “contemporary” points to something that is modern, in vogue, brand new or current. Smith notes although this trait defines contemporary art it is important not to consider the term “contemporary” as only an acceptance or implementation of something unique occurring in the present. Yes, contemporary art is made in the present but it also belongs to the time and space in which it was created. He asserts that contemporary art is driven by “Contemporaneity – which these days is multiplicitous in character but singular in its demands – requires responses that are in significant ways quite different from those that inspired the many and various modernisms of the nineteenth and twentieth century” (Smith 2009, 1). Contemporary art, in its multitude of appearances and contents, meanings and usages is comprehensively questioning in nature and extensive in its modes of enquiry and scales of investigation. The most widespread forms of contemporary art are those which set out to disrupt everyday understandings; illustrate the ambivalent nature of signs; allude to the ambiguity of object or form; outline propositions that are intentionally speculative and cautiously project meaningful outcomes and/or hopeful expectations (Smith 2009).

According to Smith, the ontology of the present refers to when contemporary art occurred. This includes the sites and spaces the art materialised, the quality of its appearance, the properties of its coming to be and the tension it generates in the present. Existing in the present is only one facet of contemporary art. The contemporaneous aspect of contemporary art, the ability to enter into existence at the same time as other beings and other art, is another. The contemporaneous signifies a questioning not only of what is collective and what is individual between self and other, but also between one entity and another. Within this negotiated space, the contemporaneous repeatedly captures positive notions of moving forward: from acute isolation to total immediacy, from personal estrangement to absolute togetherness, from spatial distinctiveness to planetary wholeness, from individual specificity to complete overview, from singularity to universality and so forth. The contemporaneous characteristics of contemporary art signify that being contemporary is not a singular act but something that exists with others or everything in the world. Therefore, art that is classified as contemporary conveys or generates thoughts, feelings or ideas that resonate with society or culture at that point in time (Smith 2009).

This analysis of contemporary art also points to an ongoing conversation with time. For when one enters the world it has already been shaped by others who are contemporaries in different stages of development and who, continuously challenge the ideas or meanings that link the non- contemporaries before, now and after them. It is important to note that reflecting upon what is contemporary within the art world, requires one to express different ways of being in relation to time

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

12

whilst simultaneously being aware that time is fleeting or running out. Smith suggests what makes contemporary art practice different to the past is the relationship it has to itself and its contemporaries as well as an examination into the ontology of the present (Smith 2009).

What is Research? The Excellence of Research for Australia (ERA) initiative demonstrated the need for a resolution to the ongoing question of how to measure and assess research quantity and quality in the Creative Arts and the Humanities. ERA adopted the following definition in order to acknowledge the contribution of creative activities in the development of knowledge:

[Research is] the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it is new and creative.

(Australia Research Council 2008, 1)

This definition of research is consistent with the Australian Art Council’s broad notion of research and experimental development (R&D) which states that research:

Comprises creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humanity, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise applications.

(Australian Research Council 2008, 1)

Why Research? If you strip back the above definitions it is possible to conclude that research involves the creation and examination of new and old knowledge to generate original ways of thinking and doing. As a ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ activity, research is not limited to the construction of ideas but also informs how you approach material investigations and outcomes.

In relation to your creative practice, any thinking or doing activity you undertake constitutes research. Research enables you to investigate, discover, apply knowledge and evaluate what you are doing. It is the most significant tool you can use throughout your study.

Developing a Fail Proof Research Method As you progress through each visual arts research unit, you will develop your own research methods. The steps below provide some clues as to how you might approach research.

Idea Development • Consider what the exercise is asking you to do. • Plan your response. Sketch, brainstorm or mind-map ideas, research artists and art works of

relevance, read articles, catalogues and other significant material. Organise and review your findings. Present your research in your visual diary.

Exploring Ideas through Materials and Processes • Plan, investigate and test different materials and processes in relation to your ideas. • Establish clear connections between your idea and the materials and processes being examined.

Think about the language of materials in relation to your work. Reflect on how materials and/or processes can enhance the communication of your ideas.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

13

• Be aware of broad or literal connections between ideas and materials. Don’t be afraid to shift or refine your focus if the work is making unclear connections.

• Keep reassessing what you are doing. Don’t be limited by the conventions of form; don’t be limited by the conventions of your own thinking; take chances. Don’t be afraid to abandon or change your direction if what you are doing is not working.

• Document all stages of exploration in your visual diary

Discernment • In each visual exploration be discerning. Analyse the work or the parts of the work that are

engaging to you; look, question and edit.

Resolution • Use your research to generate outcomes (an outcome can be a completed work or a starting

point for further development). Consider how different modes of installation, presentation or documentation can extend the meaning of your work.

Evaluate • Evaluate the work. Reflect on what has and has not worked; assess how you could improve the

work in the future.

The following table lists some key verbs that you can use as a guide to help you develop a research method. The five columns read from left to right, however, all of the verbs are designed to get you actively thinking about what research is or can be.

Active Approaches to Doing and Thinking Plan Experiment Observe Resolve Review

Brainstorm Sketch Judge Remedy Critique

Mind-map Play Respond React Reflect

Explain Research Question Polish Evaluate

Conceive Investigate Apply knowledge Filter Weigh up

Focus Create Adjust Hone Analyse

Question Craft Hypothesise Improve Assess

Contemplate Manipulate Consider Record Appraise

Examine Explore Edit Tweak Gauge

Contextualise Innovate Recognise Fine-tune Study

Define Test Revise Enhance Determine

Communicate Invent Develop Refine Reconsider

Describe Discover Deliberate Document Comment

See creative research Hub for random selection – Wheels of Action.

Self-Evaluation In previous units you will have been asked to write a self-evaluation (for each assessment) based on how you appraise your work, in this unit you will still need to write a self-evaluation but it should be informed by a self-assessment of your own work.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

14

Self-Assessment Have you ever received a mark and wondered how/why it was completely different to the mark you thought you would receive? If this is the case, it turns out that you are not alone. Research conducted by David Boud, a renowned academic in the field of self-assessment, concluded that students routinely estimate higher grades for themselves than that of their tutors (Weimer 2014).

