[Art-is INDEX]    [Syllabus]
Art-is: Form?
See also:  [Art Materials]
           [Art Technique]
           [Art Terms]
           [Art THINGS] (sort of a catch-all)
 

On this page:  {What IS Form?}
                                             

What IS Form?
There is something and then we do something to it.

What if the form is a piece of paper, and
the action is to draw on it?

What if we make (or try to make) the same 
drawing on a slab of clay? On an iced cake? On ...

The form that we choose brings a lot of baggage
with it; consider:

MATERIALS (examples)

  an oil painting        --vs--    a paint-box-water colours 
  on canvas                        painting on yellow craft paper

  a marble sculpture     --vs --   a paper-mache' sculpture

  a detailed photograph  --vs--    a quickly pasted collage


SCALE (examples)

  a drawing 90" high by 40"  --vs--   a small drawing
  wide (230cm x 100cm)

  a picture that is 12" by 12"  --vs--  the exact same picture
  (30cm x 30cm)                         (or nearly) but 36" x 36"
                                        (100cm x 100cm)

GEOMETRY (examples)

   a square       --vs--    a rectangle

   a square       --vs--    a circle

   a progression  --vs---   a scattered (but directed)
                            distribution

   an ARRAY       --vs--    a scattered distribution


SUBJECT (examples)

  a person struggling    --vs--    a humorous thing
  emotionally               

  a building

Experiment:  There are two experiments that we need to do:

1) Try to make (at least) two things in each of the above 
   categories (materials, scale, geometry, subject) the two 
   things should be SIMILAR. As if they are having a 
   "conversation". For example, let's say you make two 
   art works of an elephan -- one is a very carefully drawn 
   picture and the other is "blockily" sculpted out of 
   modeling clay.

2) Make (at least) two things that APPEAR very different, 
   but to YOU they have something in common. For example, 
   your Aunt Frisbe *loves* daisys and the circus. So, 
   you might draw a picture of a daisy and elephant and
   then arrange them in a "dia-rama".
        
Critique!!!
    Show
    Talk
    Ask
  (or not)