syllabus — ART 205 — Color Theory

Exploring Color Relationships

description:

Color surrounds us and would overwhelm us if we focused on every nuanced and shifting relationship between light and form while simultaneously analyzing the hue, saturation, and value interactions. To free our brain space for other tasks we learn to make generalizations about color at the expense of truly seeing color in context. This is an opportunity to reengage with color by spending time observing color and reflecting on its aesthetic relationships, its phenomenological nature, and how it makes meaning in our society. You will observe and/or create color interactions, then document your findings in a series of photographs. Finally, you will write a brief description of why you found each color relationship to be significant enough to photograph.

Consider how color relationships can:

- be aesthetically beautiful and moving

- relate to schemes or terminology covered in class (hue, saturation, value, monotone, analogous, complementary, split complementary, etc.)

- highlight or create a focus

- suggest a sense of change over time

- draw out something otherwise unseen

- set a mood or tone

- activate other senses

- interact with one another

- connect to a time, place, or season

- reveal cultural or historic meaning

- create intellectual or instinctive responses

- add clarity or organization

- reinforce or subvert expectations

- function symbolically

- conjure memories

- incite action

- create sensory illusions

- illicit a positive or negative reaction

- surprise you!

photograph requirements:

· Create a set of 20-25 photographs of color interactions. Use the considerations above as a guide.

· These should include both found/observed color interactions and constructed color interactions that you create by setting up or altering something.

· Your collection of images should feature some instances of colored light or colored light environments.

· Aesthetic, conceptual, contextual, phenomenological, etc. color relationships are all valid.

· Your set of photographs may be unrelated in form, content, and purpose or they may function as a whole.

· Photographs should be your own original work.

· For each image you may make slight alterations to your images in digital software if you choose, however most photos should not appear to be significantly altered.

· If you choose you may significantly alter as many as 1/5^th of the images (4 images out of 20; 5 images out of 25).

· If you choose, you may add mixed media to as many as 1/5^th of the images.

· As many as 1/5^th of your images may be photographs that were created prior to this assigning of this project.

written submission requirements:

· For each image, list the hue(s) and/or level(s) of saturation and/or level(s) of value that you found compelling. Write a brief description of the reasons you found the color relationships to be significant enough to photograph. Not all images will require the same amount of description or contextualization, so do not be concerned if some are very short and others need more explanation.

· You may use prose or bullet points to format your ideas as long as you appropriately explain your thought process. Your ideas are key to the success of your work.

· Number your descriptions to correspond to the file name of the image you are describing.

· The written component must be submitted on D2L, however you may choose to print a copy of some or all of it to accompany your work during critique.

physical submission requirements (for critique):

· All 20-25 images should be printed for critique on the day the project is due.

· You may choose the shape and size of the photographs but each print should be 20 square inches or larger (for example a 4x5-inch rectangle is 20 square inches).

· Images should be printed on photographic paper and at photographic quality. You may choose to print these on your own during DePaul Art School open computer lab hours or utilize a photo/printing service.

· Images may be printed and displayed separately or grouped on one or more sheets of paper (for example a grid of photos on a single sheet with borders in between).

· Images will be displayed for critique, so consider your presentation method. Most folks will likely use pushpins to pin images to the wall, but other methods are appropriate.

online submission requirements:

· Digital components are due on D2L by midnight on the day the project is due (they may be submitted after class up until midnight Central Time).

· Please submit written component as Word DOC or PDF file.

· Each image should be a good quality JPG file (ideally at least 300 dpi at print size)

· Name each of your files in the following format: lastname_#
NOTE: The number references the written component
Larva_1.jpg
Larva_2.jpg
Larva_3.jpg

· Please indicate images taken prior to this assignment with the letter “x” (up to 1/5^th of the images).
Larva_4_x.jpg

· Submit items to D2L (a single zipped file containing all photos is preferred).
NOTE: To create a zipped file on a Mac, put all your images into a single folder. Next, right-click on the folder icon and choose the “Compress” option. The resulting file will have the extension .zip and is ready to load to D2L. This will save you time uploading and save me time downloading.

No assignment will receive full credit without both physical and online submission components.

NOTE: If you have a specific concept for this project that will not be possible within this framework or these stated requirements, please talk to me so we can work out a different set of requirements.

tips + resources:

Our D2L site content

DePaul Art School open lab times (see hours posted on the doors to 311 & 330)

DePaul Art School A/V checkout (see hours posted on the door)

Photo services like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Shutterfly

DePaul Print Lab (Loop) (Daley Building 511; Loop)

Color Factory Chicago

Chicago Public Art Projects and Murals and Mural Registry