It is worth noting though, that in these instances, Boud suggests the tutors' marks were not unreasonable, the difference stemmed from the fact that the students did not know how to critically judge their work and thus made the mistake of overly elevating their results. Maryellen Weimer, author of Developing Students’ Self-Assessment Skills suggests the disappointment of receiving a lower than anticipated mark can be alleviated if students learn how to self-assess.

According to Weimer, self-assessment is the ability to examine your work and know (or have some insight into) what is working and what requires further development, extension or refinement. It is the capacity to critique how and why you went down a certain pathway but also the capacity to recognise your mistakes and learn how to utilise more of what works and avoid using what does not in your next assignment. In essence, self-assessment is an interrogation of the work you have produced and an examination of your performance throughout its completion (Weimer 2014).

So how do you self-assess? While self-assessment is generally thought of as something you complete during the final stages of an assessment, in reality, it is something that you should engage with much earlier on – ideally, at the start of each project, exercise or body of work. In this unit, you will be required to self-assess as part of your self-evaluation. As such, to understand and undertake self- assessment, follow the below steps:

1. At the start of each assessment print out a copy of the Assessment Criteria from your unit outline. Once you have printed your copy, locate it in a place you will frequent every day. Ideally you should situate it somewhere that you can readily read its contents – this might be in your studio, working environment (lounge, kitchen, spare room) or even the fridge door.

2. Familiarise yourself with each section of the criteria. Consider key words such as “appropriately,” “invention” or “research” – and what these mean in relation to what you are doing. In your visual diary, write down what you think you will need to do to effectively address all of the criteria sections. Consider whether this approach to the assessment is more or less work than you expected.

3. Start working on your project, exercise or body of work. At each stage of your research (refer to “Developing a Fail Proof Research Method” for the specific break down of research), mentally review and reflect on what you are doing and ask yourself if you are clearly addressing everything that is being assessed.

4. Before writing up your self-evaluation, you will now need to assess the work you have produced and how you performed during its completion. Using the Assessment criteria for the unit, fill in each section with a mark out of 100 (try to be as objective as you can in your assessment of your work) then average a mark to determine what your overall mark is. This mark is for you, you do not need to disclose it to anybody.

5. Now write up your self-evaluation taking your self-assessment into consideration. In other words, if you gave yourself a mark of 65% for one section of the criteria – identify what you did or did not do and how you intend to improve upon this in future works. Do this for all sections. Submit your assessment.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

15

6. Once you have received your feedback and mark from the tutor – compare your mark to that of the tutor. Is it lower, higher or on par? If your mark was higher than the tutors – identify what the tutor saw in your work or performance that was different to you. Use this information to develop, expand and refine upon your next submission.

Important note: self-assessment is a continual process; accurate self-assessment takes time and requires you to utilise every opportunity you can to practice and develop this skill. It is a skill you can continually utlise throughout your professional career as an artist.

Visual Diary It is important to maintain a digital4 or non-digital visual diary. A visual diary is an essential tool for recording your creative research. You should use it for idea development, material and process investigations, idea and material extensions and, artist and other research. It is a place in which you can brainstorm ideas, attempt quick sketches, try different processes, document material tests and experiments, attach exhibition invites, magazine or newspaper clippings, jot down extracts from books or quotes you like, insert postcards and images, plan ideas for future sculptures and so on. Essentially, anything that you source which may be relevant to your current or future work should go into the visual diary. It is the place to record your thinking and doing.

The visual diary should not be completed the night before an assignment is due; nor is it the place to simply paste copies of the work you are presenting for assessment. In each submission you will be asked to complete exercises that will require preparatory work and ‘outcomes’. An ‘outcome’ can be a final completed piece, a work-in-progress or a starting point for future development. It is the preparatory work which should be included in the visual diary and there should be an obvious delineation between your visual diary entries and the final works. This can be done by careful separation and titling of pages in a single document, but perhaps the simplest way is to keep the preliminary ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ (the visual diary) and the ‘resolution’ (the finished works) in separate documents or PowerPoints.

Documentation and Presentation The research and outcomes you create should be presented in a way that is easy for your tutor to follow. Please consider the following points when compiling your submission:

• Separate your visual diary work from your outcomes (it is important that your tutor can clearly interpret the exercise outcomes from your tests and experiments).

• In your folio presentations only include one image per slide (slides that contain multiple images

detract from how the work is read). Avoid coloured or patterned slide backgrounds (black or white backgrounds present the clearest viewing platform for your work). When making notes in your presentation, avoid unnecessary fonts - Times Roman, Arial and Calibri are the clearest fonts to read.

• If you are including scanned pages with multiple images per page or hand written text in your

visual diary, it is important that the images or text you include can be deciphered by your tutor.

4 Some students prefer to construct a digital diary rather than use and photograph/scan a traditional “book- bound” visual diary. As long as your diary records your research, planning and development either approach is fine.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

16

• When scanning or photographing your work, please ensure that the images you include are not out of focus. If you are uploading images from a digital device always make sure they are rotated correctly before placing them into your presentation. Please crop your images if they contain information that is not relevant or may detract from how the work is viewed. For further tips on how to document your work please go to Shared Art Files>Assessment Help>Image Advice.

• Do not submit the same work twice. Your submissions should not contain work that has already

been assessed. This applies to work from previous units. Each submission should be formatted as a new document, PDF or PowerPoint. To avoid confusion, clearly label each submission. For example, Joe_BLOGGS_VAR300_investigation 1.pptx.

• If you are compressing images to reduce your file size, check that the image is still visually discernible. If the resolution of your image has been compromised, consider uploading a larger file via a large file delivery system – discuss options with your tutor.

