talk

This is one of the artists that I showed in class two weeks ago--the surreal images set in suburbia??
Should be a great talk and I highly recommend you all go...

Gregory Crewdson

Artist Lecture: Wednesday, October 29, 6:00 p.m.

Massart/Pozen Center for Interrelated Media

Renowned photographer Gregory Crewdson is known for his elaborately staged, surreal scenes of American homes and neighborhoods. His work is dramatic and almost cinematic. The works’ moody and enigmatic atmospheres often impart to viewers a sense of impending crisis. Yet, combined with a suggested narrative, each allows the viewers to develop and project their own theories about the inscrutable drama within the work.

For information, email galleryinfo@massart.edu or call the automated information line at (617) 879-7333.

registration info`

Be aware that, as of today, we now have ONE PLACE where students can go to access ALL information regarding the registration process. To access it, open the Studio Foundation website:

sf.massart.edu

click on the top section in the center titled "Important Registration Information for 1st Year Students". This will open a window with four choices:

Studio Electives Open to First Year Students - This is a PDF file that lists all studio elective choices

Drawing II Descriptions - This is a PDF file that lists all Drawing II choices and equivalents

Schedule of Available Courses, Spring 2009 - This is a direct link to the Registrars course listings on the MassArt website (same as www.massart.edu/registration)

Studio Foundation Requirements - REALLY HELPFUL - This is a PDF file that shows the Foundation Year required classes, along with a download for a worksheet that will help them layout their proposed semester making it easier on advising day.

Visual Analysis Principles

Just to be clear about what should be covered in the Visual Analysis

Fundamental Elements:
Line
Shape
Color
Value
Texture
Form
Space

Compositional Principles:
UNITY & VARIETY
WEIGHT & GRAVITY
BALANCE
SCALE
EMPHASIS
MOVEMENT

These are listed on the last page of your syllabus. They are the principles we covered in the assignments.

Advanced Photoshop handout

You can download an advanced photoshop handout, that goes over color correction, etc. here:
http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/
Session4_handout.pdf

PAPER

ARGH! It seems the bookstore is out of the 8.5 x 11 Premium Luster Paper, despite being asked to have 400 boxes in stock by last week. So, you can try to purchase it at Dicks Art Supply or Hunts PHoto in Kenmore Square, or maybe Best Buy (I'd call these places first to make sure they have it and are open). Otherwise, you can use another good quality paper. Please do not purchase a matt paper, as the 4880 printer's inks do not work well on matt papers.
Good luck! See you Tuesday

Assignment and info on Printing

Hi guys
Leah brought to my attention that the labs would be closed on Monday night. Which means that your assignments need to be done by Thursday in order to use the Epson printers in the SF labs. That seems an onerous schedule. So. The new requirement re: printing is as follows.
The best scenario is that you use the SF Labs excellent 4880 printers.
The second scenario is that you use a good printer that you have access to elsewhere. If you try to use the printers in CAC, you must print out the workflow that Veronique showed you online before you go over there, so that the monitors are not inundated with questions that can simply be answered by that workflow sheet.
Here is where you find that worksheet: Go to http://sf.massart.edu/docs/vl1/
download the document named: Printing-Epson-4880-Rough-Draft.pdf
In any case you must use a high quality paper--Epson Premium Luster Photo paper.


Also, please do NOT forget to print out your color assignments that were due this week. You do not have to print those out on the high quality Epson Premium Luster paper, but the prints should be decent and the color should look like what you intended.

Have a good holiday!
Jane
Here is the full assignment

Seeing & Perception
Assignment: 1c: Only photography
Materials: digital camera, computer, printer
Fundamentals: composition (again)

Processes: photography, printing (this assignment is intended to continue to refine your ability to work with the technical aspects of photography (freezing or capturing motion, depth of field, etc. by intentionally setting your aperture, shutter, and focal point). Do not use flash.

1. photograph something that can only be seen photographically (on the blog
2. consider composition primarily when photographing—identify one fundamental element of composition that your image uses as well as what quality/feeling that compositional approach gives your image
3. Next shoot that same subject but with the opposite or contrasting compositional choice. For example, you might shoot a tree moving in the wind with a lot of motion, and create one image that reflects harmony and one image that reflects variety.
4. Print your strongest 2 images (one of each contrasting compositional choice) in the highest quality print you can make—using Epson Luster paper in 8.5 x 11, which you can get from the bookstore. Ideally you will use the lab’s Epson 4880, which is a very high quality printer for photographers. Make sure you refresh your memory of color settings/profiles to get the best print you can. You make need to make 3-5 work prints before your final print looks exactly as you want it. Please keep those work prints and bring to class.
5. Write a short paragraph about your images and how your use of the contrasting extremes of composition shifted the meaning of the images or what you were trying to communicate
6. Make sure to keep the original files of the images in a folder on your laptop, hard drive, or flash, as you will include them in your digital portfolio, due the last week of class.

