Project 3 Kelly O’Briant 3D Spring 2013
Line to Volume + Reliquary
Project Overview
You will create a sculptural form that explores the idea of “reliquary” using the studio fundamentals of space, line and volume. This form must create a relationship with the found object by addressing not just what the object is, but what it could mean or represent, and by expressing the object’s importance.
Objectives
Formal:To introduce the idea of “reliquary” and to understand and develop implied spatial volumes from a vocabulary of points, lines and planes.
Technical:To gain experience safely using hand tools for forming wire and to use line quality effectively to express three-dimensional volume.
Conceptual:to create a piece that protects or speaks to the value of a particular object by way of acting as reliquary for that object.
Requirements
Your sculptural form will be made with wire and will function as a reliquary for your found object, thus elevating or conveying the value/importance of the object. A reliquary is a container that houses an important relic or object. Using wire, create a form that will interact with your object. This form must create a relationship with the found object by addressing not just what the object is, but what it could mean or represent, and by expressing the object’s importance.
Discussion and Considerations:
A point, pulled in any direction, will create a line. A line pulled in any direction will create a plane. A plane pulled in any direction will create a volume. Just as the lines and shading of a 2-D drawing can create implied space, wire can create implied 3-D planes and volume.
Consider what happens when you place your object, say it’s an egg, in the context of a reliquary. Could it speak to the viewer about nourishment, birth, fragility, or even abandonment? But it would also imply that it’s not just the object you value, but it’s meaning conveyed through the actual container/reliquary. Does the meaning of your object change when it’s placed in the reliquary? How will you represent this change in your wire sculpture, and how will the wire and the object interact?
How will you make the translation from drawing to three-dimensional sculpture? What three-dimensional factors were not at issue in the two-dimensional drawing? Do the wire lines have thickness/thinness?
How would you express weight in a line drawing? Similarly, how would you express weight or the physical qualities of an object using line? What are the similarities and differences between drawing in space and with wire and drawing with a pencil on a two-dimensional surface?
How can you create implied planes and volumes with wire?
How can you create a dialogue between the found object and the wire “container”?
How does scale affect the idea or meaning and the relationship to the viewer?
How does the sculptures orientation in space affect the meaning and relationship to the viewer?
What could the object mean to you or society at large? How can you represent this in your wire sculpture?
Is there continuity as our eyes move around the form?
It may be necessary to use knots to hold wire together. If you used knots, did you incorporate them into your design or did they appear simply where convenient? How did you consider "line quality" in your final design?
Reading
187-198 (Lines, Planes, Volume and Mass)
140-147 (critique)
162-170 (meaning/content)
Sketchbook
1. Minimum of 5 sketches of different initial ideas.
2. Minimum of 5 sketches of different ways to construct your final reliquary. Each sketch mustinclude expressive detailed line drawings. Ex. darker shaded areas to represent where the wire is thicker or more concentrated/lighter areas where less wire is present. Where should the greatest density of line occur? Structurally and compositionally, where should heavier wire be used?
Think about how you will create volume with line and how your object will fit into the volume.
3. Provide evidence of all your research (print-outs from magazines/books, online resources, etc.) about reliquaries and artists using line to create 3 dimensional volume. (At least two pages)
4. Supplemental materials (notes on readings, notes about techniques used and materials, class notes, notes that show you considered the discussion/considerations raised above).
5. In your sketchbook you should also provide notes/thoughts as evidence that you read the required textbook reading by including thoughts and notes on this material…not just the vocab.
6. Documentation of the process and the final piece.
Assessment
Technical
Skill with material, satisfaction of problem requirements, craftsmanship, quality
Work Process
Evidence of reworking, work ethic, research, processing of feedback, self-critique, understanding context of assignment, Sketches/Sources
Conceptual
Invention, comprehension of ideas presented in project, communication of those ideas in the work and your intent, rational for prostheses selection
Critique
Attendance and punctuality, Constructive participation, Presentation of work,Participation
Vocabulary
Line, orientation, direction, continuity, actual lines, implied lines, plane, volume, negative space, positive space, space, form, subject, content, critique, objective criticism, subjective criticism, descriptive critique, cause-and-effect critique (formal analysis), compare/contrast critique, stereotype, cliché, analogy, simile, metaphor, metaphorical thinking, aesthetics, reliquary, sacred.
Materials
Wire (limited supply provided), pliers and needle nosed pliers, wire cutters, gloves (optional), other wire or your choice of various gages. For example: from ACE Hardware: (cloths16ga, v100’ #51634) (thick), wire (stovpipe20, ca50’- galv#51638) (thin). No glue or tape allowed
Schedule:
W, 6 Critique of project 2 Relief, (intro to project 3 if time)
M, 11 Intro. to project 3, work time, individual meetings
W, 13 work day
M, 18 work day
W, 20 work day
M, 25 work day
W, 27 Critique of project 3, intro to project 4