Exercise Nine: Concavity

“In the convexity exercise you were already learning about concavity — about how negative volume affects form. Now, the focus will be on concavity.”

Think about natural elements and the slow erosion caused by wind and water. Make some clay sketches in which concavity establishes the character of the design. Design the surface of the concavity to contrast with the convexity.

“Good art or design rarely looks like it was done quickly. The artist or designer keeps working until all the parts of a painting, sculpture, or product relate. That is what makes art last — regardless of its time. We respect it for its completion and its consistency.”

Choose your most successful sketch and develop it. Use several blocks of clay and combine them. Decide whether you want a predominantly vertical or horizontal composition. Create shapes in which the character is exciting and the inherent and comparative proportions are pleasing.

Establish dominant, subdominant, and subordinate relationships. The first significant spatial relationship should express the whole design. It should express the character and proportions of the volumes, their rhythmic movement, and the variety and contrast of curved and straight lines.

Work on contrast. If things are different, they must complement each other. It is much harder to make things that are complementary than to make things that are the same. The complementary relationship must be understood from the very beginning. If you are having trouble, just hang in there. Take one shape away and see if it looks better without it.

Be aware of the axes. Not only do positive forms have axes, but concavities have axes as well. When the shape of a concavity is strong, it becomes a thing. It is almost like a positive form.

Do not trap the negative space. It should go around and come out and go someplace else. The space should flow, pushing against the volume in an eroding process, like a river through a canyon. Try to indicate how you would go through it with the eye. After you have the volumes and axes right, you can begin playing with one plane against another. Then, you can play with all the other lines. See how the outside lines relate to the inside lines.

Execute your final design using a salt or plaster block as your medium. Plaster is OK here. You can afford to work more quickly on the concavity exercise because you can gouge and hollow the material. If you work in salt, use files and sandpaper as you did in the convexity problem.

Although you are removing material here, do not let your form contract like a prune becoming a raisin. You want to increase the presence of the form through its expansive characteristics. Once again, you want to end up with a form that looks larger than the geometric form you started with.

Forward
The principles of study that Rowena helped formulate were embodied in a foundation curriculum that became the primary, universal first year of study for all Pratt Institute art and design students.
On Sketching
For those of you who have never worked in three dimensions, it provides an introduction to the three-dimensional world and to that complex and exciting set of relationships that will challenge you for the rest of your life.
Exercise One: Rectilinear
“At first working with 3-dimensional forms in this way is difficult. But soon you will begin to speak this language. You really have to make these beautiful. That sounds pretentious. How can you make three blocks beautiful? But I know that you can.”
Exercise Two: Curvilinear
“The second experience involves the organization of curvilinear volumes in a dynamic relationship. In addition to mass, proportion and character, you will now deal with the additional challenge of the diagonal axis. We will work with the following curvilinear solids.”
Exercise Three: Rectilinear + Curvilinear
“In this problem we introduce the notion of group movements. Be aware of inherent, comparative, and overall proportions.”
Exercise Four: Fragments
“The objective of this exercise is to choose a solid, cut it apart and reorganize the cut fragments in a new composition that is more beautiful than the original form from which it was derived.”
Exercise Five: Planar Construction
“The objective of this exercise is to gain an understanding of the characteristics of planes and how they relate to each other in space. In this problem you are asked to create a beautiful construction using a variety of planes.”
Exercise Six: Lines In Space
“Lines have many uses in design. They can be used as the axes of solid forms, to describe planes or volumes, and to delineate.”
Exercise Seven: Construction
“The abstract experience based on construction involves the design and organization of contrasting forms, the new experience of grouping forms to create related movements, and a deeper understanding of the balance of directional forces and of tensional positions in space.”
Exercise Eight: Convexity
“The exercises in convexity and concavity are based on organic forms. They present the opportunity to explore the properties of a single, specific form. Unlike the dramatic quality of the construction exercise, the convexity and concavity exercises deal with subtle gesture.”
Exercise Ten: Space Analysis
“The study of planes in space is all about relationships — about how the planes look in relation to each other. The answer is not yes or no — it’s yes in relation to something else or no in relation to something else.”
Exercise Eleven: Space Design
“This project follows the abstract exercises in space analysis and cannot be successfully completed until the student has mastered those exercises.”
Exercise Twelve: Development
“These are examples of more advanced work in which students continue to explore abstract forms but also begin to apply some practical criteria to their work.”