Tracing and Pulling: Part 1

Assignment: Tracing and pulling: part 1
Assigned: Sept. 8th.
Due Date: Sept. 15th (1 week).

Description:
This assignment plays with the process of drawing, specifically tracing, as an act of fascination and admiration. By tracing over an image you are in a process of contemplation and reflection; you follow the contour, the pattern, the rhythm, … the subject with ease. As a process, you immediately “pull” out details from the image. With careful reflection you edit and respond to your actions, which during the process may have seemed automatic and objective.

Concept and Structure:
Working with a photograph you have previously taken (you may also choose to shoot new images) you are asked to produce three (3) tracings of the image. You may choose to work abstractly, realistically, or graphically. You may choose to layer your images into a complex network, repeat patterns or textures, or block-out entire areas of the image. Work intuitively, reflect on your process, and edit your results. Consider the elements and principles of design in your final compositions.

Objectives:
• To respond to, and take responsibility for, previous decisions and actions.
• To contemplate a work over time, reflecting on changing conditions of production.
• To confront the mental space in which a work is produced (withdrawal, excitement, exuberance, confidence, etc…)
• To apply the elements and principles of design to assign a value to a finished work (this is a little backwards).
• To “play” with an image (get to know it, how you respond to it, how it reacts).

Process:
• Work with an image you are already invested in and that you find challenging (starting with a colour image is encouraged).
• Produce a print from which you can work on top of with vellum or frosted mylar.
• Work intuitively and responsively with the image. This process will take time to consider and reflect upon but will have immediate physical/visual effects.
• Consider the scale at which you are working and the types of marks you are making.
• Consider what the trace is revealing in the original image.
• You are free and encouraged to work with line, colour, textures, and patterns to exploit your concerns.

Materials:
• Minimum of one printed photographic image of your choice.
• Vellum or frosted mylar.

Additional links:
A Short History of the Shadow: An Interview with Victor I. Stoichita:
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/24/stoichita.php

The Origin of Painting:
http://projectionsystems.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/the-origin-of-painting/