overview
Lesson 1 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 1 | ode to a view
activity | ode to the ordinary
Many historic visual odes were dedicated to Gods, rulers, mythic
figures, loved ones, or traditionally “beautiful,” symbolic,
or inspirational subjects like flowers or animals. These odes were
often shaped from marble, rendered lovingly in oils, built with
stone by the labor of hundreds, cast, gilded, illuminated, or chiseled.
What does the material an artist chooses say about his or her subject?
How does the medium speak about value or symbolize greatness, affection,
or reverence? Can an art object be an ode to art practice?
Breaking with a long tradition of “appropriate” art
media, Richard Tuttle and Jessica
Stockholder celebrate the creative process and materials
culled from ordinary, everyday surroundings, whether the hardware
store or a desk drawer. Rather than creating odes to particular
subjects, Tuttle and Stockholder construct abstract artworks from
common materials like plastic containers, rope, wire, appliances,
and scraps of paper, singling out these ordinary materials from
the crowded visual landscape of today’s culture and celebrating
them for their color, form, and even crudeness.
Watch the video segments on Richard Tuttle and Jessica Stockholder,
and using both their slideshows and interviews (see links above),
discuss the ways these artists create odes to the ordinary or embrace
the aesthetic of our present day culture. How do these artists bring
significance to ordinary objects? How does Tuttle’s use of
simple materials to illustrate theories and complex polarities change
the way you think about his objects? Why does Tuttle choose certain
materials as opposed to others? What is the significance of Jessica
Stockholder’s choice in materials? While Stockholder describes
her installations as abstract “paintings in space,”
what might they mean? How do ordinary components become important
or meaningful when they are brought into the context of art or writing?
Have students explore work by these artists such as Stockholder's
“Nit
Picking Trumpets of Iced Blue Vagaries” or “Fat
Form and Hairy: Sardine Can Peeling;” and Tuttle's “There’s
No Reason a Good Man is Hard to Find III” or “Monkey’s
Recovery for a Darkened Room (Bluebird).”
After discussing Tuttle's and Stockholder's work, create an installation
that comments on the visual landscape of our contemporary culture
using common materials. Select an area(s) of your school or classroom
as an installation space. Ask students to bring in a variety of
found objects in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, and other
materials like fabric, rope, packing materials, and wrapping paper.
As a class or in smaller groups depending on the availability of
space, choose a meaningful polarity, like strength vs. weakness,
tension vs. release, reductive vs. expansive, or freedom vs. repression
to serve as the basis for a collaborative abstract installation
that illustrates the polarity. If your class breaks into smaller
groups, students should keep their idea a secret until the final
day, when it can be revealed as the class visits each group's installation
and interprets each work.
Have students answer the following questions about the completed
work(s): How else could the chosen polarity have be illustrated?
Does using common materials communicate something that it would
be impossible to express in a traditional art medium? What do the
objects we are surrounded by each day communicate to us? How can
they become symbolic? How does juxtaposing objects or elements create
meaning? |
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