3.3: Course Content: Form and Proportion

Claes Oldenburg, 1988, Spoonbridge and Cherry, Retrieved from http://www.wikiart.org/en/claes-oldenburg/spoonbridge-and-cherry-collaboration-with-van-bruggen-1988

You were asked to think about how form and proportion work together and what impact they have on a piece of art.

Form is a three dimensional shape. It can be the illusion of something three dimensional such as a painting of a landscape with a house and a barn or it can be an actual form such as a sculpture or piece of pottery.

Proportion is the size of something compared to other things around it. Both can be used to show space and dimension within a piece of art. You are going to explore this further.

Use the following questions to guide your research:

  • How does an artist create form in order to fool the eye?
  • How is form similar and different to the element of art shape?
  • How is proportion used to show distance in a piece of art?
  • What is the golden mean and how is this related to proportion?

Here are some websites and videos to get you started:

Video from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DIPs3T2dQk

Video From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaiWSEEPGIA

 

The Virtual Instructor: http://thevirtualinstructor.com/form.html Links to an external site.

Cornell: http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/form/formillu.htm Links to an external site.

Empty Easel: http://emptyeasel.com/2009/01/20/a-guide-to-the-golden-ratio-aka-golden-section-or-golden-mean-for-artists/ Links to an external site.