Readings Essential Readings

To access the readers listed in this Study Guide, click on the Reading List link (left hand menu) in Blackboard. The link will take you to the essential readings for this unit

Referencing It is expected that you reference all information that is not of your authorship, this includes: images, text, quotes, articles, diagrams, etc., that were not created by you but that you have accessed from books, journals, the Internet or other sources as part of your research. If you do not reference appropriately you may be in breach of Academic Integrity through Plagiarism - a serious offence. In this unit you will be required to create and submit a visual presentation for each assessment. This format is different to a written essay as the primary components are images. As such the reference details must be visible on the same slide/page as the images and/or information that you are referencing. This will enable the tutor to review your references while assessing your work without having to search back and forth through your presentation. In this unit, the Chicago referencing guide is the recognised referencing system. The guide can be found in the Student Support Resources of the unit for full referencing style information. Alternately you can access or download the Chicago Referencing Guide from the Curtin Library at: http://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/

About Your On-Line Community ‘Learning’ is something that you should be actively seeking at all times, and learning from your peers is one of the most important aspects of studying in an art school. While the physical proximity afforded by being an ‘on-campus’ student cannot be replicated in a ‘virtual’ campus, the discussions, responses, ideas, challenges, and hints that you can get from being an active participant in the Discussion Boards in Blackboard can come close. These interactions are an important part of the on-line learning experience, but can only be maintained at a high level if all students take an active part. Throughout

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

17

this unit (and all third year units), you will be asked to participate in on-line discussions and to post examples of your work. These interactions will need to be demonstrated in your visual diary and will form a part of your assessment for the unit. More importantly, these interactions will help you develop ideas, provide feedback and receive information and tutor support. By actively taking part in on-line discussions, learning will be enhanced by gaining further knowledge and understanding of contemporary art and will ultimately assist you in successfully completing the unit.

Health and Safety The level of danger posed by materials employed in the creation of art is extensive so it is impossible to offer comprehensive rules that will be appropriate for every circumstance. Therefore, it is important that you are aware of the materials you use and minimise any hazards they may pose. When engaged in actions which create dust such as sanding and sawing, work in a well-ventilated area and wear a dust mask. Wear rubber gloves when using chemicals. If you are using sharp or heavy tools or materials always make sure you wear closed-in and solid footwear. Hearing protection should be used when operating loud power tools. Eye protection should be worn whenever there is a potential of injury.

Almost every material you purchase will have a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) available. This sheet will outline the potential dangers of the material and the precautions necessary with its use. Some stores will have copies of these but the most readily available source of information will be the websites of the manufacturers of the materials that you use.

While most of us take extra care when using speciality materials with which we are unfamiliar, it is often the day-to-day products that can cause unexpected/unforeseen hazards, e.g. melting plastics can produce toxic fumes, mixing certain household products may result in chemical reactions, biological products (such as mould or blood) might result in severe allergic reactions, etc. It is important that you research the potential hazards and consider other options if the safety aspects of a method/process/product are of concern. Discuss with your tutor if you are unsure or need advice.

General Health and Safety Guidelines and Information for artists.

• https://www.trueart.info/ • https://ehs.princeton.edu/health-safety-the-campus-community/art-theater-safety/art-

safety/painting-and-drawing

A note about dust masks: Paper disposable masks should NOT be used in a studio. Industrial quality hazard masks which use a cartridge filtration system (see image) are far superior and are available from most hardware stores. When you purchase a mask it is important that you know which hazard/s you will be dealing with, because each type of airborne material may require a different cartridge. If you are unsure, ask the service staff.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

18

PROJECT 1: Science, Nature and Artifice Fields of science such as: “astronomy, mathematics, physics, optics, medicine, psychology, chemistry and biology” (Robertson and McDaniel 2010, 233) have enthused and engaged artists throughout the course of history. During the Renaissance, for example, painters employed mathematics to produce linear perspective, a graphic system which enabled the illusion of three dimensional spaces. Significantly, in its 600 plus years of usage, linear perspective has continued to be shaped and informed by artists’ specific explorations and discoveries. The Renaissance artist Paulo Uccello reconfigured how depth was represented on a flat surface by creating paintings that used extreme foreshortening while, the twentieth century artist MC Escher altered how depth could be understood on a two dimensional plane by creating a warped illusion of Euclidean space (Robertson and McDaniel 2010). Whether it is at a technical or observational level, drawing has always gone hand in hand with science as an effective way of recording data and gaining knowledge. Empirical science typifies this process and is based on evidence determined from sensory responses and involves a subject testing all hypotheses and theories against observations of the natural world rather than relying solely on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation. Italian Renaissance artists, for example, employed empirical testing in their attempts to represent more life-like sculptural portrayals of the human form. Until approximately 1500–1510, their anatomical investigations exceeded much of the information about human anatomy being taught at the universities. In Lives of the Artist, Giorgio Vasari's notes that Leonardo da Vinci:

….created a book with red crayon drawings in which he sketched cadavers he had dissected with his own hand, depicting them with the greatest care. He drew all the bony structures, joining them in order to all the nerves and covering them with the muscles: the first group is attached to the skeleton, the second holds it firm, and the third makes it move (Vasari 1991, 323).

By sharing his drawings and understandings of the human anatomy with Messer Marc’ Antonio della Torre, a philosopher teaching in Pavia who was writing on human anatomy at the time, Da Vinci was the first to successfully propel the significance of drawing as a model of examination in medical studies. Drawings as a means of recording scientific data continued well into the nineteenth century. At this time, “the publication of natural history and medical science manuals, illustrated histories, architectural pattern books and archaeological and astronomical journals” (Hoptman 2008, 15) flourished even though the invention of photography had generated a more exacting measure of recording data. Hoptman suggests what is revelatory about this, is it indicates that although these manuals/books reflected a model of knowing consistent with an empirical method not dissimilar to Da Vinci’s they also, illustrated the importance of drawing as an aesthetically pleasing means of visual communication (Hoptman 2008). Art critic and aesthete, John Ruskin, was one of the most passionate campaigners of drawing from nature. His approach, which followed an empirical science method, advocated drawing as a way of recording the beauty of nature. This is as described in opening introduction of The Elements of Drawing:

