Devices of Wonder
Art is not just interpretation but transformation. When one creates an art form we begin to understand the passage from one dimension to another, that is the passage from the original order to a creative order.
Design a device or space for altered or expand vision or containment of physical and mental vision. Look at historical objects such as a magnify glass orbs, early box microscopes, navigational devices, zoetropes, camera obscuras, medical models of the eye, projectors, shadow puppet theaters. Carefully consider the objective you have. Are you illuminating or projecting readymade images, or filling a space with light? Are you hoping to turn the visible object into a magnified abstraction? Do you hope to expose or make vulnerable the materials? What contemporary artist do you look to as a role model? Look to contemporary artist from Diane Thader to Michel Rovner, to the Museum of Jurassic technology that immerse your senses and creating spaces for us to experience a new vision, to see the unseen.
After your training in the woodshop you will have the ability to fabricate a box like structure that can hold optical instruments of create a projection. Techniques in building lidded spaces, light boxes, and glass cases will be demonstrated. Following the earlier “form follows function” ideology, you will design a form that conceptually responds to the object. Readings on the history of museums and optical devices and the influence this has had on artists today will play a central role in creating a work.
