Art Appreciation

History of Art Appreciation Section.

A variety of topics appear in the Art Appreciation Section every year. The following topics are common to appear every year.

• Gallery Visit
• Public Sculpture
• Design ( Product, Packaging, poster, logo, Magazine cover...)
• Film/ Theater/ technologhy (gaming)
• Architecture

Appreciation

• Gallery
  • A visit to a gallery/name
  • Exhibition in your school
  • Museum or Interpretative centre
  • Describe artists work. 2
• Design a public park.
  • Safety, caters for all.
  • Materials. Planting.
  • All about your opinion and why?
• Design an Object-Chair/Phone/PD/sports wear/Shoes.
  • Form v’s Function
    Design/colour
• Building and Architecture
  • Convert a disused building.
  • Consideration for buildings nearby.
  • Materials used-Modern or natural.
• Film/stage design
  • Lighting
  • Sets
  • Colour
  • Period Setting
  • Use of Computer Generated graphics

    
    

    Advertising

    Poster
    Logo
    Magazine cover
    Packaging
    

    
    

Public Sculpture Question.

Here are some of the photos that I took while we were on tour in Dublin. I have looked at and described the sculpture  in the same formats that you will be asked in the leaving cert art history exam.

This is the memorial to Members of the Irish Defence Forces which is situated in the Merrion Square Park, opposite the National Gallery.

• Materials-Granite, Glass, Bronze cast figures(inside)
• Form-Pyramid Shape.
• Theme-Remembering the Members of the Irish Armed Forces.
• Suitability for Situation-It is situated in the park away from the busy traffic and allows for contemplation. there are no benches, which would allow for the viewer to spend more time.
• The pyramid shape probably suggests a tomb-figures being inside.
• I don't think its the most suitable solution as the figures only become apparent when you are peering through the glass.

 

 

Oscar Wilde-Merrion Square

• The composition of the figure draped across the rock seems to capture something of the charachter of the Writer
• The use of several different type of stone to suggest different materials helps to get across the sense of rich fabric.
• The charachter has a weary smile which reflects his sense of humour.
• As a piece of sculpture, the work, composition, and material help to capture his charachter.

"The Victims"-Merrion Square Park

"Sphere within Sphere" -Pomodoro. In Trinity College Dublin

 "Sphere within Sphere" -Pomodoro. In Trinity College Dublin

These notes are related to you Art Appreciation Section. There is nearly always a question on Public Sculpture, usually accompanied by a photo of a specific piece. It may already be named. You will be asked if its suitable for its surroundings.

 Top things to remember about Public Sculpture.

• Name the Piece and Name the sculpture.
• What materials is the piece made from. Is it durable? Will the piece last? Is it tough enough to survive?
• What is the Theme? What is the sculpture about? What is the Artist/Sculptor trying to say? Is this suitable for where it is?
• Where is it situated? Does the form/shape/colour of the sculpture suit the surrounding public space? Does it blend in or does it stand out?
• Do you like it? (It is ok to say no!) Give reasons why you like/dislike it, refer to the topics ave.
• Lastly you will be asked to design and draw a piece of sculpture that you think would suit the same space. Remember to give reasons why your idea is suitable-again refer to the points above

Product Design

Product Analysis

Everyday we use thousands of different products, from telephones to bikes and drinks cans to washing machines. But have you ever thought about how they work or the way they are made?

In the exam you may be asked to discuss and evaluate a product and redesign it or design a similar product. 

Every product is designed in a particular way - product analysis enables us to understand the important materials, processing, economic and aesthetic (Design) decisions which are required before any product can be manufactured. An understanding of these decisions can help us in designing and making for ourselves.

Getting started

The first task in product analysis is to become familiar with the product! What does it do? How does it do it? What does it look like? All these questions, and more, need to be asked before a product can be analysed. As well as considering the obvious mechanical (and possibly electrical) requirements, it is also important to consider the ergonomics, how the design has been made user-friendly and any marketing issues - these all have an impact on the later design decisions.

Let's take the example of a bike:

• What is the function of a bicycle?
• How does the function depend on the type of bike (e.g. racing, or about-town, or child's bike)?
• How is it made to be easily maintained?
• What should it cost?
• What should it look like (colours etc.)?
• How has it been made comfortable to ride?
• How do the mechanical bits work and interact?

If you do this exercise for various products, you will very quickly discover something interesting...

Some important design questions

To build a design specification, consider questions like the following:

• What do you think of the design of this product?
• Is the design interesting? 
• What is the function of the product?
• How does the design (form) of the product effect the products function?
• can you tell what materials are used in this product?
• Are there alternative materials or designs in use and can you propose improvements?

These are only general questions, to act as a guide - you will need to think of the appropriate questions for the products and components you have to analyse. For a drinks container, a design specification would look something like:

• provide a leak free environment for storing liquid
• comply with food standards and protect the liquid from health hazards
• for fizzy drinks, withstand internal pressurisation and prevent escape of bubbles
• provide an aesthetically pleasing view or image of the product
• if possible create a brand identity
• be easy to open
• be easy to store and transport
• be cheap to produce for volumes of 10,000+

Once we have a specification, the next stage in the process is to understand how the materials are chosen.

Choosing the right process

It is all very well to choose the perfect material, but somehow we have to make something out of it as well! An important part of understanding a product is to consider how it was made - in other words what manufacturingprocesses were used and why. There are 2 important stages to selecting a suitable process:

• Technical performance: can we make this product with the material and can we make it well?
• Economics: if we can make it, can we make it cheaply enough?

Process selection can be quite an involved problem - we deal with one way of approaching it in another part of the tutorial.

So, now we know why the product is designed a particular way, why particular materials are used and why the particular manufacturing processes have been chosen. Is there anything else to know?

Final remarks

Product analysis can seem to follow a fixed pattern:

1. Think about the design and aesthetic and functional viewpoint.
2. Decide on the materials to fulfil the performance requirements.
3. Choose a suitable process that is also economic.

Use colorful sketches to emphasize your key points.