Create > Dynamic Equilibrium
Goal Concept:
Achieve a psychological state of balance by stabilizing the dynamics between the psychological forces and the visual forms
Access Prior Knowledge:
“What I intended to express was dynamic movement in equilibrium.” ~ Piet Mondrian
New Information:
Dynamic Equilibrium
Even in a visually active design, a psychological state of balance can be achieved by stabilizing the dynamics between the psychological forces and the visual forms. Whenever the forms, forces and counter forces of a design are controlled and manipulated to gain a ‘felt balance, a state of dynamic equilibrium is produced.
Plasticity in art can be expressed through the equilibrium of dynamic movement of form and color. Piet Mondrian gave meticulous attention to the proportions between vertical and horizontal lines, rectangular shapes, line thickness and color intensity.
Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley and other Optical artist controlled visual tensions using repetition, progression, after-image, optical illusion, and ambiguity between figure and ground. Op art painting generate a strong visual energy as well as a perceptually unstable picture plane of pluses, contractions, swells or flip-flops.
All art forms are compositions in dynamic balance. The forms and tensions of a good pictorial or structural design are carefully choreographed to achieve a psychological and visual unity.
“I want my painting to quiver in depth and also to have apparent movement within it,”
- Bridget Riley
Artist References:
Apply Knowledge and Skills:
Instructional Strategy
Learning Activity
Create > Afterimage Pattern
Goal: Create a design pattern to induce the perception of its afterimage.
Studio Activity: Afterimage Pattern
Plan a design that makes use of afterimages. Work only in black and white. Repeat and vary a particular shape (ex. dots, squares or triangles). Allow a generous white background to remain as a screen for the afterimages.
Afterimages are spontaneous and fleeting perceptions; they are seen literally to ‘dance’ within the visual field. Plan your design to exploit this psychological phenomenon.
Enrichment Studio Activity: Color Afterimage
A dot of a particular color will produce an afterimage which is complementary in color. A red dot will produce a light green afterimage. Plan a design that exploits such chromatic effects.
Trigger Mechanisms:
Repeat, Animate
Materials:
paper, ruler, compass, scissors, marking pens, templates
Instructional Strategy
Learning Activity
Create > Visible Audio Collage
Goal: Create a visual energy pattern that mimics the repetition of musical sounds.
Studio Activity: Visible Audio Collage
Be inspired by the work of Wassily Kandinsky > http://goo.gl/xpkP8t. Create a visual composition inspired by the repetitive beats, notes, tempo and sounds of a musical piece. Use an allover pattern and visual analogs to represent the sounds and tempo of a musical piece. Look at these high school examples > https://goo.gl/mNviWQ
Trigger Mechanisms:
Repeat, superimpose, combine, animate
“The form of an object is a diagram of forces. We can induce the forces that are acting or have acted upon it; in this strict and particular sense, it is a diagram.” ~ D’arcy Thompson
Materials:
Paper, scissors, gluestick
Visual examples
Kandinsky's Composition 8
“Let me draw for you a sonnet. With dancing lines that sing confident rhymes, it will weave a rope between us.” ~Kandinsky
Picasso's Three Musicians (1921) (MoMA)
Chagall’s The Triumph of Music
Okeefe’s Music, Pink and Blue
Generalize, Reflect & Publish:
Instructional Strategy
Learning Activity
Reflect > Should I go back and rework anything?
How did you combine art elements (line, color, shape, texture, value) to develop art principles? (Unity/variety, balance, emphasis contrast, rhythm, proportion/scale, figure/ground relationship)
Where are the dominant shapes, forms, colors, or textures that carry expressive significance?
Why Is the work ordered and balanced or chaotic and disturbing?
What gives the work its uniqueness?
Is symbolism used in the work to convey meaning other than what one sees?
Does the work evoke any feelings?
Instructional Strategy
Learning Activity
Publish > Share your album to our G+Community > Concepts & Creations category
Display > Add your photos to the Event
Instructional Strategy
Learning Activity
Critique >
Self-assess >
