PERSONAL MAP
Bioethical issues: Research 3 topics that you can sink your teeth into.
Select one that you are passionate about and think abstractly about the subject matter. Make a list of literal images as will as abstract images like color, texture, value, line type and thickness as well as shapes; organic vs. geometric. These images will be used in your personal map.
Confused about abstract images. What color is angry? What line conveys love? Can one symbol represent another idea?
Abortion
Transplantation http://www.beep.ac.uk/content/77.0.html
Stem cell research http://www.buzzle.com/articles/bioethical-issues.html
GOAL: The goals of this assignment are to learn to develop metaphors for personal ideas and to explore advanced techniques available to your in Photoshop. The image will be constructed in layers and will 50% of the imagery must be personally made. It can include some historical or current photographic/scanned imagery and some linear or graphical imagery. The result will be a large-scale inkjet print (or series of medium-sized prints).
OBJECTIVES: Students will learn to:
· Brainstorm conceptual and Bioethical issues
· Identify art elements that represent those concepts.
· Utilize elements of art that represent individual feelings and emotions concerning their issue.
· Create a digital image in Photoshop that represents an issue that they are passionate about.
· Identify linear or graphical elements that will tie the project together.
MOTIVATIONAL PROCEDURE:
· Students will begin working in a group to brainstorm concepts that individuals are passionate about such as your dreams, desires, fears, fascinations, passions, political issues, etc.
· Students will select one idea that they are passionate about and come up with shapes, colors and textures that represent that idea or feeling they get from the issue.
· Students will select adjectives that represent the issues that they are passionate about and come up with shapes, colors and textures that represent that idea or feeling they get from the issue.
· With all this information, students will research images that could identify their idea. Students may use images of their own that they brought from home or photographed.
SUBJECT MATTER: For subject matter you should pick a personal issue to explore such as your dreams, desires, fears, fascinations, passions, political issues, etc.
· These are elements that make you an individual and are not readily apparent from the more practical things that identify you such as how you look or what you like to do.
· Develop visual symbols and metaphors for these issues, do research on the topic and begin to collect imagery to use.
· Consider the power of juxtaposition of different images and the meaning that is created by their proximity. For instance, using a scan of a fur coat with a fox head has different associations today than it did in the ‘30s.
CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT: For your graphic elements research different types of diagrams:
· You might look in government documents, hospital records (EEG, X-ray, sonograms), NASA documents, weather charts, reflexology, phrenology, blue print, aerial photograph, historical documents, etc.
· Do some research to find the right linear/graphical element for you.
· Perhaps you are just interested in a topic or phenomena and could do research that will turn up some interesting diagram. Look in the physics/ general science section of the library. Brainstorm using lists in your sketchbook to create connections between these types of forms and information about yourself.
FINAL FORM: The final form should utilize many different layers which can work together as one large image (at least 16x20”), or be presented as a series, but in either case it has to work aesthetically as well as conceptually. Examples of the possible construction of the piece:
· There could be a background layer that holds textures/ colors that could work separately as an abstract composition or it could consist of a larger photo or fragment of a photo. ( or you could deny the idea of background)
· There could be an intermediate layer or series of layers that could involve more recognizable imagery that is meaningful to you and your concept. You can use metaphorical images that you photograph or perhaps photos from your family history. If needed you can appropriate archetypical (well known as an image or type of image) from published sources that represent an emotional/ spiritual/ etc. aspect of yourself or period of time but don’t use other artist’s photos unless you need to quote them as a cultural source.
· Be careful not to make it look like a scrapbook page or a collage and create space as in your previous projects.
· Thirdly there needs to be graphical data type of elements that give varied meaning to what is found elsewhere in the image. All of these layers should work together to imply content without being too artificial in their relationships. Consider colors and the expressive message that it implies.
· Make the FORM of your image support the idea:
o an example could be one of a larger shape above a smaller shape that can evoke an idea of danger, weight or fear.
o Arranging your compositional elements in this way could help evoke the feeling you are after rather than having you spell it out with text or literary illustration.
o Think about Unity…maybe leaving out elements that are not essential or not compelling as visual sources.
