Inside Outside, In and Out

One of the first exercises I use to create meaning is a simple demonstration using small squares to demonstrate boundaries or the limits of a drawn square boundary. Students begin by measuring and cutting a group of black squares of various sizes to place inside the boundary line, then outside and finally in and out. They are encouraged to explore the minimum number and size of black squares they can use to establish the "square".  Then they erase the drawn.

Design Class FA08

Working with the thumbnails from  the building meaning worksheet, the student developed folding books, selecting the most powerful designs, choosing facing pages and ordering the images. They made two maquettes. One small model and one scale model.  The second project was transformation, building a visual timeline.

 

Monday

Trying to edit the draft of three chapters for packet deadline. ... I guess it is normal, but still disturbing that one day the writing makes sense, the next it feels like idiocy and once in a while, it seems almost important.. and then redundant.... ugh. I subbed all day today for two photo classes. I was so engrossed in the American Masters piece on Curtis that I didn't notice the kids sneaking out. He really was single minded in the extreme. I have been obsessive, but lately I feel more burnt out. My design class completed a small but significant step generating some linear designs. I asked them to finish the three steps in one 2.5 hour class to see if they could just move through the process. For the very first time all of the students completed the worksheets and did a fabulous job on the designs. Some need to be cleaned up a bit, but since it was a deadline piece, I wanted to see if they could get it done! Really amazing. This week we begin shapes.

Illustrator

 

Linear analysis of organic form

"Art is literacy of the soul." Elliot Eisner

In an Art History class, one of my students handed in his mandala saying that he wasn't sure if he had done it correctly. I replied that it looked like he had made his design to show his love of nature and the balance of the cycles of the seasons. He looked at me skeptically...

"How do you know that?" he said.

"I read your mandala image. Is that what you wanted me to see?"

"Yes..." He looked at me and then quite abruptly said "This is what I want to do, I want to make images that speak who I am."

Introduction

Welcome to Meaning by Design. For the last four years I have been teaching design in a community college. I found that as much as I understand and recognize the elements and principles of design at work in the transmission of meaning, that it is still one of the hardest things for the students. Memorizing a list of words or attaching the words to designs and artwork that have no meaning for the students seemed to produce results that were not lasting. I became committed to designing a unit that would lead from introduction of language to clear demonstration of the students' ability to communicate meaning through the use of simple shapes and lines.

Every semester, I streamlined the number of completed projects. I began to see ways to bring students through acquisition of specific skills and language by defining and deepening each section of project development.I broke the most successful projects into a series of smaller projects the lead to the completion of a original creative design.