Hands-Off Art Paintings

Submitted by: Stephen Watson, at The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Lesson Plan: "Hands-Off"
for ART 210: Drawing II

 

Description:
Part 1) Design and create a machine, or compose a scenario that includes the weather in some way.
Part 2) Design and create a machine, or compose a scenario that includes oblivious people creating drawings for you.

 

Objectives:

Understand how the process of creating art changes meaning.

Experiment

Understand correlations between processes and meanings.
Experiment with chance operations.
Use compromise and cooperation by adapting to limiting procedures.

 

Execution:
Required Materials:
Rives BFK paper; all other materials are at your discretion.
Your finished art must be on Rives BFK paper. Rives is a heavy-duty multimedia paper that is resistant to damage and warping. It is available by clicking on the links above or at most art supplies stores. You will need 22" x 30" (55.9 x 76.2 cm) sheets that costs $4-5. To save money, use scrap or other inexpensive paper to experiment and test your ideas; only move on to Rives when you know your idea is effective. There is no specified size for your paper. Your design will help guide you to the size you will need. Your drawing may take up a full 22" x 30" (55.9 x 76.2 cm) sheet or perhaps move across three full sheets. It is possible your drawing will fill a full sheet of paper. You may crop a drawing originally created on a full sheet down to a smaller size. You may also want to precut your paper into 16 5x7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) pages. The sky is the limit.

 

Student work by Tanika: Drawing II. She placed ice and drops of ink on paper. The ice was allowed to melt.		Student work by Martin: Drawing II. He put colored dye and water in an ice cube tray. He had the ice melt and drip down a string. The dripping colored ice kept loading a suspended paint brush and spattered paint as the wind blew the brush.

 

General Process Guidelines:

You will not be creating a drawing with your hands. You will be creating it using other objects or processes. You will create a a mechanism that creates your art through a natural process. The mechanism should be able to create the art even in your absence. You are not allowed to pause or restart the process. The process must not be interrupted from the start to the finish of your art.

 

You must be able to repeat the process. The mechanism you use should be reusable, although you may need to make some repairs. If the teacher was to ask you to make several more prints from the mechanism you used, you should be able to do it.

 

The mechanism you use should not be dangerous in any way. There should be no risk to anyone either when your mechanism is in the process of creating your art or when you set up the mechanism. Your mechanism must not damage public or private property. If you wish, you may damage your own private property, however.

 

Specific Guidelines for Part 1: The Weather

You will be simulating the weather through natural mechanisms. You may not use any artificial devices such as fans to create wind. You may use a fan to experiment on the process prior to creating your mechanism, however. You can also examine the use of temperature, lights, precipitation, wind, etc. on the creation of your art. See some of the sample work on this page for examples.

 

If your project is very sensitive to the weather, you will want to pay attention to the weather forecast. You can use the National Weather Service, Accuweather, or Intellicast to see the forecast near you. This means you will need to plan ahead.

 

Specific Guidelines for Part 2: Incognizant Persons

You are going to be using an assistant for this part of the lesson. They must not know that they are being used as an assistant. You are not allowed to direct them what to do or entice them to do any of the work. You are trying to capture a drawing, not create one. Another option is using this assistant to operate some sort of device as long as they are not aware they are using it to create an art project. They may passively be involved. For example, you could attach a piece of paper on a tire on their car and then retrieve it after they have taken the car for a ride. They won't know that they were assisting you with creating art by driving their car. You are not allowed to drive the car yourself. No suggestions or directions may be given to the driver (assistant) or any others who may be present.

 

General Drawing Guidelines:

The final product is the goal, not the mechanism in which you create your final product. An interesting and fascinating mechanism or scenario doesn't mean you will have an interesting and fascinating image. Your art should indicate the process you used in some way. Art that was created by wind and looks like it was created by wind is preferable to art that has no visual relationship to wind.

 

Examples:

 

 

Student work by Kathryn, ART 210: Drawing I.

The student created photosensitive paper using spinach and rubbing alcohol. They covered the paper with a photograph and set the paper out in the sun to expose.

 

 

Student work by Nicole, ART 210: Drawing II.

This student attached seven markers onto the bottom of a door, which bled onto the paper until the door was opened by an incognizant person.

Critique:

After you experiment for a week, there will be an "in-progress" critique. You will present at least eight interesting drawings. Four of the experiments will be weather related and the other four will be from an incognizant person. To save resources, these experimental images will be on cheaper paper. Rives BFK paper will be used for the final project. The most interesting processes and art will be discussed in the critique. This will help you decide what mechanism to use in your final project.

 

You will have a week to create your final project. You should have two weather and two incognizant people images. They should be carefully chosen by the student among several. In other words, make 5-10 images from the process and then select the best images of the 10 for presentation. Finally, the best one of all four will be chosen.