Take time to pick out where and how your work will be seen best. Think about how the audience will encounter the work. Does it need to hang from the ceiling? Is a large wall space needed? Do people need to move around it or go inside it? Do you need a table or pedestal?  Do not crowd your work or allow someone to crowd you. We should understand what exactly is your work, and there should be space around it, what we call a visual pause.

Remember you are your arts best advocate. After all your exploration, thinking, making and in some cases re-making you want it to sing in the exhibition!

If you are showing:

On the Walls, Floors, Ceilings:

Please start early to mark off a space on the wall, ceiling or floor using tape and your name. Keep in mind that it is important to communicate about space. If you do not understand how someone will use the space, or if you need a specific space (like a corner) please discuss it with the group. As you begin to put up your work, be careful not to get too close to someone else’s piece. We need a visual pause between the works so that we focus only on your piece. If you use the ceiling, please do not hang anything extremely heavy.  All work should be up the evening before the crit.

A Video

Please arrive about 20 minutes early on the day of the crit with your finished video on a thumb drive. We will put your video on the computer and screen it with others during the crit.  Make sure that you have a start and a finish to your video that clearly shows a title and your name.

Something else:

If you plan to do a performance or would like us to consider looking at your work outside the classroom, please see Michelle and Brett.

Here are a few other questions you may have:

How should I title my work?

All work should be labeled. If you have a video, using a title or end page is the best way. For everyone else, you should create a title card that clearly states your name, a title (if you have one), the materials used, and anything else you would like to say about your piece. For instance, maybe you would like us to understand something about the process or the research or when or where the project was produced.

The card should be clean, neat and printed out digitally. It should be placed to the right of the work about 3 feet from the floor. While this is just a guide and what we will do for your show, when showing in galleries, it is the consistency throughout an exhibition that is important. Please no last-minute handwritten cards.

What if my project is interactive? How do I get people to participate?

There are many ways to do this, you may post a sign, have a couple of friends start so that people know that they are allowed to touch/enter/explore, or you may encourage them yourself. You may also design your piece so that it encourages this by it’s shape, size or other clues. Remember that people have been conditioned, ‘not to touch the art’ so you may need to be clear about your invitation to touch!

Can I paint the wall?

If you would like the wall to be another color behind your piece, you may paint the wall, but you will be required to repaint the wall before you leave for December break.

What if I have a performance?

If you are creating a performance, consider doing it beforehand on the site that makes the most sense for the work.  This way you do not have to show it in Cohen and squeeze it into a short time-frame. Document the work using video, sound, and/or images. Keep in mind that you are trying to capture the essence of the work. Think beforehand about what are the most important parts. Do you need a close-up view? Do we need to see it from far away ? After you think through what you need, get a friend to help you, and don’t be afraid to let them know what you need in turns of documentation. You might also consider showing ‘relics’ from your work within the class, such as the costume, props or other important objects.

What is the best way to show a sound work?

You may use headphones, speakers, your computer or even create a ‘sound booth’ by using a small room to focus the listener. Think about the nature of the work, how do you want the audience to experience the work. Do you want to share your work with one person at a time, with many, should it be loud, quiet and in a darken space, or outside?

If I need a projector can I get one?

If your project requires a projector or computer, ITS may be able to lend you one for free. You will need to reserve in advance by filling out a registration form in their office. The ITS Equipment Lending office is located on the 3rd floor of Perlman Hall. ITS Equipment Lending staff can be reached at 607.871.3009.

http://my.alfred.edu/its/index.cfm/fuseaction/helpdesk.student.cfm

If you are using iMovie  you will need to goto the top of your screen,  pull down the <Share> menu,  and choose <Export using QuickTime…>  which looks like this:

You will then get a dialogue box where you will need to choose a name for the file and where you would like it saved.

***When you name your file please include your name in the title. (i.e. JackSmith_FinalMovie.mov)

If you are using a PC instead of a Mac,  you will need to export your video as an AVI or MPEG4 file as MOV is not supported.  Depending on the software you are using this will happen in slightly different ways.  Talk to Brett if you need help with this.

Your finished and exported video should arrive in class early (at 7:30) on Thursday Dec. 1st, on a thumb drive ready to be moved to the class computer.

