Shape and Form-Serial Planes

 

In this assignment you will be building 3 small sculptures that imply forms in different ways. One will be constructed from planes, one from lines, and one from both. Your materials will be chipboard, square wooden dowels, and hot glue.

What is a Form?

Form refers to the singular area of space that is filled with matter (or, at least appears to be!). It is a distinct unit perceivable to the viewer and delineated from its surroundings.

This idea of delineation or separation, that it is a 3d body that is perceivable is what gives the interpretation of form so many possibilities. How do we delineate it?

So form is an independent, three dimensional mass or volume where mass generally refers to a positive solid and volume refers to a negative, open space surrounded by material, as in a bowl or other vessel.

There are innumerable ways to understand, represent, and make a form. Take the common cube for example. A cube may be thought of as:

 

-A block that is cut from a larger mass, Retirement by Westen Charles

 

Cast from a liquid material like this chocolate and lard work by Janine Antoni.  

(These forms were cast, then shaped by the artist’s mouth) In the case of casting there is a volume that becomes a mass!

 

-4 planes attached at their edges as in this work by Richard Serra

Forms can be built structures

 

Or the planes can be in a series in the same orientation as in this work by Felix Gonzales-Torres.

-A district unit of space filled with matter. This stone work is by Damián Ortega.

Sometimes forms are implied, as in this implied cube by Tom Friedman

 

-Or any other number of conceptual structures.

This work by Josepth Kosuth is a good example of the many ways of thinking about the area that form occupies.

So, a form is the idea of an entity in space. A distinct unit perceivable to the viewer and delineated from its surroundings.

As a designer or artist, you create the method in which this entity is manifested. Like in the relief project, an implied form gives the viewer room to fill in the blanks, allowing for increased visual engagement.

 

For the first part of this assignment, we will manifest implied, complex forms using serial planes.

Part 1 Serial Planes

Utilizing at least 15 parallel planes separated by small gaps, you will construct a form from a group of shapes that that gradually morph from one profile to another. This will create an implied asymmetric positive form that is intersected with a negative form.

 

-Imagine the path of a plane as it moves in a direction opposed to to its x and y axis,

 

 

This is a way of describing this form, a rectangular solid

If we combine the two, we get this

If that plane changes shape, 

It will describe a more complex form, one that could look like this:

Now make that out of separate planes with a space in between, and you have:

Which is a complex form that implies:

A complex union of solids, placed in the viewers mind using nothing but a series of slightly different shapes next to one another. Magic!

 

From “Principles of Form and Design” by Wucius Wong

 

Part 2: Plane to Volume

A sheet of paper begins as an almost entirely two-dimensional object. Through a limited series of cuts, folds, openings, and connections, it can become a structure that occupies and defines space.

For this project, you will design and construct a freestanding three-dimensional form primarily from a single sheet of folded chipboard. Rather than treating the chipboard as a surface that wraps around an underlying structure, you will use the paper itself as both the surface and the structure. Cuts will create openings and separations while folds will redirect planes. Tabs, slots, and intersections may allow one part of the form to support or connect to another.

The project is inspired in part by the paper constructions of David Umemoto, whose work uses techniques related to kirigami to transform simple sheets of paper into complex architectural structures. Don’t remake this artists work, but investigate similar questions of planar transformation, spatial organization, structure, and economy.

Your finished work should create a clear relationship between positive and negative, interior and exterior, horizontal and vertical, and open and closed space. Look for how the your perception changes from a folded plane into deliniated spaces.

The form may suggest architecture, machinery, landscape, furniture, monument, or another recognizable type of structure, but it should not simply illustrate a specific building or object. Allow the logic of cutting and folding to determine the form.

– Begin with Chipboard.
– The primary structure must be produced through cutting and folding planar material.
– Use scoring to create clean, intentional folds.
– Incorporate both positive forms and negative spaces/openings as active parts of the composition.
– Include at least one moment in which separate planes interlock, slot together, pass through one another, or become structurally dependent on one another.
– Avoid using an internal armature.
– Adhesive should be minimized. Whenever possible, solve connections through folding, tabs, slots, or the structure of the paper itself.
– The finished work must stand independently and be intentionally composed from multiple viewpoints.
– Craft is an essential component of the project. Cuts, folds, edges, joints, and alignments should be precise and deliberate.

Things to think about:

What kind of folds and structures cause the viewer to percieve: open / closed · compression / expansion · enclosure / exposure · balance / instability · repetition / interruption · upward / outward · public / private · ordered / chaotic

Begin by making a series of small experiments rather than designing the finished sculpture immediately. Cut, score, fold, and manipulate paper to discover what the material can do. Pay particular attention to unexpected spatial relationships produced by simple operations.

From these studies, identify a folding or structural strategy with potential for further development. Produce several variations before selecting and refining the final form.

As the project develops, consider what can be **removed rather than added**. A well-placed opening, cut, or fold may produce more spatial complexity than another attached piece.

 

Examples: