ART 3711 SCULPTURE: Materials and Methods

Anthony Castronovo, Professor
The University of Florida
Fall Semester 2009

Meeting Times: T R 5-7 (3:00-6:00 PM)
Office: 327a FAD
Telephone: 392-0201 ext.?
e-mail: castronovo@ufl.edu
Office Hours: T R 11-11:30 AM or by appointment

PROJECT #3: TEXTILE TECTONICS


Part of this project is architectural, part is sculptural, and part is technical innovation within a broad interpretation of the textile traditions. Here are some quotes and concepts for you to think about and apply to the project.


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      “Tectonics depends upon a very few fundamental aspects of the physical world. One, of course, is gravity and the physics that goes with it. Gravity affects what we build and the ground beneath it. Another aspect is the structure of the materials we have, or make, and a third is the way we put those materials together. How and why we do it affects the way they appear as the surfaces that bound space.”--Carles Valhonrat in “Tectonics Considered” Perspecta 24.


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      Textile, texture and textbook share the same Latin root, textus, which means “woven thing. ” Knowing this enlarges our understanding of literature, where lines of words connect like warp and weft to make a fabric of meaning and helps us realize the importance of structure in a tactile object.” Tim McCreight, metalsmith and publisher


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      There are two types of construction: one deals with compression and the other with tension.


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      In Studies in Tectonic Culture, Kenneth Frampton writes that Gottfried Semper, a nineteenth century architectural critic, believed that the archetypal origin of all built form was textile production, with the knot serving as the primordial joint. Frampton elaborates that Semper’s hypotheses led to his theory that clothing is seen as extending itself across time into forms of large-scale enclosure. For Semper, and others, the screen-like walls in permanent construction related back to nomadic tent forms. Terracotta facing and even brickwork were the tectonic transpositions of woven fabric. Louis Sullivan, a Chicago School architect, compared the facing of clay or shale as “a nap-like texture suggesting an Anatolian rug” and Frank Lloyd Wright, in turn, wrote that “A building may be lightly fabricated, complete, of mono-material-literally woven into a pattern or design as was the oriental rug.”


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      Wright sometimes referred to himself as the “weaver”. He carried his interest in textiles into the design and construction of his “textile block houses” which are made of cast cement blocks.


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      The written, the woven, and the tectonic fused in the anti-figurative cultures (Celtic, Japanese, Islamic) to a point where there is little distinction between the forms.


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      In architecture, the framework consists of studs, the verticals; the infill is the wall, which is screen-like, and runs horizontally.


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      In weaving, or similar techniques, line (the warp and the weft) leads to structure through the process of tectonics and manufacture. Woven materials and building materials are made up of fibers. Textiles can be made from the compression and interlocking of fibers such as in felt. Fibers can be organic (animal, vegetable, and mineral) and/or synthetic (nylon, polyesters).


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      Textile tectonics juxtaposes:

The soft and the hard The flexible and the rigid The liquid and the solid




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      Walls are skins. The landscape is a rug, the skin of the earth.


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Dictionary: Tectonic: Adj.

1.pertaining to building or construction; constructive; architectural.

2a. pertaining to the structure of the earth’s crust.

2b. referring to the forces or conditions within the earth that cause movements of the crust.

2c. designating the results of such movements: tectonic valleys

Latin: Tectonicus < Greek tektonikos pertaining to construction = tekton-, s. of tekton carpenter, craftsman + ikos - ic

adv. tectonically.

tectonics n.

1.the branch of geology that studies structural features of regional extent for the clues they provide regarding diastrophism and its causes.

2.the art of assembling the materials used in construction; the constructive arts.


PROCEDURE: In this project you must accomplish four tasks in this order:

The Mantra: Form-finding through the self-organization of materials. Just keep repeating it when you get lost and confused.


1.
Investigate a number of materials (10) and their properties in order to invent or find one “fiber” with which to work. Bring these materials (10) and your investigations and experiments (10) with them to class for discussion and evaluation. The emphasis is on investigation and invention both in the selection of the fiber and in how you put the fibers together.
  
2.
Design/propose a sculpture and process that relates to Textile Form and to Tectonic Structure using the “fiber” of your choice. There should be a clear relationship between structure, form, process, and material. Present this proposal in both drawing and written form.

3.
Complete sculpture by due date.


4.
In addition you must complete the readings, presentations, and write responses to the readings and materials.


RESEARCH:

Videos: Christo. If you miss either video during class, you must borrow it from the library and watch outside of class then write a response.

Ann Hamilton, ART 21, AFA Library

Slides: artists working within a broad definition of textile tectonics. If you miss the slide presentations, you must view the slides on your own and write a response.


Artists
Stephanie Metz | Sarah Wagner | Sherri Lynn Wood | Hyperbolic Crochet

Readings: Many short readings.


For Thursday Nov. 12:


Eva Hesse by Elizabeth Sussman, Yale University Press. 2002. “Letting It Go as It Will” pp.17-39

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Abbeville, NY,1982.

