Sunday, September 29, 2013

Elements of Design Part Two

Elements of Design Part Two

    This week I will explain how the second half of the elements of design relate to a sculpture I found online (I'm not sure what the name of the sculpture is or who made it but I am not taking any credit for it). The first principal I'll look at is balance. There is some asymetrical balance in the peice but it is very hard to recognize, the high point on the top right of the sculpture is balanced by the loop that occurs on the left of the sculture making the amount of mass sort of even on the left and right. Movement can sometimes be easier seen in sculptures and in this peice the movement is how your eye follows the pattern of the sculpture and scans it like a racecar on a track. There isn't much rythm in the peice but this was most likely intended by the artist as the free flowing, random (not so much random after looking at the elements of design) form is amusing to look at and just examine. Unity is very hard to comprehend but a simple example in this peice is how it is all connected and the loop is connected, somewhat like an infinity symbol. The peice is proportionaly large compared to many similar sculptures and this was most likely intended as it seems as if it is displayed in some park in order to get attention. The bas relief tequnique was not used in this peice but it is a tequnique in which the artist carves into an object to make images somewhat like how egyptians carved into stone in pyramids to make images. The whole peice is also free standing. The in-ground support gives the illusion that the sclupture is just balancing on it's own or that it is just free standing. High relief, the tequnique of sculture in which the sculpted objects stand out more than fifty percent of their natural position, is also not a tequnique used in this peice. That is the rest of the elements of design and how they relate to the above peice.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Elements of Design

Elements of Design

    This week I've decided to explain how a few elements and principles of design relate to my sculpture. There isn't much color in the mechanism itself but I plan to make the dragon that sits on top colorful to beautifuly contrast the pure white. Line can be seen in curved form in the CAM's and straight lines can be seen in the walls. Line's are essential to mechansims and must be precise or it won't work properly. There isn't a defined form at the moment as the peices are unassembled but when they are assembled they will take the shape of a rectangular cube. Value, or the general lightness or darkness in a design element, can be seen in the sense of color. The value of color for the mechanism is very light for example. At the moment there isn't much posotive or negative space but when the three dimensional model is finished the hollow center will create a good deal of negative space and the walls and CAM's will create the posotive space. Since the model is rather small it will not occupy much space in general. In terms of scale the sculpture is both small and large, as it is a larger scale model of my original paper model but a smaller scale model of some larger mechanisms. Pattern can be seen with the CAM's as they alternate orientation on the rod. This is just a few of the elements and how they relate to my sculpture.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Coming Together

Coming Together
    This is my foam core flying dragon kinetic sculpture which is slowly coming together. I've got the cam working and moving and it's looking nice so far. I really think that this foam core model is going to be a lot sturdier than the previous paper model. I really want to see the finished project and see it work like it should. I should be done with the structure by next week and I will try to have the dragon "flying" by next Friday.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Foam Core Flying Dragon


    This week I finished the paper flying dragon model. I didn't get the dragon to work however as the paper wasn't sturdy enough to do what I was trying to have it do. My teacher then brought up the idea that I should recreate the model with foam core, a more sturdy replacement. I'm currently in the process of recreating the original paper model now and making it on a little larger scale. It's coming out well so far and I'm just hoping I can get the dragon working this time around.

Flying Dragon

                              Flying Dragon
 This is my first project in my new "Kinetic Sculpture" class. The dragon will eventually move up and down at certain parts of it's body to give the sense that it's flying. I'll eventually put cotton for clouds to sort of hide the mechanism and give it a nicer look. I like how its coming out so far and am really amazed at how well this all paper sculpture works. I'm really excited to get it done and working.