1. What are some of the possible ideas that came out of your research, how and what did you decide to focus on?
2.  How do your ideas relate to the project you are creating?  (artist statement)
3. Document your Project in Process, take a photo every day (or every hour, etc.) and describe its evolution.
4. Is your idea changing over the course of the project?  How?
5. What interests you most about The Line? Are you looking at the world differently?  What do you want to communicate to others about your experience?
6. Etc.

Your task this week is to analyze, edit, and organize your research to date  and focus on a particular aspect of your word to research further and IN DEPTH.  What are you most interested in,  what are you most excited about, what do you want to communicate?

You will then create an informative structure (performances, interviews, presentations, maps, installations, objects, animations, video, sounds, images, books, etc, etc,) that communicates your research focus to an audience.

Keep in Mind:

• You are still dealing with The Line
• Focus on an aspect or avenue to research that is exciting to you.
• Consider methods for your informative structure that are interesting and creative.  How can you make your work interesting and engaging? How do you get your audience to need/want to spend time with it?
• Consider how your informative structure depicts your research without you there to explain it.  What bits of information are most essential to understand,  is there something for the audience to question and explore?
• Consider your choice of method/ process/ material. Each choice you make affects the outcome of your project.  What is necessary?  What is appropriate?  (For example: Remember that even your choice of paper or font has an effect on the information that you present. i.e. don’t use copy paper and markers unless these are absolutely necessary for your project.)
• This project is the culmination of 4 weeks of research and will reflect 2 weeks worth of work.  Does what you are doing live-up to that?  Is it appropriately involved and ambitious?

You should complete 75% of your project for Thursday November 17th at which point you will have an in-process critique.  The  finished projects will then be due Thursday December 1st.

****Let us know if you need any technological resources (beside a video projector) for the presentation of your work.  If  you are presenting video or sound work please bring it on a thumb drive or DVD/ CD,  so that we can install all media work on one computer.

****If your piece is site-specific (i.e. on the line)  you will need to document it thoroughly and show that documentation during the crit on the 1st.

1.   Examples from your research (collection) that specifically relate to or inspired a given proposal.

2.  Written information about the proposed project including:

• Description (possible scale, material, display requirements, etc);
• Possible schedule (what do you need to do to get the project to happen);
• needs of each project (any special equipment, materials, conditions necessary);
• information about the idea for the project and what you hope to communicate.

3.  Images/ drawing/ collages, etc.  which illustrate each proposal.  These should include sketches of the possible project outcome, as well as other information (images of locations, materials, texture, colors, etc.) that might flesh out your proposal.

You may put all three proposals on one board or have a separate board for each depending on the layout and how much room that you need. They will however need to be in this format and transportable.

Keep in mind:

• The proposal should communicate your ideas and provide a viewer with a vision of the project.
• Consider the format and design of the proposal, it is a work of Art.  this includes making decisions about things like Font, color, layout, display, etc.  It should be interesting to look at.
• The proposal should be as specific as you can make, but know that your project will likely change over the course of discussion and working.
• The proposal in a exploration of what you desire, what is possible.

Your task for this week is to research your word and collect information about that word along The Line.

Several things to remember:

1. Your word is your lens, how does is shape what you find?
2. Collect a wide variety of information (objects, images, sounds, descriptions, interviews, written impressions, poems, stories, ideas, videos, etc., etc.)
3. Use a variety of tools/methods/ perspectives
4. Information is your material.  The more information you have the more you have to work with. Similar to your exploration of the line, you should think about 6-8 different structures for collecting.
5. The information is on/in the line, you need to continue to explore it.
6. Consider a number of different interpretations of your word.
7. Don’t stick to the obvious or the immediate;  use your imagination, be creative, find the unexpected.
8. Be excited.  If the information you are collecting is not interesting to you then it won’t be interesting to others.

Definition:
1 a statement of the exact meaning of a word, esp. in a dictionary.
2 the degree of distinctness in outline of an object, image, or sound, esp. of an image in a photograph or on a screen.

Before Class tomorrow (Friday November 4th)  you need to thoroughly define your word.

