tina art project 4

Art Project #4: Seeing the Spaces Between Materials required: Pencil, and Paper

Look for negative shapes in the world around you. These

shapes should come from the spaces you observe between or

around actual objects, rather than shapes you invent.

Part 1: On one sheet of unlined 8.5 × 11-inch paper, draw 10

small, interesting negative shapes that you observe.

Remember, these are not silhouettes (outlines) of objects, but

the spaces enclosed by or between forms.

Part 2: Choose the most unique or interesting shape from Part

1. On a second sheet of unlined 8.5 × 11-inch paper, enlarge

and alter that shape to create a new composition that fills the

page.

Keep composition in mind as you enlarge, alter, and place your

negative shape.

Seeing The Spaces Between… Our natural way of seeing, or perceiving,

is to focus on ‘things’—identifiable

objects—and to disregard or not notice

the space which surrounds them. We

call this distinction between the object

and the background Positive and

Negative Space, or Figure and Ground.

It takes a perceptual shift to be able to

focus our eyes and mind on what ‘isn’t

there’…

When an object or shape appears to

reach out into space or has openings

through it, we begin to see areas that

are framed and activated as their own

shapes of interesting Negative Space…

The first two drawings here are of a

Mountain Goat and the whole

Mountain Goat’s silhouette…

…but this last one is of

interesting Negative Shapes

that we can see created

between the animal’s body

parts.

Part 1: Student Examples

Student Examples: Part 1 and 2

Art Project #4: Seeing the Spaces Between Materials required: Pencil, and Paper

Look for negative shapes in the world around you. These

shapes should come from the spaces you observe between or

around actual objects, rather than shapes you invent.

Part 1: On one sheet of unlined 8.5 × 11-inch paper, draw 10

small, interesting negative shapes that you observe.

Remember, these are not silhouettes (outlines) of objects, but

the spaces enclosed by or between forms.

Part 2: Choose the most unique or interesting shape from Part

1. On a second sheet of unlined 8.5 × 11-inch paper, enlarge

and alter that shape to create a new composition that fills the

page.

Keep composition in mind as you enlarge, alter, and place your

negative shape.

Seeing The Spaces Between… Our natural way of seeing, or perceiving,

is to focus on ‘things’—identifiable

objects—and to disregard or not notice

the space which surrounds them. We

call this distinction between the object

and the background Positive and

Negative Space, or Figure and Ground.

It takes a perceptual shift to be able to

focus our eyes and mind on what ‘isn’t

there’…

When an object or shape appears to

reach out into space or has openings

through it, we begin to see areas that

are framed and activated as their own

shapes of interesting Negative Space…

The first two drawings here are of a

Mountain Goat and the whole

Mountain Goat’s silhouette…

…but this last one is of

interesting Negative Shapes

that we can see created

between the animal’s body

parts.

Part 1: Student Examples

Student Examples: Part 1 and 2