3D Breadth Assignment #7

3D Gesture Drawing - Cross-Contour Wire Sculpture

Areas of focus: line quality, expressive movement, emphasis

Goal: Experiment with the use of line to define form: use copper wire, aluminum wire, stovepipe wire, or other linear materials to create a cross-contour sculpture that can be naturalistic or non objective (resource: Calder’s Circus video)

Process:

1. Idea development / research: Do a series of gesture drawings. Have a friend pose for you and do a 30 second, 1 minute, and 2 minute drawings. Give your friend prompts to inspire expressionistic poses, for example: you just found out a friend died, you’ve fallen head over heels in love, a pop quiz has just been announced, your team just blew game, you just swallowed poison, etc. Experiment with your line quality and media. Use sharpie, charcoal, ink, a paint brush taped to a long stick so you have less control. Your goal is to capture gesture and expression, not necessarily perfection of form or proportion.

Questions to ask for the “Cross-Contour Wire Sculpture”:

• How many kinds of line can I make by varying things like pressure, speed, control/lack of, direction, degree of curve, length, width, value, media / tool?
• How does the appearance of the line suggest movement?
• How does the appearance of the lines add expressive quality to the work?

Also ask yourself how the other elements of art can be used to give a certain feel to your work:

• What type of shape/forms (open vs closed, angular vs freeform, etc)?
• What type of textures (rough, smooth, fuzzy, spiky, slick, crinkly, etc)?
• What type of color (bright, muted, natural, artificial, cool, warm, etc)?
• How can you manipulate the elements to give a certain feel to your work by using design principles like repetition, rhythm, movement, balance, scale, emphasis, variety/unity, contrast?
1. What is your work about? Try to tell a story through this sculpture. What is going on with your subject? Aim for expressive content, not just physical movement.
2. You can work from your gesture sketches from class, or you may make additional sketches if you do not have a pose that fits the story you want to tell.
3. Experiment with the different type of wire available. You are unlikely to be able to use one continuous length of wire for the entire piece, you’ll probably be connecting different sections together - you’ll need to figure out how to do this in a purposeful, aesthetic way. Consider how the piece will be displayed. Is it a relief sculpture? If so, what will you attach it to so it can be hung on the wall. Is it free standing? If so, what will you use for a base and how will you affix the wire to the base and make it stand? Will it hang? If so, how will you suspend it?
4. Work with your teacher once your media has been decided to establish an appropriate working size for this assignment.