Concentration Project:

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Concentration Project The Concentration project
is structured to emulate the way an advanced art
student or practicing artist usually works. In
this project, painters have the opportunity to
pursue individual interests while working
independently. They are encouraged to work in
depth, and pursue ideas, subject, media, or
approach.
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Through the Concentration Project, students are
encouraged to create and express visual ideas and
to evaluate the worth and quality of what they
produce. The project is designed not only to
promote the ability to create high quality art
works but also to help students make a commitment
to an extended exploration of an area of
interest.
Students are encouraged to go beyond the choice
of commercially promoted imagery and explore
topics relevant to their personal cultures and
belief systems. They are also challenged to
develop specific technical abilities in
traditional and contemporary realms. Your
commitment to your concentration provides an
opportunity for self-education,
self-actualization and self-confirmation.
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A mere collection of assignments completed with
no coherence or direction is probably not a
concentration. Works that are overly general,
un-ambitious or uninspired are not good
concentration projects. Another poor
concentration project is a compilation of
paintings organized after the fact. It is best
to correspond to the concept proposed in your
written purpose statement.
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On the other hand, good concentration projects
are much more varied. For example, a successful
commitment to the concentration might involve the
following a students self-determined interest,
research into other artists with similar
interests, and enough instructor guidance to
narrow the conceptual process involved.
The concentration process is so defined that the
resulting artwork is to some extent
theory-driven, which allows for a greater variety
of visual twists and turns as the student follows
the theoretical path initially before him or her.
The art works created during the concentration
project should be kept in a chronological order
so that the evolution and progress is evident.
The order should clarify the intent of the
concentration.
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Course Lesson Plans 6week3 Drawing and
Painting Studio 3-1 Concentration Concept
The concentration project is structured to
emulate the way an advanced art student or
practicing artist usually works. In this
process, artists have the opportunity to pursue
individual interests while working independently.
Artists work in depth, and pursue ideas,
subject, media, or approach. The first task is
to try to identify the parameters of the
concentration. This can not merely be a
collection of assignments completed with no
coherence or direction. Nor should it be overly
general, unambitious, uninspired, or
non-corresponding to the concentration concept
proposed. Catalysts Repeat, Juxtapose,
Combine, Animate Studio Good concentration
projects are much more varied and therefore
difficult to categorize. For example, a
successful commitment to the concentration might
involve the following A students
self-determined interest or research into other
artists with similar interests. The
concentration process is so defined that the
resulting artwork is to some extent
theory-driven, which allows for a greater variety
of visual twists and turns as the theoretical
path evolves. Examples include Concentration
based on domestic animals Concentration
still-life documentary of the making of
cheese Concentration portrait studying different
angles of light upon a subject Concentration base
d on scenes from nature Concentration of
distortions of the figure in a variety of
ways Concentration showing a continuity of design
and decoration accomplished through the
utilization of sophisticated firing
processes Concentration within an imaginative
realm with focus on composition, color, illusion,
light, and narrative effects Concentration on the
human condition influenced by personal
emotions The maximum number of finished paintings
is 20. There is no minimum required, because the
range of possible concentrations is so
wide. Materials Acrylic paint, Brushes,
Extruders, Found objects
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The next slide contains works from an interesting
concentration on domestic animals. All the works
are singular viewpoints, some drawn
representational accurate and some considerably
stylized. Caricature of animals in human ways
(anthropomorphism) seems to be the goal. The
initial process involves several academic frontal
studies of animals. The students commentary
describes a concentration based on farm animal,
and proclaims, I love cows. The statement
would ideally have been more specific about the
means and the goal of the works. Still, as a
concentration it shows a definite point of view
and a selected focus. This is a clever artist,
working graphically in an illustrational manner.
As such, the concept is far superior to just
Drawings of Animals.
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Another direct concentration is shown in the next
slide. This concentration consists of still life
objects drawn with minimal pretension. The
written commentary clarifies the intent The
subject is cheeseexplored through depictions of
the process in which it is created. An
influence listed is the artist Duchamp. The
student comments, the subject of cheese was
achieved randomly, and was appealing because
the origin of cheese has always struck me as
absurd. The drawings are textural, with added
cursive text both contribute to the simplistic,
sincere nature of the works. Subject, media, and
approach work wee together.
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Another impressive concentration is shown next.
Derived from photographs, these drawings show the
influence of modern media and technology. The
student here is working with persuasive technical
control on a narrow range of ideas presumably
adapted from the photomedia process. The
commentary describes the problem as different
angles of light upon a subject.
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A more decorative and sensual set of drawings is
shown next. One of the most commonly described
concentrations is the category scenes from
nature. Here both the viewpoint and the visual
language used in these nature slides are narrow
enough to define a concentration in this case a
good one. We follow the works moving from
observation to abstraction as the subject matter
is increasingly expanded, cropped, and
simplified, and color is intensified and released
from the boundaries of edge. Unlike many
nature concentrations, these works show
direction, intent, and artistic growth.
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An even more personal, expressive distortion of
organic forms is shown next as, a concentration
of distortions of the figure in a variety of
ways. The influence of Surrealism is often
evident in the artwork of students at this age.
The Surrealist legacy allows for almost any
juxtaposition of shapes and proportion, which
some students use as an easy our. More sincere
students can be shown that Surrealist exemplars
demand a high degree of facility and media
control. This student has used this approach in
a personal way and also as a challenge to advance
his or her visual communication skills. This
fairly routine category of concentration is
focused, personalized, and developed into a
persuasive body of work.
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A concentration should be artist-directed with
specific intent, so that a well-conceived line of
investigation using a technical process can be as
conceptually coherent as a non-technical
concentration. The next slide shows a continuity
of design and decoration accomplished through the
utilization of sophisticated firing processes, is
convincing on both the conceptual and technical
levels. The slide shows evidence of a
concentration project described as the creation
of function objects, which maintain a
correlation between surface and design.
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The next slide shows a different type of
sophistication. Heres an artist working in an
imaginative real who mixes media with confidence
and control to accomplish composition, color,
illusion, light, and narrative effects. The art
works were strong in ambition and accomplishment.
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Next is another imaginative concentration in
which the student spends the time and effort to
carry the intent through to impressive results.
The intent, art dealing with the human
condition, is general in nature, but later the
student modifies the approach as being influenced
by personal emotionsdirectly. The
concentration utilizes a rich narrative style,
similar to German Expressionist art.
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Next is a view of human nature, although style
and content do not seem particularly well
matched. The works done mostly in a linear,
modernist style show potential, and one feels the
student has serious intent
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Next is a concentration similar to the last
slide, but much more defined and developed.
Multiple figures are reduced to a single torso,
repeated and abstracted in a broken manner. In a
clear exposition the student defines the
concentration My concentration began with three
graphite drawings of a mans torso. As I started
to work with other mediums the structure of the
mans chest transformed into a tree trunk or
other abstract forms. Working with batik and
Xeroxes of the graphite drawings I moved into
printmaking and collage.
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