De Stijl Evaluation

De Stijl Evaluation

After looking at the art movement ‘De Stijl’ and finding out about the Artist Gerrit Rietveld and his red and blue chair. We then were asked to make a copy of his chair. We had to decide we wanted to do a 1:3 or 1:4 chair. A 1:3 is one third of the actual size and 1:4 is a scale model. We had to be aware of the size/measurements otherwise the chair would look weird. I used a pencil and a ruler to measure out the different parts of the chair I had to be aware the legs and the arms to the chair has to be the same size. I did find this tricky because it did involve a lot of thinking and maths since it was a geometric chair. I’d say for the first lesson doing this I was finding it hard especially since we all had to do it independently. After I had drawn out my pieces I had to cut them out using a cutting knife I had to be aware of where I was cutting and how I was using the knife. I used a ruler to help me cut out the different pieces. I’d say measuring the seat and the top/back of the chair was easy because the top/back has to be a lot thinner than the seat cause the seat had to be thicker.

When it came to assembling the chair this was also another aspect I found tricky because this involved the hot glue gun. When I was gluing each part I was looking at the person sitting next me and how they were putting their chair together.  This then helped me put my chair together, the fiddly bits were putting the legs/arms together considering there was more than one of them and they all looked identical. Having said this it did cause a problem when I was gluing one of the legs to the chair I accidently spread the glue and it came onto my fingers now since the hot glue gone was really hot it did hurt my finger this made me a little paranoid. I then had the urge to just get it done.

When painting the chair I found this part the easiest/ in some way tricky because referring back to the artist Gerrit Rietveld he only used four colours (red, blue, black and yellow). I used two brushes to paint my chair a thick brush for the top/back and for the seat and a small brush for the legs. It was quite hard because the chair had so many parts to it so I had to be careful of where and what part of the chair I put the chair on. I did manage to paint my chair successfully however I didn’t put the yellow parts which were at the ends of the arms to the chair and the parts which made up the legs. I know myself if I took time/ more care when making this chair I could have made a better replica of the chair which had straight edges.

 

 

 

 

Art Nouveau Evaluation

Art Nouveau Chair

When I first received the assignment brief my thoughts were that it’s going to be tricky considering the many aspect we had to look into whilst making a chairs such as the measurements, ergonomics and the theme Art Nouveau. I first found out what it was about whilst looking at images from the internet I found out it consisted of stylised flowers, leaves, roots. I decided to look for Art Nouveau pattern especially looking at the flowers/curvy shapes and particularly the flower pattern which was a heart shape containing two daffodils combined together. In my mind I knew I wanted my chair to have a heart shape but I also thought I wouldn’t be able to make a complicated chair with too many tricky bits that I will have to cut out.

 

When I started making my chair it was hard to cut out the heart shapes especially to make sure I cut through the thick cardboard and not make my lines look rigid. After I cut one side of the heart I then traced it again on cardboard so it would look identical and cut it out. I then used a glue gun to fix the two pieces together I found this to be tricky because I had to be aware of where I was putting the glue. I then decided the heart needed support so I cut two strips of cardboard and glued it on to the back of the heart. I decided to use modrock because since it wasn’t my first time using it I knew it was a strong material to work with. I cut different strips of modrock dipped them into warm water one by one; took the excess water out making sure it wasn’t too soggy, then applied it to the heart. I knew I had to make this strong so I added two layers of modrock.

 

Next I made the seat this consisted of two piece of thick cardboard which I cut into rectangles and glued together I then wanted a rim around it so I cut two long pieces with fitted the width of the rectangle and two short pieces with fitted the length of the rectangle. I glued them onto the seat, in my mind I knew since the top part of my chair was heavy the seat has to be equally as heavy so I applied the mudrock in the same way as I did to the heart, combining the two strips supporting the heart to the seat. I decided to take my chair home so I could finish making the legs and modrocking it, then painting my chair. When it came to what colour I wanted to paint my chair I had a lot of colour ideas first I was thinking of doing my chair dark green/light green but then I thought most people will do this so I decided to paint my chair a dark pink with shades of pink. The next day I changed my mind again and decided to paint it a dark purple with a lighter purple on the heart to make it stand out. I was pleased with the way it looked but I felt the whole process of making my chair was rushed, if I took time making my chair then I know for sure I could have came up with a better design.

Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. The son of a pastor bought up in a religious and culturedatmosphere. Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence, between 1860 and 1880 when he finally decided to become an artist.

My favourite painting is The Starry Night, Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in an Asylum at Saint-Remy in 1889.The reason why I like this painting is because it has so many different elements of art put in to one picture. The composition firstly the way it has 3 plans to it the cypress in the first plan, the village in the second plan and the sky in the 3rd plan. The use of swirls and lines used for the sky makes it look really moving. The shades of colours such as the blues merged together to represent spirit and the white/yellow used to slowly express the sun, considering the fact yellow is a hot colour so referring to temperature. Also if you refer to the colour wheel the colours create a sense of harmony between cold colours and a contrast between the complimentary colours. The focus on the light within the picture the moon and stars create light across the sky but it doesnt spread the light across the ground.

 

I found Vincent Van Gogh's portrait paintings interesting aswell espically this painting Self-Protrait in Front of the Easel (Paris early 1888.)The use of different brushstrokes and different shades of colour used to give the face a sense of feeling. The brushstrokes on the beard using different shades of brown/brown and painting in different directions really makes it look realistic.The tonal areas such as the eyelids, side bottom part of the nose, inner parts of his ear really made then stands out. The white highlight used on the lips, forhead and parts of his beard.