Modular Unit Repetition

Modular Unit Repetition

Objective: Use toothpicks to create a modular sculpture. Create a series of modular units and combine 20 together to make a free-standing, 3-dimensional form. 

Key Vocabulary: 

Modular: employing or involving a module or modules as the basis of design or construction.

Modular Sculpture: created by joining together standardized units (modules) to form larger, more complex compositions. In some works the units can be subsequently moved, removed and added to – that is, modulated – to create a new work of art, different from the original or ensuing configurations.

Repetition: The Art principle of repetition simply means the reusing of the same or similar elements throughout your design. Repetition of certain art elements in design will bring a clear sense of unity, consistency, and cohesiveness.

Unity: refers to a set of compositional strategies used by an artist to make the parts of the artwork work together as a whole through visual relatedness. Unity always expresses a shared commonality within a painting or sculpture or textile. 

Non-objective art is not meant to look like anything (so don’t turn your toothpicks into a flower or cat!) but it also shouldn’t look like a random hot mess, either! •

ARTIST: Bean Finneran (1947-     ) 

American artist who was born in Cleveland, OH
Their work has featured in numerous exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Crocker Any Museum. 

Attended Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Museum School, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, MA, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA

The constructions are abstract rings, lines, cones, circles but often evoke real things: sea anemones, coral reefs, haystacks or wind-blown grasses.   

“I work with a simple elemental form, a curve made from the most basic natural material, clay. I make and build with hundreds or thousands of these forms. The clay curve connects me to time, the earth, the elements, and human culture.” —Bean Finneran

The sculptures cannot be moved without taking them apart and reconstructing them. 

sculptures are built curve-by-curve and disassembled one by one. 

This process of continual and possible change and transformation connects me to the natural world along with the ordered chaos that comes from organizing thousands upon thousands of individual elements into a form. 

CA Art Standards: 

1.5 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work.

2.1 Solve a visual arts problem that involves the effective use of the elements of art and the principles of design.

3.3 Identify and describe trends in the visual arts and discuss how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence are reflected in selected works of art.

4.4 Articulate the process and rationale for refining and reworking one of their own works of art.

5.0 Develop competencies and creative skills in problem-solving, communication, and management of time and resources that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills.

Project Requirements: 

Sketchbook: Complete observational sketches in your sketchbook. Revisit the work of by artist Sol Lewitt and research the artist Bean Finneran.

Final Project: You will construct 20 of the same modular unit BEFORE combining all 20 into one sculpture. View the modules from several angles as you build. Consider the space created in between the toothpicks. How do light and shadow affect your module?

Students will need a 100 (or more) toothpicks (flat or round) in plain wood. Wood glue ONLY. Hot glue is not allowed as it leaves blobs.  

Sculpture must be at least 4”x4”x4” and be free-standing. 

Can be attached to a base (such as wood, cardboard, or foam core) 

Can be painted one color 

Units should be glued on hard movable surface (book, sketchbook) covered with wax paper. 

Repeated Paper Modules

Repeated Paper Modules 

PROJECT OBJECTIVE: 

Create a repeated Paper Module Sculpture inspired by origami

Fold, curl, twist or crumple paper (magazine pages, printed out photos, maps, book pages, etc.) and create 30-60 of the same form (they can be different sizes). Glue the papers into either a 3D-sculptural form or a relief sculpture on painted cardboard. This piece should emphasize unity/variety and balance.

PRESENTATION: 

Critical to 3-D production, students must consider presentation: 

• Freestanding
• Suspension
• Relief
• Pedestal
• Consider the environment

CA ART STANDARDS

1.5 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work.

2.1 Solve a visual arts problem that involves the effective use of the elements of art and the principles of design.

3.4 Discuss the purposes of art in selected contemporary cultures

4.1 Articulate how personal beliefs, cultural traditions, and current social, economic, and political contexts influence the interpretation of the meaning or message in a work of art.

4.4 Articulate the process and rationale for refining and reworking one of their own works of art.

5.2 Create a work of art that communicates a cross-cultural or universal theme taken from literature or history.

DISCUSSION: 

• Origami historians argue that since the invention of paper is credited to Ts'ai Lun of China in A.D.105, paper folding must have been invented soon after. 
• Paper was then introduced to Japan in the late sixth century by Buddhist monks, and paper folding was brought along with it. 
• In Japan, paper was considered an expensive commodity, and it was used in many aspects of Japanese life, most notably in architecture. 
• Historians claim that origami is definitely a Japanese invention. 
• Regardless of its ultimate origin, Japan is recognized as the country that most fully developed the traditional art of origami.
• The Japanese transmitted their designs via an oral tradition
• Recreational designs being passed from mother to daughter. 
• Because nothing was ever written down, only the simplest designs were kept. 
• The first written instructions appeared in AD 1797 with the publication of the Thousand Crane Folding 
• The name origami was coined in 1880 from the words oru (to fold) and kami (paper). Previously, the art was called orikata ("folded shapes”).

Origami generally involves folding a square piece of paper into a two or three dimensional object. 

Folding paper in origami is typically performed by hand only on a smooth surface, but can include tools: including a scorer, embosser, paper clips and tweezers.

Origami has a strong link to mathematics, and can be seen used in practical solutions such as airbags in vehicles

Origami has been a common subject of copyright issues, as designs have been often stolen and republished.

ARTIST: 

• Richard Sweeney was born in Huddersfield, England in 1984. 
• He discovered a talent for sculpture at Batley School of Art and Design in 2002
• He studied Three Dimensional Design at the Manchester Metropolitan University, 
• He concentrated on the hands-on manipulation of paper to create design models, which ultimately developed into sculptural pieces in their own right.
• Richard’s practice combines the disciplines of design, photography, craft and sculpture, resulting in a varied output of work including graphic design and public sculpture commissions. 
• Richard seeks to maintain an experimental, hands-on approach, utilizing the unique properties of often mundane materials to discover unique sculptural forms. 
• He regularly holds workshops to share his knowledge of paper folding and construction techniques

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS: 

• Create a repeated paper modules sculpture
• Fold, curl, or origami paper (your choice of paper: magazine pages, printed out photos, maps, book pages, etc.) 
• Create min: 50-100 of the same form (they can be different sizes). 
• Sculpture should emphasize unity, variety, and balance.
• Student must consider presentation: suspension, relief or free standing on floor/base