Vastu 200

FINALLY ANOTHER WONDERFUL POST!

2008-10-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Yo wonderful students,
Welcome back to the blog. So below are a series of photos describing the lost wax casting process. Most of this is sort of behind the scenes work that I will be doing but the actual pouring of the bronze we all will be doing together, like a big family. It's actually a very interesting process so take a look at the photos, if you have any questions or if you want to come in while I am putting it all together just come on by B-66(the really messy building with the kilns, I'm in the other room though) not that I actually expect anyone to come, but I would be a jerk not to invite. Make sure you do your reading and get ready for a super exciting time next class when we start painting!!!

You're All Artists. Wow.

2008-09-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

Alright so here are the photos of the wonderful installation(s) you did. If anything this shows that you should all change your majors to Visual Arts and if nothing else that you have great "work ethic." Lets do it again real soon. NICE WORK!

p.s. Please keep reading for you homework stuff...

Printmaking Notes!!!

2008-09-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

Woodcut
Woodcut
Lithography
Lithography
Intaglio
Intaglio
History of printing
Woodblock printing AD 200
Movable type 1040 (1450)
Intaglio 1430s
Printing press 1439
Lithography 1796
Chromolithography 1837
Rotary press 1843
Mimeograph 1876
Flexography 1873s
Offset press 1903
Screen-printing 1907
Dye-sublimation 1957
Photocopier 1960s
Pad printing 1960s
Laser printer 1969
Dot matrix printer 1970
Thermal printer
Inkjet printer 1976
Digital press 1993
3D printing 1986

Intaglio
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint. Collographs may also be printed as intaglio plates. To print an intaglio plate ink is applied to the surface and then rubbed with tarlatan cloth to remove most of the excess. The final smooth wipe is often done with newspaper or old public phone book pages, leaving ink only in the incisions. A damp piece of paper is placed on top and the plate and paper are run through a printing press that, through pressure, transfers the ink from the recesses of the plate to the paper.

Intaglio techniques are often combined on a plate. For example Rembrandt's prints are referred to as "etchings" for convenience, but very often they have engraving and drypoint work as well, and sometimes no actual etching at all.

Intaglio engraving, as a method of making prints, was invented in Germany by the 1430s, well after the woodcut print. Engraving had been used by goldsmiths to decorate metalwork, including armour, musical instruments and religious objects since ancient times, and the niello technique, which involved rubbing an alloy into the lines to give a contrasting colour, also goes back to late antiquity. It has been suggested that goldsmiths began to print impressions of their work to record the design, and that printmaking developed from that.

Martin Schongauer was one of the earliest known artists to exploit the copper-engraving technique, and Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous intaglio artists. Italian and Netherlandish engraving began slightly after the Germans, but were well developed by 1500. Drypoint and etching were also German inventions of the fifteenth century, probably by the Housebook Master and Daniel Hopfer respectively.. Today intaglio engraving is largely used for currency, banknotes, passports and occasionally for high-value postage stamps.

Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio printing plate is engraved (engraving), etched (etching) or stippled (mezzotint) to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images. Lithography uses oil or fat and gum arabic to divide the smooth surface into hydrophobic regions which accept the ink, and hydrophilic regions which reject it and thus become the background. Invented by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder in 1796,[1][2] it can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or another suitable material. Most books, indeed all types of high-volume text, are now printed using offset lithography, the most common form of printing production. The word "lithography" also refers to photolithography, a microfabrication technique used to make integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems, although those techniques have more in common with etching than with lithography.

Wood Cut
Woodcut is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). In Europe beechwood was most commonly used; in Japan, a special type of cherry wood was used.

Woodcut first appeared in ancient China, where it is called Banhua, but has been most widely practised in Japan and Europe. In China, from the 6th century onwards, woodcut icons became popular in Buddhist texts. Since the 10th century, woodcut pictures illustrated some Chinese literature, and some banknotes.

The art reached a high level of technical and artistic development in East Asia and Iran. In Japan woodblock printing is called "moku hanga", and was introduced in the seventeenth century for both books and art. The popular "floating world" genre of ukiyo-e originated in the second half of the seventeenth century, with prints in monocrome or two colours. Sometimes these were hand-coloured after printing. Later prints with many colours were developed. Japanese woodcut became a major artistic form, although at the time it was accorded a much lower status than painting. It continued to develop through to the twentieth century.

Okay wow you made it through all those wonderful notes. Great now what? Well you do your intaglio prints and get your etch on. You do some relief printing and you get your lithography drawing done. Do that do that do that! Remember that you need to have your drawing done on the aluminum plate by monday night so I can process it on Tuesday (I'm so nice). Alright so go go go!!! Oh and you have a quiz next week on all this wonderful material. If you have any questions and can't get a hold of Gary just email me and I can try to help you through anything if you have any problems or questions. My email is: niketwenty@gmail.com Good luck!!!

Welcome to VASTU200

2008-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo,

Welcome the the VASTU200 Blog. This is the site where you can get the information you need to succeed in life. Neither Gary or I(Levi) are "bloggers" and this is a first for me but I will try to make this resource as easy to use as possible. This blog will consist of essential notes for the class that you will need to review before coming to class every week, yes every week. Brutal. It will have a basic overview of the section we are studying in class as well as some images showing examples of techniques and some key words you will either need to look up or just study. Feel free to email me or Gary with any questions or if anything on this little blog isn't clear.

Levi

Drawing- A Fundemental of Life

2008-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Overview
Drawing in its simplest sense is the portrayal of line on a surface. Drawing is a crucial and fundamental branch in the art tree. It may even be a root. That's how important it is.

Drawing has been designed on everything from cave walls and cliffs to canvas and paper. Prehistoric drawings done on the interior of Altamira Caves, and in Lascaux, France are some of the earliest known works displaying drawing. Normally these ancient drawings displayed animals and religious ideals. Ancient Egyptians also drew by using ink on papyrus and pottery. Greek and Romans saw drawing as an art form, but it was primarily used as a preparatory practice for making other art forms such as sculpture and architecture. Drawings from the Renaissance demonstrate a more artistic approach in examples from artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo. In the 19th and 20th centuries drawing was made using a variety of techniques and materials due to evolution and progress.
Materials
Graphite
An excavated mineral created by a thermal metamorphism of coal usually found in pencils
Charcoal
Vine- Made by burning sticks to varied densities for specific uses
Compressed- Powdered charcoal compressed together with a gum binder
Powdered- Fine dust charcoal used to create large tones
Pastel
Usually pigment in a stick form mixed with a binder such as oil and gum
Color Pencil

Pigment usually mixed with wax as a binder surrounded by wood for support
Crayon
Pigment mixed with wax
Eraser
Rubber used to remove marks

Techniques
Hatching
Repetitive lines, close in proximity used to create tone
Stippling
Repetitive dots, close in proximity used to create tone
Negative Space
Focusing on the space surrounding an object
Chiaroscuro
Use of tone and contrast to show dimension also known as modeling
Foreshortening
An illusion showing an object shorter than it really is because it is angled toward the viewer.

Also please visit wikipedia.com and search Design Principles as well as Elements of Art. They should include:

Principles

Balance

Proportion

Rhythm

Emphasis

Unity

Elements

Line
Color
Texture
Shape
Form
Space
Value

Go right now. GO GO GO if you don't do it right now you never will!! wikipedia.com wikipedia.com