And...

here is the color cheat sheet I showed you in class:
http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/ColorGuide.pdf

email if you have any problems downloading any of these documents, or with the assignment.

Practices of Looking

Here is a quick summary of the chapter of Practices of Looking that you need to read for next week.  Please read actively.  This means using techniques like underlining, taking notes, outlining the content, and further researching images, artists, or ideas that are mentioned that you might not fully understand.  Please come to class next week with 3 questions/thoughts that you have prepared for class discussion.

Chapter 1: Practices of Looking: Images, Power, and Politics

Chapter 1 introduces many of the central themes of the book: the social roles of images in contemporary culture, the concept of representation, the relationship of images and ideology, the use of semiotics to interpret images, and the ways that societies award value to images. This Chapter introduces the general argument that the diverse and complex array of images we encounter in our everyday lives, from paintings to news images to digital representations, are subject to the dynamics of social power and ideology, and that images acquire meaning and value according to context and use. These concepts are explored through analysis of the concept of representation (from still-life painting to Magritte’s playful commentaries on images), the myth of photographic truth (through such images as Robert Frank’s photographs), the display of fine art (such as Vincent Van Gogh's paintings, viewed in museums or reproduced on shopping bags and puzzles), and the circulation of images through different social contexts (the appearance of O.J. Simpson's mug shot on the covers of Time and Newsweek). The role of image icons, ranging from the news image icon of the student stopping a tank in Tiananmen Square to the iconic images of Madonnas (from the history of painting to contemporary photographs and advertising to Madonna the performer), is analyzed, as well as the work by artists such as Andy Warhol who commented on such icons. This Chapter introduces the concept that practices of looking are not passive acts of consumption or interpretation, but that we as viewers negotiate the meanings and uses assigned to the images that fill our everyday lives.

color -- assign for 10/6

Here is the color powerpoint online for your reference: http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/ppts/color7.htm

Here is the full assignment:

COMMUNICATING COLOR, due 10/7


Concept: In today’s complex, and accelerated lifestyle, the use of color plays an important role in simplifying and communicating information all over the world. We can see this everywhere we turn, from color-coded levels of parking garages, to the use of primary colors to define political parties or flags, to color combinations used in product marketing. Colors are used for traditional historical reasons, to draw attention, to create emphasis, to simplify complexity, to create personality, etc.

Objectives: The goal of this project is to work with basic color theory and practice, but also to explore the use of color as a way to communicate ideas and meaning in contemporary art and culture. Our aim is to understand and explore the cultural, political and social use of color, by carefully choosing hues, values and shapes, and arranging them in a certain way to express meaning or symbolize a message.

Guidelines: Using the 10 words listed below; transform the meaning of these 10 words into color codes, using visual language.

1. Choose a set of 3 solid colors that best represents each word. Choose a set of 3 basic shapes you want to work with-- Do not use pictorial shapes, stick to non-representational forms
2. Using Photoshop, compose a 5” x 7” 72 dpi image using a combination of three hard-edge abstract shapes. Use 3 layers (with the background being one of the shapes)
3. Avoid narrative symbolism, instead use colors to evoke feeling and meaning
4. Utilize the organizational principles from previous lesson to change the composition to reflect each word
5. When composing, consider the color context of each composition; such as political, emotional, national, cultural, geographical…. Change the colors of each shape to reflect each word.
6. Post each of these images to your blog (include the word with each image)
7. They will be printed in class next week as time allows.

• Autumn
• Massart
• Iraq
• calm
• Renaissance
• Delicious
• Fever
• New
• Foreceful
• Your name here________


Read: Practices of Looking, Chapter 1 for next week. Here is an online pdf: www.oup.co.uk/pdf/bt/looking/pol-chapter01.pdf
Unfortunately it does not have the images, so if you have lost the handout from class you will need to research the images on the web as you read. We will discuss it in class.

