Project: Gestalt

Due: , 9:00am (this project is due at the beginning of class so we can critique it in class; if you are late to class, the assignment is late)
At a Glance: Create five black-and-white compositions. See details below.
Working Size: 9 × 12 in. each (this is the paper size, use as much of the paper as you can) (horizontal or vertical)
JPG Size: 1920px at its longest dimension, no larger than 3MB
Submit via: Google Slides and in class

Brief

Searching the internet or magazines, find some objects that have a visual interest for you. Using silhouettes of these objects, create five black-and-white (no gray) compositions that each employ the following:

  • At least two different principles of gestalt:
    • Figure Ground
    • Proximity
    • Similarity (Good Form)
    • Invariance
    • Good Continuation (Continuity)
    • Closure (Reification)
    • Order (Symmetry)
    • Multi-Stability
    • Common Fate
    • Past Experience
  • At least one form of geometric armature:
    • Golden Ratio (1.618:1)
    • Fifths
    • Quarters
    • Thirds
  • One of the following composition formats:
    • Open
    • Closed
    • All over

For example, you may opt to produce the following compositions:

  • Composition 1
    • Gestalt: Invariance and Common Fate
    • Armature: Golden Ratio
    • Composition: All Over
  • Composition 2
    • Gestalt: Proximity and Order (Symmetry)
    • Armature: Thirds
    • Composition: Closed
  • Composition 3
    • Gestalt: Closure (Reification) and Figure Ground
    • Armature: Fifths
    • Composition: Open
  • Composition 4
    • Gestalt: Good Continuation and Proximity
    • Armature: Fourths
    • Composition: Open
  • Composition 5
    • Gestalt: Common Fate and Similarity
    • Armature: Thirds
    • Composition: Closed

You may include and/or alter the interior detail of the objects if you wish. For example, if you select a person’s head, you can just have a black silhouette of their head, or include some details of the face, or change the interior to a pattern. Feel free to enlarge or shrink the silhouetes, rotate them, overlap/combine them, crop them, and so on.

Tips

  • If this is your first time working with acrylic paint, be aware that it dries fairly quickly. That means that if you aren’t using your brush for longer than 30 seconds, put it in your jar of water. Once the paint dries in the bristles, it can be difficult if not impossible to get out and your brush is ruined.
  • If you need to leave your paints and you haven’t used them all, you can preserve them by misting them lightly with a spray bottle and then covering your palette with some plastic wrap. Otherwise, the paint will harden and you cannot reconstitute it.
    • Alternately, you can use your leftover paint on a separate painting, or smear your paint across a piece of paper to use in a collage later. I always have a side painting where I deposit my leftover paint.

Materials

  • 9 × 12 in. paper (sketchbook)
    • Note: the 9 × 12 format does not jibe with the Golden Ratio, so feel free to trim the paper to acccommodate, or draw a rectanglar picture plane within paper that adheres to the ratio
  • Black acrylic paint
  • Brushes
  • Disposable palette
  • Cups or jars for water
  • Rags or paper towels for clean up
  • Soap or shampoo for cleaning brushes
  • Optional:
    • Black paper
    • White acrylic paint
    • Scissors and glue stick for collage

Deliverable

Upload your images to the Google Slides template (see link at top of the page) for this assignment under your name.

Grading

Assignment grades will be based on the following:

Aesthetic Principles (40%)

Student demonstrates evidence that they understand and inventively integrate aesthetic principles.

  • Excellent: Student employs the aesthetic principles addressed in class to create work that is individual and engaging.
  • Average: Student is able to rotely employ the principles addressed in class to create a standard project, but not make it their own.
  • Below Average: Student struggles to demonstrate a grasp of the principles and shows no facility in internalizing the ideas.
Labor and Technique (40%)

Student works fastidiously to apply appropriate techniques to the project and shows a growing facility with those techniques. The student’s labor is evident and ample given the allotted time.

  • Excellent: Student understands demonstrated techniques and nimbly employs them in their work.
  • Average: Student makes some stylistic and technical mistakes by ignoring provided guidance.
  • Below Average: Student repeatedly makes the same mistakes and ignores instructor input and suggestions.
Following Instructions (10%)

The student adheres to the guidelines provided for the course and the assignment. If the project has a particular framework, the student adheres to that framework. If an assignment is to be submitted on a Google Slide, the student does not email the instructor a JPG.

  • Excellent: A detail-oriented student who takes instruction and fastidiously executes it within their work.
  • Average: A student who misses some details because they didn’t read instructions thoroughly or take proper notes when instructions were given.
  • Below Average: Student ignores basic instructions and guidance given for assignments.
Reflection (10%)

Student notes on critiques along with personal reflection on their projects show a growing sense of awareness of how their work can be received and understood.

  • Excellent: Student diligently takes notes during critiques, noting the core concerns of the critics, and expresses their own views thoughtful and honest self assessment.
  • Average: Student’s critique notes address only surface concerns and/or their own self reflection writing is hurried and vague.
  • Below Average: Student does not take good notes and their self assessment is incomplete or dishonest.
On-time Submission

Work that is not present for a synchronous critique, or is too late for an asynchronous critique will lose points under the Reflection category for not having notes from the critique. Work that is submitted late will lose 5 points per 24-hour period that it is late. For example, if an assignment is submitted 5 minutes late, it will lose 5 points. If it is submitted 23 hours late, it will lose 5 points. If it is submitted 25 hours late, it will have lost 10 points total.

Why?

This project is designed to help students solidify their knowledge of and recognize gestalt principles, armatures, and compositional types in art. It is also a hands-on way to explore dot, line, and plane without the complications of texture, color, or other elements of design.

Learning Outcomes Addressed

Spatial Skills

Students will be able to generate, organize and communicate ideas in two-dimensional space using basic principles of color and composition.

Technical Skills

Students will be able to employ various digital and analog techniques to realize and evaluate aesthetic compositions.

Aesthetic Sensibilities

Students will be able to create two-dimensional compositions of varying sensibilities and articulate their appreciation of others’ art.