Bauhaus Movement
Albers Drawing Exercise
Albers believed that students needed to learn to focus in order to learn to draw.
One of the assignments he gave, was having students first write their name (in my case, I did my signature).
Then he would have students look at their name and draw it backwards, starting from the last letter and going back to the start.
Last, he would have them draw their name backwards and upside down.
I did this exercise twice. It reminded me of other upside down drawing techniques I've used in the past, but I found this useful because all you need is a piece of paper and writing your name in your own handwriting to begin.
Indeed it takes quite a bit of focus, but as you can see on my picture above, when you take your time, you can put a mirror up to your picture and see it right correctly when you turn it over.
I think students would get a kick out of the illusion and it would help them understand how important it is to look and focus when you are drawing.
Three Projects I chose to do, depicting assignments and projects which students in the Bauhaus school might have done. I enjoyed being able to do 3 things that were completely different in both styles and disciplines, from one another. For further reading, you can download y paper here--->
Weaving like Anni Albers
Believe it or not, I had never weaved before, except with pie strips and paper. So when I discovered that weaving was one of the areas of study, I decided to approach it.
The other reason I chose to do this, was because I love the Bauhaus model of including crafts and arts together. I feel I very much live that out, as I am crafty as well as an artist.
I had a sock loom I had never used, so after looking up methods on how to weft and weave, I decided I could use it. I also discovered that with just cardboard and a knife, students will be able to make their own loom.
I decided to weave a bookmark for 2 reasons. One, the size of my loom made that a natural choice. But again, Albers believed making things that had everyday purposes were just as important as were things that would hang on the wall, and I agreed.
I ran into a few pitfalls... Using the sock loom turned out to make things more difficult because of the side pegs meant for different use, so I think making your own loom is definitely the way to go.
I also discovered how truly time consuming it is. So I believe using thick yarn especially with younger students would make it go quicker.
I chose to do muted colors and geometric shapes because I was inspired by Anni Albers' work which often was a mix of both those things.
Color Plates with
Josef Albers
When studying about the Bauhaus, I was really taken by Albers. I loved that he lived out this "pupil becomes a master" ideaology that Gropius subscribed to when creating the Bauhaus School.
I loved discovering that both Josef Albers' book "Interaction of Color" and many of his plates and studies are included in an app created by Yale. Incidentally, Albers taught there as well.
The app allows you to see Albers' original plates, and read about what made each plate unique, and what it was that he was trying to teach with each one. Then, the app allows you to create your own plate.
I loved playing around with the colors and trying to recreate the interaction which Albers was teaching. I found myself thinking about Lanier, and how this would be a great way to incorporate technology, or rather, new media, and art in an engaging way. The app was more money than I normally pay for an app, but considering it also included a book, I would say it was a worthwhile investment.
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Top Left- compares the 2 purple squares
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Bottom Left - which one is a true orange?
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Top Right - Colors are pulsating because of the interaction with background and shapes
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Bottom right - Which gray is darker?
On the app, you're able to interact with the plates, and make them move to show what is and what isn't. It was really enjoyable and I will continue to do all the plates.