This goes beyond just looking-up the word in a dictionary,  it means understanding all of the possible meanings for the word.  Some things to consider:

1. Look up your word with a thesaurus,  what other words are the same (synonyms), want words are opposite (antonyms).  What do these related words tell you about the root word?  Check out this thesaurus it is strange and confusing at times but yields some interesting results.
2. What are other uses or contexts for your word that aren’t in the dictionary?
3. Think of your word as different parts of speech (noun, verb, advert, adjective, etc.)  how does this shift change the way you understand the word?
4. Enter your word into google searches,  What sites come up, what images come up, etc.
5. Provide examples (visual and written) of your word. Can you find a good example on the Line?
6. Reflect on what is most interesting to you about the word; how do you relate to it, what does it remind you of, what does it make you think of, etc.?
7. Where does your word end?  what boundaries do you want to set?

Your homework this week includes the following:

1. Explore the ENTIRE line.

2. Observe what is there.

3. Document what you find.

LET'S GO!

EXPLORE:

Your subject is the ENTIRE line,  this means that you will need to spend time in that space.  While you may decide that some parts of The Line are more interesting to you than others, you will need to cover the whole line multiple times to really observe what is there. Remember that the line is a space not a plane.  Look up, look under, look around….

Keep in mind: Respect your surroundings and community. When exploring the forest area, please do not go alone, do not go near dusk, and please take some water!

OBSERVE:

As we discussed in class the key to this activity is to employ a variety of perspectives, tasks, and tools, so as to find an aray of information. You should employ 6-8 different structures for exploration, these could be explorations from your book or others that you design yourself.  Consider how you find the unexpected, how you create an experience that allows you to observe differently than you normally would. By the end of the week you should know the Line, backwards and forward.  You should be able to recognize it like your hometown.

Other things to consider:

• Time:  time of day,  duration, history, etc.
• Speed: of travel, of looking
• Use of tools
• Direction: where are you looking, where are you headed?
• Senses:  use all five
• Significance
• Experience:  be reflective, consider what it is like to be doing hat you are doing.
• Question: some observations may need more investigation.

Be aware of your perspective, change your perspective, and be thorough…

DOCUMENT:

You should consider a variety of ways to document you experience.  What information is necessary to tell your audience about what you did, what do you want your audience to know?  You  may use and means available to you (i.e. photograph, draw, pick-up objects, record sound, record video, write, etc., etc., etc.), and remember that there is equipment available for you to check out.

You want to amass a vast amount  of information.  At minimum the amount of information on your blog should double.  Likewise you want to document more information than you post to your blog, you should have enough information that you can edit, make choices, and pick the most interesting things to share.  To think of it another way,  you should be spending a minimum of 10 hours outside of class on your exploration and observation,  your documentation should reflect that investment of time.

In addition, please bring ALL of the information and images that you collected to class on Thursday.

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Fieldwork: Personal Territory Tour

You should select a territory that is outside of the art building, but within 10-15 minute walk.

1. Stake a claim to your Personal Territory.

2. Establish the boundaries of the Personal Territory.

Take a photo or draw an image to establish the context. What is the size or scale of your territory?

3. Write or record at least 50 things about your chosen site.

Document through writing, drawing, photographing, or any other form. Get beyond those first things, and find out as much as you can about your territory.

4. Select 2-3 explorations from the book. Adapt (if needed) and use them as new perspectives to gathering information to your territory.

5. Go back to the studio. Lay out all your documentation and things that you collected.

6. Organize, prioritize, edit. Ask yourself, “What is most interesting thing I found out about my territory? What is unique? What do I want to share?  Develop a point of view.

7. Create an informative self-guided tour that will guide a visitor through the site from your particular perspective. The tour guide needs to be in a physical sharable format (on paper). (i.e. map, cards, diagrams, chart, text, list… think about some of the examples.)

8. Post the following on your blog, under Personal Territory Tour:

a)     (1) Image of Personal Territory boundaries

b)     50 things

c)     Several examples from 2-3 explorations inspired by the book.

d)     images of your ‘Tour guide”.

Have a good time exploring and see you Thursday at 8 am!

Image: Richard Long, Heel in the Dust.