3-D Design

sawing and glueing

Is happening in my three-dimensional design class right now.  Students are making helmets/headdresses/head pieces with half inch wooden dowels and bristol board.  And I am catching some major sh*t. And it is taking way longer than I had planned.  I am hopeful another week will be enough time to finish.  Images to come when they are done.

so...crickets....

and dust bunnies and cob webs around these parts.  There was the holiday, which was lovely, and then school prep, which was rushed, and then getting back to school.  I am teaching Drawing 1 and 3-D Design at RCTC this semester, and 2-D Design at Winona State University.  It feels like a lot of classes crammed into four days.  So far, so good, but it is only the second week.  I pulled out my million year old copy of Art Fundamentals as my textbook for 2-D...but I have to admit there is another book I am more excited about and wanted desperately to use as a textbook.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  When my husband and I were looking for Christmas gifts for my son and Barnes and Noble, we found it:  The School of Art, by Teal Triggs and illustrated by Daniel Frost.  It is a children's book, but it is brilliant.  There is a Professor of Ideas, of Form, of Senses, of Making and of the Planet.  There is a team on what basic elements we need to make art and one on what design principles help us make art.  The illustrations are whimsical, the book is full of activities, and it makes the academic business of art so much fun.  My husband got it for me.  If you are a maker, check it out, I think you will love it too.  

inflatables...

My 3-Dimenisonal Design class ended the semester on a beautiful day with our inflatables project.  The students mostly worked in groups, and had to create something that was at least ten feet in one direction.  This are some of the results.  

a dragon....

a dragon....

a bacteria....

a bacteria....

a three headed creature....

a three headed creature....

March?????

I can't believe it is March.  I hadn't meant to go so long between posts, but after finishing the piece for the MN Center for Book Arts, it was time to jump right into class prep and planning.  And then it was time to go to class.  I am teaching Drawing 1 and 3-Design this semester.  This is my second semester of 3-D Design and I think we are getting some pretty good results.  My students just finished a helmet/headgear piece dealing with line and planar shapes and I am really pleased with the results.  Take a look at two: 

IMG_0950.jpg

Another two got into the Juried Student Exhibition.  Congratulations!