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

19

My dear Reader,— whether this book is to be of use to you or not, depends wholly on your reason for wishing to learn to draw. If you desire only to possess a graceful accomplishment, to be able to converse in a fluent manner about drawing, or to amuse yourself listlessly in listless hours, I cannot help you: but if you wish to learn drawing that you may be able to set down clearly, and usefully, records of such things as cannot be described in words, either to assist your own memory of them, or to convey distinct ideas of them to other people; if you wish to obtain quicker perceptions of the beauty of the natural world, and to preserve something like a true image of beautiful things that pass away, or which you must yourself leave. (Ruskin 2014, 1)

Today, there is a much greater understanding that drawing, as a form of recording data and gaining knowledge is, or can intentionally be, an inherently paradoxical process. In this domain, drawings can propel a sense of artifice through a perceived lack of credibility in regard to the origin/history of the information expressed and, in relation to how this information is perceived. This artificiality is increasingly apparent because drawings do not have to be created from real observations of humanity or close examination of the natural or technological world, instead they can be constructed from one or a myriad of secondary sources such as digital images, photographs, drawings, magazines, museum models, working models, props etc. In this way the artist can be once, twice or an infinite number of times removed from the original source. Furthermore, the information obtained from these secondary sources can also be altered or enhanced via technology such as cameras, microscopes, telescopes, computer software or other devices that have the potential to manipulate the source. Another contributor to this sense of artifice is the artist themselves, for their representation of recorded data will be conditioned by their technical skill but also, conceptually, by who they are, what they know and how they view the world. The work itself may also reflect, be loosely based on, or be an intentional fiction. As such, it is all of these factors that help shape the artist’s perception of reality and ultimately how this information is viewed or interpreted by an audience.

Online Discussion Activity #2

View one or all of the following videos: The Creator’s Project. 2013. Photographing Natural Forces The Art and Science of Fabian Oefner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAs6ILaXSPM 2008. Art Machines Machine Art at Museum Tinguely part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8g31wr8mLc 2013. Patricia Piccinini: The Artist in her Studio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swx7ewLxyfw In the discussion room, post a 100-200 word critique describing how one of the artists listed above might communicate an idea of science, nature and artifice in their work.

Reader The eBook listed below is selected as a resource for you to peruse. You are not expected to read the whole book but to consider it as a resource in the development of your work. TRACEY. 2011. Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art. London: I.B.Tauris.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

20

EXERCISE 1: Natural Sciences and the Artifice of Data

Figure 9: Olivia Knapp. Blind. 2013. Pigment Ink on Cotton Bristol, 26" x 20" Reproduced from Olivia Knapp’s website

Figure 11: Cynthia Lin. Small drawings of Skin. 2005. Graphite on paper, 11.25 x 14.25 inches. Reproduced from Cynthia Lin’s website.

Figure 12: Abraham Ferraro. Stationary Climber. 2006. Mixed media performance, 15 x 12.5 x 8.5 ft. Reproduced from Abraham Ferraro’s website.

Figure 10: Monika Grzymala. Raumzeichnung (outside/inside). 2016. Site Specific Installation, 3.7 km black paper tape and clear PP tape. Reproduced from Monika Grzymala’s website

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

21

EXERCISE 1: Natural Sciences and the Artifice of Data Please note: This exercise is intended to be an extensive and thorough examination of drawing. It cannot be completed in a day, it will require at least ten hours of your time per week and you will need to continually engage and reflect upon what you are doing over the course of the six weeks allocated. As a third year student, it is vital that you employ all of the skills that you have learnt in previous units by thoroughly engaging in all aspects of artist and other research, idea development, material and process extension, reflection, discernment and refinement.

Required Materials: Open selection - you may choose any drawing material to complete your final “drawing” outcomes. For exploration, development and presentation you will also require a camera, visual diary and basic drawing materials (pen, pencil, charcoal or whatever drawing material you are comfortable with).

Brief In this exercise you will create a series of “drawings” *(5-7 outcomes) that consider one of the following natural science topics:

Biology: “the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy” (Biology n.d. para. 1). You may find one of the following subcategories: botany, zoology, ecology, biochemistry, genetics etc. an interesting starting point. Physics: the analysis of matter and its movement through time and space, along with interrelated notions such as energy and force. Essentially, physics is an investigation of nature undertaken as a means of understanding how the universe works (Physics n.d. para.1). You may find one of the following subcategories: quantum mechanics, astrophysics, astronomy etc. an interesting starting point.

Figure 13: Laurie Hogin. Pharmaceutical Guinea Pigs (Prozac). 2007, Oil on panel, 10” x 10”. Reproduced from Laurie Hogin’s website.

Figure 14: Ann Hamilton. Draw on view with (Ghost. . . a Border Act Video). 2003, Video, Dimensions variable (on

display at Colgate University 2012). Reproduced from Ann Hamilton’s website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

22

Astronomy: “the study of celestial objects such as stars, galaxies, planets, suns, moons and nebulae (clouds of dust or gas), the chemistry and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts and other non-earthly bodies (UFOs etc) or phenomena” (Astronomy n.d. para.1). You may find one of the following subcategories: astrology, astrophysics, meteorology, cosmology etc. an interesting starting point.

