ILLUS-3778

MOVABLE ARTISTS BOOKS: SHAPE SHIFTERS AND TRANSFORMERS

Faculty: Andrea Dezsö

Course Level: Junior, Senior, 5th Year

3 CREDITS

There is something magical about opening a seemingly ordinary book only to see a gloriously three dimensional structure burst forth from its pages. Upon closing the book, the large, complex sculptural form folds seamlessly back into flatness. In this studio students will learn to create such structures: movable artists books that pop up, unfold, transform into sculptures, theaters, installations, interactive experiences. Students will learn the basics of paper engineering and experiment with various pop-up structures as they create their own original, movable artists books. Even though our exploration will begin with structural, material, and formal investigation, students will be encouraged to treat form and content as an interdependent whole, as they envision their increasingly complex independent projects. Demonstrations, hands-on in-class work and homework, independent projects, discussions, research, introduction to digital fabrication; historic and contemporary examples in the expanded field from movable books to large scale art installations; artists talks, visits to RISD CoWorks, Nature Lab, and the Special Collections of Fleet Library will be part of our inquiry.

Capacity: 15

Registration Restriction: Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. 

Semester Offered: Fall