Here is the vocabulary that applies to this week’s assignment.
* COLOR THEORY PHYSICS OF / CHEMISTRY OF / PSYCHOLOGY OF / PHYSIOLOGY OF
* COLOR & LIGHT SYSTEMS ADDITIVE [RGB] / SUBTRACTIVE [CMYK] / COLOR WHEEL
DEFINING COLOR HUE / VALUE / INTENSITY / SATURATION / CHROMA / SHADE / TINT / TONE / TEMPERATURE
* COLOR SYSTEMS MONOCHROMATIC / ANALOGOUS / COMPLIMENTARY / SPLIT COMPLIMENTARY / TRIDAIC /CHROMATIC
* COLOR COMBINATIONS DISHARMONY / COLOR DIESTRIBUTION / WEIGHT AND BALANCE / EMPHASIS OR FOCAL POINT / COLOR KEYS
* COLOR COMMUNICATION CONTRAST / EMOTION / SYMBOL
* COLOR INTERACTION BEZOLD EFFECT / COLOR SUBTRACTION & ADDITION / VALUE CHANGE

experiment assign due 9/30

The assignment this week

1. Look at the powerpoint on the principles of composition for you to review before working on your assignment:
http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/ppts/2form.htm

2. Make sure your camera as an option for aperture priority and shutter priority or a manual setting. Choose an ISO 200 or less. Make sure your white balance is set to auto. Figure out how to use the manual focus setting on your camera. For a refresher download the powerpoint that Stephanie and I showed you in class today: http://sf.massart.edu/tech-recitations/vl1-handouts and download the files under the Digital Photography heading.
Or
Take one of the cameras we learned on in class from our SF cage. The cameras cannot be taken out overnight but are available during evening lab hours. Also, AVMS (3rd floor Tower) has other models of cameras that you can take out for 2-3 days. Please be clear that sometimes all their cameras are sometimes checked out, so leave time to account for this just in case.

3. Choose one subject to stick with for all your experimentation this week. This can be anything you like: a person, something from nature, a building, a piece of garbage, a book, whatever... The narrower the subject you choose, the more you are forced to great experimentation with your approach to the principles of composition and the technical use of your camera (aperture, shutter, etc.)

4. Shoot this object 100 times. Experiment with depth of field and motion choices. Shoot 50 images of one extreme of your principle of composition, shoot 50 of of the other extreme of composition.

5. choose the 6-10 images that you feel are the most successful. Resize them in Photoshop to 3" x 5" @ 72 dpi .jpgs

6. Create your own blog in blogger. Email me the URL to jmarsching@massart.edu

7. Post your images to your blog

8. Write a few short sentences about why you chose your subject, how you worked with your compositional element.

Opening at school, Tuesday!

an interesting application of line, shape, collage

exhibition details below...

Juan Angel Chávez

"Speaker Project"

Sept. 23 - Nov. 22

Reception: Tues. Sept. 23 from 6 to 8 PM

assignment

If you need a refresher on thinking about the fundamentals of line/shape and their definitions with different examples from what I showed in class this week, go to these urls:
http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/ppts/4shape.htm
http://www.janemarsching.com/massart/ppts/3line.htm

Also, here is the assignment due for next week:

Seeing & Perception

Assignment: 1b Flickr lookalike

Materials: found paper, fickr photograph, collage tools

Fundamentals: Line, shape

Processes: internet search, collage

4. search flickr.com using a keyword or tag
5. choose one of the images that you are attracted to (one with some complexity, details, a lot of information is ideal)
6. identify how your flickr photograph uses line/shape to give a quality/feeing to the image
7. find at least 10 different kinds of paper (from the recycling, newspapers, Xeroxes, candy wrappers, cereal boxes, shampoo labels, posters, etc)—do not use magazines
8. get a posterboard weight 8” x 10” piece of white or colored paper, an archival glue stick, a metal ruler, an xacto knife, and spare paper
9. recreate your flikr photograph using your found papers paying attention primarily to the use of line/shape to give meaning/feeling/quality to the image—try to use as many of your ten found papers as you can. emphasize and draw out the use of line and shape in the picture.

Bring to class next week
your digital camera, if you have one, and its instruction booklet. If you do not have one, you may need to download it during class to learn how to use the manual options for focus, aperture, shutter, and white balance. Also bring any cord you have to connect your camera to the computer so that you can download images short during class. Finally, bring your hard drive, flash drive, or laptop for saving digital images.

here

I've set up a blog for our class. We'll use it for various things:
keeping in touch with each other
finding out from others what went on in class (just post a question)
posting images and statements for critique
downloading class notes of various kinds
etc.

check it out a couple times a week. save this blog in your bookmarks
go to your email and accept the invitation to join the blog as an author and now you will be able to post questions, images, statements, etc. to the blog any time you want