Serra, Richard, Verb List. Copied from The New Avant Garde, Muller, 1972.

“Jana Sterbak: Materials and Their Truth” Ch. 20 of Sculpture in the Age of Doubt by Thomas McEvilley, SVA,1991.




For Tues Nov. 17

“Biodynamics” from Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies, AD Magazine. Willey Academy. (NA1.A563v.74.no.3) pp.92-95.

Jana Sterbak Oasis, from New material as new media : the Fabric Workshop and Museum

Jackie Winsor, by Dean Sobel, Milwaukee Art Museum, 1991. Essay “Neither About Art Nor About Life…” by John Yau pp.19-32.






For Thurs. Nov. 19

Ann Hamilton San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Essay: “As firmament a flame: The work of Ann Hamilton” by Susan Stewart, pp.16-26

El Anatsui: Out of West Africa by Robert Preece, Sculpture Magazine, July/Aug 2006, pp.35-39

Tectonics Considered, Carles Vallhonrat, Perspecta 24, pgs 122-135

Bibliography and Other Readings: (Optional)

Kojiro, Juichiro, Forms in Japan, 1963 ( Eng.1965) Tokyo. p. 19

*Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies, AD Magazine. Willey Academy. (NA1.A563v.74.no.3) “Frei Otto” pp.19-25; “Biodynamics” pp.92-95.

*“Knit a Building, Weave a Bike:’ Extreme Textiles’ Come of Age” by Kenneth Chang. Science Times, NYT, 4/12/2005, p. D1,D3.

*“Life as a Tightrope: Weave, Walk and Fall” by Ginger Danto. NYT, Arts & Leisure, p.1 and p25.

Toshiko Mori, ed. Immaterial/Ultramaterial. Architecture, Design, and Materials.

Harvard Design School, Brazilier, 2002. Selected excerpts.

Nitschke, Gunter, From Shinto to Ando, Academy Editions, 1993, pp.95-96.

Krauss, Rosalind, Richard Serra, Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, pp. 19-20

Benezra, Neal, Martin Puryear, The Art Institute of Chicago, Thames & Hudson, 1991, pp 27-29.

Goldsworthy, Andy, Hand to Earth, Abrams, 1993, pp. 163-165,

Kahn, Louis. “Materials” from Between Silence and Light, John Lobell, Shambala c.1979, p. 40.

Princenthal, Nancy, Ann Hamilton: whitecloth, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT, 1999,pp36-39

Amato, Ivan, Stuff, 1997, Avon Books, NY, pp.96,97,98,99

Lippard, Lucy, Changing, “Eccentric Abstraction.”

Tunga 1977-1997. Exhibition catalogue, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, NY, 1998. Read pp.95-103 “Everything Simultaneously Presen” by Guy Brett.


AND THE DEFINITIVE BOOK ON THE FABRIC WORKSHOP.


Written Responses: Must be typed, two pages minimum, double spaced, with appropriate citations and quotation marks when using the words of any of the authors. Comment on the articles that affected you the most. Summarize the author’s ideas. Relate the readings to thoughts and ideas you might have at this point on the assigned project.




CALENDAR for PROJECT #3: TEXTILE TECTONICS


Nov. 10 Introduction to PROJECT #3: TEXTILE TECTONICS. What is tectonics? What is a fiber? What is a textile? Reading assignments explained. Please download four readings for Thursday Nov. 12: Eva Hesse, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Richard Serra's verb list, Jana Sterbak

Videos: (2) Christo, 30 minutes or so, Ann Hamilton ART 21 also about 30 minutes.

Nov. 12 Slide presentation. Discussion of readings. Bring in 10 “fibers” to class that you think you may want to experiment with. Weaving demo, Knitting demo.Try 10 different methods of “weaving” those fibers into a textile. Clean and prepare for ART BASH!!! Readings for Tuesday: Biodynamics, Jana Sterbak 02, Jackie Winsor.

Assignment: 10 ways of combining your fibers into textile materials and tectonic structures and techniques. Each student will invent their own textile to work with; Individual research into the technical aspects of knitting and weaving is required.

Nov. 19 Presentation of your 10 fiber exercises due. Discussion of third set of readings. Discussion of ways of manipulating the “fibers” into a “textile.

Nov. 24 PROPOSALS AND DRAWINGS due for discussion. Please present as a typed, printed packed- scan and print drawings if necessary. Be ambitious. Studio class for experimentation, cross-fertilization, testing theories. Always bring materials to class.

Nov. 26 No Class, Thanksgiving.

Dec. 1 Working studio day

Dec. 3 In process critique and discussion of structures, tectonics, ways of supporting the textile, ways of making the textile more interesting.

Working studio day for remainder.

Dec. 8 Working studio day.

Dec. 10 Working studio day.

Dec. 15 3:00 pm Final Project Due. CRITIQUE OF TEXTILE TECTONICS.


Calendar is subject to change and probably will change.