Terry Reynoldson

Art Instruction, 1996 to 2021

Selected, Students' 3D-Artworks, Page 1: Sculpture, Design Principles, 3D-Art Fundamentals

Life-Cast Combine Project

Assignment (above), THEORY: Making a sculptural artwork often requires a great deal of thought, planning and the skilful use of tools, adhesives and hardware. This is especially true when combining different objects and materials, like Robert Rauschenberg did when he created Monogram, an assemblage onto which he fastened a taxidermied, Angora goat wearing a car tire! Rauschenberg used the word "combine" to describe this sort of artwork: one that combines sculptural objects and painted forms.

Our life-cast Combine Project will introduce you to a wide variety of tools and techniques, leading to the creation of a sculptural wall–relief, very different than Monogram (which cannot be hung on a wall), but no less challenging. Follow these links to learn more about Monogram: Images at Rauschenberg Foundation; Audio at MoMa.

OBJECTIVE: Use found objects, textured materials and acrylic paint on a hardboard support to create a high–relief (or low–relief) combine. For subject matter, your work must include at least one life-cast component that reveals some aspect of your personality. Try to reach past the superficial persona that you project to the world on a daily basis — being a sports fan, chill, ready to party, studious, trying to be likeable, etc. — and choose imagery, poses, facial expression, materials and objects that help you to express your deepest fears, fondest desires or worst memories.

Follow this link to see the lesson: Life-cast Combine Project.

Paper Form Project

Assignment (above), THEORY: Our definition of 3D art encompasses a VAST territory of related practices, beginning with object-making (Kiki Smith) and proceeding from there through the interrogation of space (Robert Morris), place (Kara Walker), process (Anish Kapoor), action (Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla) and phenomena (Nancy Holt). Given the enormous breadth and variety of sculptural forms, a good place to start a course about the fundamentals of 3D art is by asking, "How is a 3D composition different than a 2D composition?" To answer this question, we first need to examine how the Principles of Composition might be applied to volumes within a spatial dimension (as opposed to shapes on a surface). This is where the Paper Form Project takes us.

OBJECTIVE: Use paper and Bristol Board (that's achromatic and middle-grey in value) to create at least four high-relief paper constructions (three small studies and one large work). Your Paper Form Sculpture must demonstrate (in three dimensions) the compositional principles of emphasis, variety, movement, balance, unity, rhythm, proportion and scale.

Follow this link to see the lesson: Paper Form Project.