Unit 2

Unit 2 project

In this unit you will be using the primary material of wood. Moving from the knowledge and skills that you have accrued through the resolution of the Unit 1 final project, you will be asked to make a sculptural object, this time using wood and one additional material.

Expectations

The second material should emphasize a harmonious or dissonant relationship to wood. Considering some of wood's inherent properties, such as: hardness, grain, coarseness, the source of the timber, engineering of the material (especially plywood, consider how plywood is constructed) or engineering in terms of industrial tree farms, the common and uncommon uses of the material, commercial and artistic uses and manipulations of wood, questions of the sustainability of the material, of trees and other ideas about wood that may come up in your research, you should choose a second material that has a strong polar or harmonious relationship with wood.

Perhaps in comparison to hardness, you choose something soft. Or, in comparison to source, you choose another material also from that location. Perhaps you may choose another material that replicates grain or is made in plies like plywood to work in harmony with plywood, etc. There are a vast number of ways to address the way that two materials will relate to each other. Be creative in your approach while focusing on questions of compatibility and dissonance between the two. Choose one or the other.

You will be using some simple joining methods with the wood such as: screws, nails, wood glue or tension to hold them together. The presence of these joining materials can be very obvious, overstated, or hidden, depending on your aesthetic goals. Everything that is seen will be considered by the viewer and so I strongly urge you to consider what you choose to have seen!

Material Expectations

As already stated, you will work with Wood and one other material. You will also be working fairly large scale. The objects should have a human body relationship in size. As with the cardboard piece, if it is larger than doorways, you may need to make it collapsible or in parts that can be disassembled for moving. We will discuss this more in class.

Additionally, you may use joining techniques that leave the hardware visible. Paint and stains may not be necessary for your project but if you wish to use them, the student must provide such materials. We will have a limited amount of wood available for each student. In some cases, it may not be enough to complete your project. Other students may have far more than they need. I encourage you to negotiate materials with other students before you purchase additional materials. However, it may be necessary to purchase additional materials from your own funds to complete the project. If you use found or scrap wood you must show it to ME or a shop technician before cutting it with any power tools. There are often nails, staples or other hardware left in scrap boards and we want to protect you and the equipment from damage.

Tom Friedman

Consider his juxtapositions of material - soap and pubic hair - what comes to mind? Clean / dirty? The natural state of your shower? How do these materials harmonize or how do they polarize?

singular forms sometimes repeated exhibition

Artists

Dan Flavin

Robert Irwin

Both working with light. Flavin working in flourescent light and interruption of the light while Irwin is using fabric to create translucent walls and passageways. Could The wood be a form to create shapes in relationship to light? Could the wood function as frames for other materials like fabric?

Donald Judd

Boxes repeated with subtle variation of color or light and shade related to their orientation in relationship to one another.

Bruce Nauman

Embedded material, creating a framework and then coating it in another material but revealing the structure and the framework.

Robert Gober

Interesting juxtapositions and material choices or combinations.

James Lee Byars

A form sited in a space where it harmonizes completely.

Wolfgang Laib

Process based explorations for materials. Here he has hand collected Hazelnut pollen. He spent hours and days collecting this material to make these small mounds. There are lots

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Mary Miss early works

Mayumi Sarai

Robert Smithson Check out his non-site pieces - consider the juxtapositions, the containers, the organization of the 2 materials.

Patrick Dougherty willow and natural saplings.

Roy F. Staab Wooden stilted frames in water - specifically sited