.

TAU / GROUP ACTIVITY

Prof. Toth

.

Hunter College / Curriculum and Teaching

            

.

CONCEPT: SPATIAL ORDER:
RECONSTRUCTING TAU

  • When does geometry become aesthetic?
  • Group problem solving architectural spaces. (a space for learning)

  AIM: Consider works of art that challenge conventional aesthetic beauty.  Understand elements of Math in art: patterns, sequences, and rhythm.
  LINE OF INQUIRY: How does Tony Smith use GEOMETRY to open an understanding of logic and order?

SKILL ACTIVITY:

 OBJECTIVE: Understand the use of elements of symmetry: mirror, reflective, radial, progressive and alternating.

Create simple geometric solids by cutting out squares and triangles that can be folded into 3-D forms.

Use simple geometric shapes as an art manipulative to create complex geometric forms.

Explore symmetry relationships.

What are the aspects of symmetry?     

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBJECTIVE: This is a group project that depends more on HOW you solve the logic problem rather than how well you construct the final sculpture.

 

ARTWORKS:

   Tony Smith. “Tau,” 1961-62




 

MattaART / PAINTING / Spatial Ordering:
MAPPING 3-DEMENTIONAL SPACE

enlarge image

.

CREATIVE ACTIVITY

  • Make sketches of TAU (front back, top, bottom, left side, right side.
  • Visualize the large triangular shapes that make up each side of the sculpture. (example, one side of the sculpture can by sketched to show there are 5 large triangles that make up that side. Indicate these invisible triangles with dotted lines.)
  • Sketch the top shape from the 3rd floor crosswalk.
  • Define a means of indicating on your sketch names that indicate each side. ( example: FRONT faces the subway;  LEFT side faces Starbucks; ect.). Orientation is critical in reconstructing the sculpture.
  • Use a triangle template to draw each face of the sculpture. The triangle template will help to ensure that each face will have the proper proportions. Hint: the top face is a trapezoid made of three triangles.

  • Use rigid paper such as your watercolor to reconstruct each face and then tape the sides together to reconstruct the sculpture.
  • This is a group project that depends more on HOW you solve the logic problem rather than how well you construct the final sculture.

Another means of drawing Tau is to use two point perspective.




 


ACTIVITY REFLECTION QUESTION:

Some artworks have little to do with expression and more to do with logic. Where do YOU fit into this theory. Are you comfortable with logic or expression? How does this orientation effect the way you solve problems?

 RESPONSE on the BB Discussion Board. 

 

Playing, thinking, expressing, noticing and constructing a world of possibilities from which we choose meaning.

CONTEXT:
ARCHITECTURE:

Re- Approaching Tony Smith, by Harriet F. Senie

LITERACY
Thinking Spatially:
New Literacy, Museums, and the Academy :

Spatial Order in Literacy

Froebel Networks

Context:

SEPTEMBER 16 - DECEMBER 4, 2004
In the exhibition Tracing Tony Smith's Tau, the evolution of Smith's great work is revisited from its inception in 1961-62 to its installation in the plaza on 68th Street and Lexington Avenue at Hunter College in 1984, twenty years ago. Drawings and maquettes for both Tau and related sculptures will be shown and presented in context with his other major works. Curated by William C. Agee, professor of art history at Hunter College, with the assistance of Hunter MA graduate students in Art History, this exhibition aims to explore the artistic and historical context for this seminal work. The exhibition includes paintings, architectural renderings, sketches, photographs, video and models that depict Tau and work by the artist that informs this important sculpture. The exhibition will also include background material by those who knew him during his tenure as a highly influential teacher at Hunter College (1962-1980), during the period when Tau was conceived. This exhibition has been organized to celebrate the work's twentieth anniversary since its installation on Hunter College's West plaza and the completion of its recent restoration.

VOCABULARY:

volume, sphere, tetrahedron, pyramid, cube, X,Y,Z coordinates, Cartesian, linear, dynamic, black holes, networks, systems, cubism, strategies, systems, mapping,

Standards Met:
The Arts Standards for NY

Content Standard #2: VA Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

Rubric