Once you have selected your natural science topic, you will need to consider a subcategory5 and develop an aspect of this into a concept statement which communicates how “drawing” (as a verb, a noun or both) might be used as a means of recording false, uncertain or pointless data or knowledge about a subject in a believable or meaningful way. The artifice you create should, on the surface at least, project an idea of veracity. To achieve this you may choose to loosely base your work on a topical aspect of reality i.e. a new medical discovery, an ecological disaster, the potential for wormhole time travel and so forth or, simply cultivate a completely fictitious angle. In the context of the latter, this might involve recording examples of genetic mutations for a plant or animal species that never existed; imagining examples of bio-engineered organs for a future or past race; designing faux travel routes for inner or outer space destinations; charting the meteorology of a place using illusory or dystopian weather patterns; creating spaces showing a movement or force moving through multiple dimensions and so on. The topics are intentionally broad so it is important to develop your own unique and innovative idea to investigate (ideally your concept will be different from the examples mentioned above, however, if you are uncertain about how to progress you may use the examples provided as a spring board for further exploration). It is also imperative to remember that “drawing” can be approached in any number of ways. You may like to express your series of works through drawing plans, perspective drawings, scientific drawings, illustrations, mind maps, maps and grids or adopt other materials, processes and applications. If, for example you choose to represent your drawing via sculpture, performance, installation, photography, painting or something other, you will need to consider how these may manifest as “drawings”. In other words, think about how specific elements of drawing such as lines and edges, marks and mark-making, tone and light, negative and positive spaces, erasures and insertions, monochromes, polychromes or greyscales may be utilised effectively in another field of art. *Please note: if you are creating a series of drawings, photographs, paintings, digital works and so forth all of the works in the series must be greater than A4 in size. In addition, the option of completing five outcomes is a minimum only; you may create more examples of work. Don’t forget, if you are representing an idea of “drawing” via sculpture, textiles, installation or something else and you want to produce a different amount of work to what has been listed, you will need to contact your tutor by the start of week 2, to negotiate and confirm a feasible quota of outcomes.

Use the following steps to guide you:

1. Choose a natural science topic. In your visual diary, create a mind map exploring key words that you find interesting about this subject.

2. Choose a key word/s to develop into an idea. Consider what it is specifically about this idea

that you are examining? Don’t forget your idea should include how “drawing” (as a verb, a noun or both) might be used as a means of recording false, uncertain or pointless data or knowledge about a natural science subject in a believable or meaningful way. One strategy might be to create a research question or series of questions that accurately pinpoint what it

5 As long as this is relevant, feel free to choose something other than what is listed.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

23

is you intend to examine. Another strategy is to research the artworks of relevant artists to see how they have tackled and communicated similar ideas (see additional Web-based Artist Research for clues below).

3. Once you have established your idea, write a 150 - 200 word concept statement (if necessary, you can write more than one paragraph but avoid exceeding the word count) which provides a clear explanation as to how your ideas will be contextualised as a series of “drawing” outcomes. To do this, you will need to consider the following:

• the meaning and context reinforcing your idea (what your idea is about and what it

intends to examine); • the circumstances or settings framing your idea (political, religious, cultural, social,

historical, art-historical etc.); • how your idea will be communicated as a body of work (avoid describing visual outcomes

but rather focus on how your idea can be connected to visual enquiry in the context of contemporary art);

• the relevance of the materials you intend to use (the role material plays in the understanding or circumstances framing your idea).

4. Develop some working drawings for your series of drawings or other outcomes (sculpture,

photography and so forth) that begin to contextualise your idea.

5. Begin material testing and process exploration for potential “drawing” outcomes. The material and process investigation of your idea should be comprehensive and inventive. Sometimes students can fall into the trap of producing a final outcome without testing different materials and processes first. This “idea-to-outcome” approach is not recommended as it removes the potential for discovery and development which occurs in the material and process stages of your work. Please refer back to “Developing a Research Method” on pages 12-13 if you are unsure about how to explore your idea through materials and processes. In addition, it is also important that all stages of your material and process development are recorded and documented in your visual diary.

6. Develop your tests into a series of drawing or “drawing outcomes” which use other processes,

applications or techniques to reflect an aspect/idea of drawing. Clearly document and present your outcomes.

Submission Requirements: • 150 - 200 word concept statement explaining your idea (for comprehension of your project’s

intentions, it is important to include the statement at the start of your presentation – do not include midway or at the end of your presentation);

• A series of 5 “drawing” outcomes or negotiated “drawing” outcomes (the quota of the latter must be approved by your tutor);

• Visual diary work (at least 40 slides) including evidence of idea development, material and process exploration, artist and other research (at least 4 examples of each) and any unresolved outcomes;

• Self-Evaluation (refer to notes on Self-evaluation and Self-assessment).

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

24

ASSESSMENT – Investigation

Additional Web-based Artist Research As well as the images of the artists provided earlier, you may also find the following artists useful for this exercise: Heiko Blankenstein http://www.heikoblankenstein.com/2012/korona/ Alex Zecca https://www.alexzecca.com/work/drawings/ Russell Crotty http://www.russellcrotty.com/astro.html Simon Stalenhag http://simonstalenhag.tumblr.com/ Jennifer Pastor http://www.brooklynrail.org/2004/11/art/jennifer-pastor

Ryuta Iida http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/03/time-lapse-portraits-layered-and-cut-to-reveal- the-passage-of-time/ Ulrike Gabriel http://v2.nl/archive/people/ulrike-gabriel Emma McNally http://www.beautifuldecay.com/2012/07/31/emma-mcnallys-abstract-map-drawings/

Sam Easterson https://vimeo.com/59957707 Julien Salaud http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/04/stellar-caves-julien-salaud/ Find other artworks and share them with your peers in the discussion room.

WORTH: 40% DUE : Refer to Unit Outline for Assessment Due Dates. TO: VAR300 > SUBMIT ASSIGNMENTS Assessment requirements:

• Two 100-200 word discussion room activity posts • Project 1: Exercise 1 (please include all of the components listed in the

submission requirements) Your submission must be submitted by the due date. Late submission without any formal communication with your tutor will attract penalties. Your work will be assessed and a mark and feedback will be provided in the Grade Centre. If this is not received within the two weeks following the submission of your work, contact your tutor.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

25

PROJECT 2: Architectural Drawing Architectural drawings are technical drawings used to depict space, buildings or building projects. They are typically produced by architects who use the drawings for an array of purposes which include: to develop a design idea into a comprehensible proposal; to articulate different ideas and concepts; to showcase the merits of a design/project; to provide details to the builders constructing the project; as a record of a completed work and to illustrate a building that already exists. Architectural drawings also follow a set of guidelines so that they can be universally read and interpreted by multiple users. These guidelines generally require architects to define particular viewpoints such as “drawings of structures in section (exposing the interior), plan (a section from above), elevation (a frontal view of the façade), perspective (in perspectival recession) and so on” (Hoptman 2008, 47). Other conventions also include specifying sheet sizes, standardised units of measurement and scale as well as footnotes and cross referencing.

