In the studio

Today was my first, long anticipated. studio class, Design Fundamentals I, at the Ringling College of Art and Design, Continuing Studies Program. Seven of us gathered to spend the first of four Sunday afternoons learning from Jeff Schwartz, a professor in the Core Studies area. He went over the syllabus -- explaining that we would be learning about communicating in back and white, without words, using the ideas of line, shape, and composition. I enjoyed his lecture on design principles and design elements, in which he engaged the class by asking for our examples, as he elaborated on concepts listed on the syllabus -- just what I was interested in!

Then came the assignments - not only finding and annotating 6 examples of design, 3 good, 3 bad, for next week, but getting out our required materials and preparing 5 white boards (8 by 10) using black paper cutouts for different design conditions. The first two were to be

done in class, the complete set by next Sunday. First, using a 4 inch black square, cut and arrange the black paper so it is not longer recognizable as a square, second, with the same 4 inch square, cut and arrange so that the design an be moved back into the original square easily.

Wow! This was the hard stuff! Any and all creative thoughts flew form my head, and I stared long and hard at a blank white board and 4 inch cutout of black paper. All around me others

were busy clipping and gluing, and I could glimpse interesting and artistic creations. I tried using my sketch-book, but I couldn't see how the ideas from my head would conform to the assignment specs. FInally I just started cutting shapes, quite regular and repetitive-- I wan't even sure which of the two assignments I was fulfilling. Next task, using rubber cement to commit to one particular arrangement rather than constantly arranging and rearranging. I got rubber cement EVERYWHERE - except under the corners of my more ambitious shapes! Again, a sly glance at my neighbors suggested that they had mastered the 4-year-old techniques of cut-and paste! The professor, Jeff, moved from student to student, commenting, encouraging, and, in my case, moving the cut-ots slightly to demonstrate how a slightly different arrangement looked much better. He didn't evaluate, but used a few of the concepts he had introduced. I did hear him suggest to the man to my right that he might like to retry one of the bo

ards after he had completed all the assignments.

So, here are my first attempts :

The square that isn't, and

the square that recombines.

The remaining 3 boards are much more difficult -- I must demonstrate figure-ground and black-white dominance. I'll show you them when I've completed them!

Yes, the experience lived up to my expectations -- and was harder than I'd imagined!