In the early noughties, architectural drawing became increasingly popular within the contemporary art world. This occurred because artists started to repurpose it as an alternative voice to the conventional languages of drawing. While breaking down the barriers of drawing with drawing may appear contradictory, it is possible to do when one considers that the parameters defining architectural drawing often sit in direct contrast to the more expressive or process driven modes of drawing. Thus, by modifying the language of drawing with architectural drawing, artists have found new ways of destabilising predetermined meanings and contexts, not only in relation to drawing but also in relation to aspects of everyday culture.

An example of this can be witnessed in the Havana-based art duo, Los Carpinteros (The Carpenters), which consists of Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez. Their model of architecture, which is partly inspired by architects such as Etienne-Louis Boullée, explores the more fantastical side of social engineering, by asserting that architecture can literally shape its user’s lives. Thus, the duo’s installations and drawings frequently reimagine the buildings, materials and furnishings which inform the decaying infrastructure of their homeland Cuba. These elements are often warped or distorted, and explore what is functional and non-functional or safe and sinister within domestic and public spaces (Hoptman 2008).

Los Carpinteros’ “architectural” drawings, which incorporate as much illustrative realism as drafting, are more than preparatory studies for their sculptures or installations, they also exist as finished to scale working drawings or blue prints for plausible buildings, furniture or monuments.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

26

Figure 15: Los Carpinteros, La Montańa Rusa (detail), 2007. W/C on paper 132 x 200cm/ 51/96 x 78, 74. Reproduced from Destiny Clontz Blogspot website.

Figure 16: Los Carpinteros, Vista de la Exposición Opener 19. 2010. The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. Reproduced from Los Carpinteros’ website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

27

While Los Carpinteros’ have reinterpreted architectural drawing through their unique watercolours and sculptures, technology has also played a role in redefining the language of drawing. The development of computer imaging software such as Turbo CAD for instance, has altered how architectural drawing is represented and opened up new possibilities for exploring unusual organic forms or complex geometrical shapes.

In today’s environment, computer imaging software readily enables the planes between dimensions to be distorted or manipulated and new conversations between the two dimensional and three dimensional to occur. In this domain, the distinct transparencies between masses and voids (or

negative and positive spaces) also generate other ways of observing or reading space. While Kevin Appel’s work (pictured above) is created out of paint, it is possible to see how his work is informed by, yet also, illustrates the potential of computer imaging.

In recent years, artists interested in architectural drawing have also started to branch into 3 dimensional printing. While computer imaging permits digital exploration of two and three dimensions, 3 dimensional printing is another way of shifting the conventional axis of drawing. In this environment, it is a means of realising, distorting or representing a drawing with multiple viewpoints and a way of easily transferring this information into everyday contexts and spaces that surpass the realm of paper and screen.

Figure 17: Kevin Appel. House: South Rotation Red 1 (East View), 2000. Liquid Acrylic on Paper, 26” x 40”. Reproduced from Kevin Appel’s website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

28

Online Discussion Activity #3

View the following video presentation: Sir Peter Cook. 2012. Real is Only Halfway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpw3Lm8ZKOY&list=PL79A5264A0ADED746 In the discussion room post a 100-200 word synopsis describing the key ideas of the presentation and what you found the most interesting.

Reader The following eBooks have been selected for you to peruse. You are not expected to read the whole book but rather to refer components of them in the research and development of your own work. Treib, Marc. 2012. Drawing/Thinking: Confronting an Electronic Age. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ebook available online: http://CURTIN.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1099432 Edwards, Brian. 2008. Understanding Architecture Through Drawing. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2008. ebook available online: http://CURTIN.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=356361 Hughes, Alan. 2013. Interior Design Drawing. New York: Crowood. ebook available online http://CURTIN.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1275241

Figure 18: Micah Ganske, Tomorrow Land, 2010-2014. Extruded Polymer, 14″ 12” 9”. Reproduced from Micah Ganske’s website.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

29

EXERCISE 1: Architectural Drawing – an Exploration of Place or Monument Please note: This exercise is intended to be an extensive and thorough examination of drawing. It cannot be completed in a day, it will require at least ten hours of your time per week and you will need to continually engage and reflect upon what you are doing over the course of the six weeks allocated. As a third year student, it is vital that you employ all of the skills that you have learnt in previous units by thoroughly engaging in all aspects of artist and other research, idea development, material and process extension, reflection, discernment and refinement.

Required Materials: Open selection - you may choose any drawing material to complete your final drawing outcomes. For exploration, development and presentation you will also require a camera, visual diary and drawing materials (pen, pencil, charcoal or whatever drawing material you are comfortable with).

Brief: In this exercise you are going to produce a series of “drawings” *(6-8 outcomes) which reimagine an abandoned or decaying place or monument by subverting parts of its original meaning, form or function. You will depict this series through elements of “architectural drawing” (such as multiple viewpoints, perspective, scale, negative and positive space, a consideration of 2 dimensional and three dimensional planes and so forth). You may choose to make your series manifest as drawings which primarily engage with architectural drawing methods or alternatively you can communicate an idea of drawing through other means such as a series of digital images, photographs, sculptures, textiles and so on. As some preliminary working drawings will be required, it is important that you are able to observe your abandoned or decaying place or monument in the flesh. As such, choose a place or monument that you can readily access (ideally no more than a 50 kilometre distance from your home). If you are unable to access a site due to medical/other circumstances, please consult with your tutor to arrange an alternative plan. *An additional note: if you are creating a series of drawings, photographs, paintings, digital works and so forth, all of the works in the series must be greater than A4 in size. The option of completing 6-8 outcomes is a minimum only; you may create more examples of work. Alternatively, if you are representing an idea of “drawing” via sculpture, textiles, installation or something other and the above quota is not applicable, please contact your tutor by the start of week 7 to negotiate and confirm a feasible quota of outcomes.

To easily navigate this exercise, the steps are divided into Part A and Part B – please follow both sets of steps to complete the exercise: Part A

1. Choose an abandoned or decaying place or monument within your local surroundings.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

30

2. Visit your abandoned or decaying place or monument – take some basic drawing materials (this can be anything such as a pen, pencil, watercolours, charcoal) visual diary and camera.

3. Once you have arrived at your location, answer the following questions in your visual diary: • Why have you chosen this specific place or monument? • What historical, social or personal significance does it hold? • How has this place or monument ended up as abandoned or in a decaying state? Is this

because of age, natural disaster, poor design or other? • What material is it made of? Is it made up of one or multiple materials? What are the

properties of the material i.e. soft, hard, porous, flexible etc? • What is the purpose of the place or monument i.e. to shelter, to entertain, to

commemorate and so forth? • How often is the place frequented or the monument visited? • What are your overall impressions of this place or monument?

Important note: you may not be able to answer all of the questions in situ, so it is important that you complete any unanswered questions through further research. Additional research might include visiting a council, museum or library. You may also be able to access or find histories, stories, plans or drawings relative to your abandoned or decaying place or monument through web-based research.

4. Using your camera, document the place or monument. Try and capture it from as many different angles as possible.

5. While on location, also complete a series of 6 thumbnail sketches (5cm x 5cm) that capture different viewpoints or angles of your place or monument. Once you are satisfied, return home.

PART B

1. Using the data you have collected (your answers, any additional research, photographs, drawings and relevant artist research) brainstorm an idea that contemplates how you might visually redesign your abandoned or decaying place or monument. To frame your approach, consider how the history, purpose/function, material and visual appearance of your place might inform its future manifestations. For example, if your structure is originally built out of wood maybe a future structure is built out of a non-building material that comments on the environmental, social or historical elements of the place. Alternatively, if you chose an abandoned gas station as your place, maybe it is pumping something other than gas or perhaps it has futurised pumps that are completely functionless. When determining your idea and the changes you intend to make, it is important that you identify what has informed your decision-making – your alterations should be informed by the data you have collected.

Please note: While your approach can be “playful” or even a little “off centre” it is essential that if you are dealing with something of cultural significance, you are mindful and respectful of its origins before modifying.

2. Once you have established your idea, write a 150 - 200 word concept statement, which provides a clear explanation as to how your ideas will be contextualised as a series of architectural “drawing” outcomes. To do this, you will need to consider the following:

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

31

• the meaning and context reinforcing your idea (what your idea is about and what it intends to examine);

• the circumstances or settings framing your idea (political, religious, cultural, social, historical, art-historical etc.);

• how your idea will be communicated as a body of work (avoid describing visual outcomes but rather focus on how your idea can be connected to visual enquiry in the context of contemporary art);

• the relevance of the materials you intend to use (the role material plays in the understanding or circumstances framing your idea).

3. When developing your idea, don’t forget to consider how other artists have tackled similar

ideas. Refer to the Web Based Artist Research listed below as a starting point.

4. Whether you are working with architectural drawing in the traditional sense or an idea of this through other processes, applications or techniques it is important that you develop some working drawings (plans, thumbnails and/or sketches) that contextualise your concept statement. Your drawings should reference a sense of the place or monument you selected so make sure you refer back to your initial thumbnails and photographs for clues. Don’t forget that your working drawings will also need to reference elements of architectural drawing in some way. For example, you might like to begin planning a series of drawings, sculptures, paintings etc. which explore your idea through different angles or viewpoints (interior, exterior, elevated, below ground, above ground etc.) or play with distorted perspective, layering of different planes, negative and positive spaces, plans, blue prints, architectural text or legends and so forth.

5. Build upon your working drawings (plans, thumbnails and sketches) through material and process exploration. As mentioned in the previous exercise, avoid simply developing an idea and then creating the work. You will need to show multiple ways of considering your idea via materials and processes (refer to Exploring Ideas through Materials and Processes contained on pages 12 and 13 for additional tips). Please note: if you choose to develop your initial drawings into drawings or use other materials, processes, applications or techniques to reflect an aspect/idea of drawing, it is important that all stages of your development are recorded and documented in your visual diary.

6. Develop your material and process tests into a series of “drawing” outcomes. Document and

present all of your work for assessment.

Submission Requirements:

• 150 – 200 word concept statement outlining your idea (for comprehension of your project’s intentions, it is important to include the statement at the start of your presentation – do not include midway or at the end of your presentation);

• A series of 6-8 “drawing” outcomes or negotiated “drawing” outcomes (the quota of the latter must be approved by your tutor);

• Visual diary work (at least 50 slides) including evidence of idea development, thumbnail drawings, photographs, working drawings, material and process exploration, artist and other research (at least 4 examples of each) and any unresolved outcomes;

• Self-Evaluation.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

32

Additional Web-based Artist Research As well as the images of the artists provided earlier, you may also find the following artists useful for this exercise: Dasha Pliska http://www.fubiz.net/en/2013/07/19/architecture-drawings-2/

Liam O’Connor http://www.liamoconnor.co.uk/ Toba Khedoori http://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/toba-khedoori/ Rachel Khedoori https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/2792-rachel-khedoori Andrea Zittel http://www.zittel.org/ Do Ho Suh http://www.thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/do-ho-suh/ Olafur Eliasson http://www.olafureliasson.net/ Yao Jui-Chung http://www.artecommunications.com/en/com_joomfish_languages/exhibitions/exh2014/ 3433-the-space-that-remains-yao-jui-chung-s-ruins-series-biennale-architettura.html

Olson Kundig – The 5th Façade Project http://www.olsonkundig.com/projects/the-5th-facade-project/ Lebbeus Woods https://www.wired.com/2013/02/lebbeus-woods-conceptual-architect/ You may also enjoy some of these “How To . .. .” videos. Mark Crilly. 2011. How to Draw Backgrounds 2 Point Perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmSg_F4P5yU Mark Crilly. 2011. Colouring Tutorial – Watercolour added to pen and ink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z66dvAOY1I4 Mark Crilly. 2011. How to Draw Backgrounds – 3 Point Perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfHRReALvVc If you are interested in exploring more sculptural methods – you might find the below video engaging. Jeremy Finn. 2013. Building Popsicle Mansion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ept5lAWcmXU Find other artworks or videos and share them with your peers in the discussion room.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

33

ASSESSMENT – Presentation

WORTH: 60% DUE : Refer to Unit Outline for Assessment Due Dates. TO: VAR300 > SUBMIT ASSIGNMENTS Assessment requirements: • One 100-200 word discussion room activity post. • Project 2: Exercise 1 (please include all of the components listed in the

submission requirements)

Your submission must be submitted by the due date. Late submission without any formal communication will attract assessment penalties. Your work will be assessed and a mark and feedback will be provided in the Grade Centre. If this is not received within the two weeks following the submission of your work, contact your tutor.

Good luck with your final submissions. We hope that you have had an enjoyable learning experience in this unit. We appreciate your feedback via the eVALUate system. Look out for the evaluate reminder emails during weeks 10-13.

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

34

Reference List “Allan Ramsay at 300 – Scottish National Gallery” n.d. Plainspeakingart. Accessed October 15, 2015.

https://plainspeakingart.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/allan-ramsay-at-300-scottish-national-gallery- 10-october-2013-to-9-february-2014/

Abraham Ferraro (website). n.d. Accessed January 31, 2019.

http://www.abezart.com/usmqez9beijrhvova70fj2o8wu62ev “Astonomy.” n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed January 13, 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy “Biology.” n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed January 13, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology Cynthia Lin (website) n.d. Accessed January 13, 2015. http://cynthialinartist.com/small-drawings-of-skin de Buitléar, Niall. n.d. Circular. Accessed November 13, 2014. http://nialldebuitlear.com/blog/?p=332 “Draw” n.d. Ann Hamilton Studio (website). Accessed January 31, 2019

http://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/videosound/draw.html “ERA Indicator Descriptors.” 2008. Australian Research Council. Accessed February 12, 2012.

http://archive.arc.gov.au/archive_files/ERA/2009/Key_Documents/Indicator_Descriptors.pdf Hoptman, Laura. 2008. Drawing Now: Eight Propositions. New York: The Museum of Modern Art Kevin Appel Studio (website). n.d. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://kevinappelstudio.com/ongoing/2000/

Los Carpinteros (website).n.d. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://www.loscarpinteros.net/ McDaniel, Craig, and Robertson, Jean. 2010. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art After 1980. New York and

Oxford: Oxford University Press Olivia Knapp (website). n.d.. Accessed January 13, 2015. http://www.oliviaknapp.com/blind/ “Paul Noble - NOBSON: an Endlessly Growing Cosmos” n.d. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Accessed

February 8, 2015. http://www.boijmans.nl/en/10/press/pressitem/461 Petherbridge, Deanna. 2008. “Nailing the Liminal: The Difficulties of Defining Drawing.” In Writing on Drawing :

Essays on Drawing Practice and Research, edited by Garner, Steve, 27-42. Bristol: Intellect. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=361896

“Physics.”n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed January 13, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics “Raumzeichnung (outside/inside)” n.d. Monika Gryzmala. Accessed January 13, 2015. http://www.t-r-a-n-s-i-

t.net/chronology/2016_raumzeichnung.html “Richard Long.” n.d. TATE. Accessed November 2, 2014 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-long-1525 “Richard Serra – Black is the Drawing.” n.d. Axel Vervoordt Gallery. Accessed November 1, 2014. http://www.axel-vervoordt.com/en/gallery/exhibitions/richard-serra--black-is-the-drawing “Richard Serra” n.d. SanFrancisco MOMA on the Go. Accessed January 12, 2015.

http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/421 Rosand, David. 2002. Drawing Acts. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

VAR300 Art Visual Research Study Guide

35

Ruskin, John. 2014. The Elements of Drawing: Three Letters to Beginners. The University of Adelaide:

ebooks@Adelaide. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/r/ruskin/john/drawing/complete.html Sawdon, Phil and Russell Marshall. ed. Hyperdrawing Beyond the Lines of Contemporary Art. London and New

York: I.B. Tauris “Sculpture” n.d. Micah Ganske. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://www.micahganske.com/Sculpture.html “Selected Works” n.d. Laurie Hogin. Accessed January 13, 2015. http://lauriehogin.com/work/ Smith, Terry. 2011. Contemporary Art World Currents. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

“Stellavista – Funtopia 4 La Montana Rusa by Los Carpinteros”. nd. Destiny Clontz Blogspot. Accessed February 8, 2018. http://destinyclontz.blogspot.com.au/2008/03/funtopia-4-la-montana-rusa-by-los.html

“The Gray Tree.” n.d. Piet Mondrian, Biography, Paintings and Quotes. Accessed January 12, 2015.

http://www.piet-mondrian.org/the-gray-tree.jsp The Michelangelo Gallery (website) n.d. Accessed October 20, 2014.

http://www.michelangelo-gallery.com/ TRACEY. 2011. Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art. London: I.B.Tauris.

http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=677105 “Ulrich Vogl.” n.d. ArtPort. Accessed December 18, 2014. http://www.artportlv.org/he/node/155 “Ulrich Vogl” n.d. Kevin Kavanagh Accessed February 8, 2015. http://www.kevinkavanagh.ie/ulrich-vogl/ Vasari, Giorgio. 1991. The Lives of the Artists. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press Weimer, Maryellen. 2014. Developing Students Self-Assessment Skills. Faculty Focus: Manga Publications