Unearthing Interesting Things

I'm still organizing things in the studio. Progress is actually being made. I bought 10 or 12 new storage containers (some transparent) and have been repacking the many old books I've collected for use in my work (not as reading material but as objects to deconstruct and reuse in various ways).  I've also sorted through the materials I use for texture, and the pieces of fabric, and all the papers, the tools, the various equipment and who knows what all. The good news is that I'm getting there and I can imagine a time when I'll finish and be able to rehang some work, set up the tables and be ready to roll.

Meanwhile, in one of the innumerable pre-existing storage containers, I came across a cache of notebooks that I used when I was a student at MassArt. Of particular interest to me was one for the color class that Rob Moore taught. Here is the initial direction and first homework assignment:

1) Collect found color from magazines (enough for 4-5 weeks worth of assignments)
2) It must be continuous color 
3) Collect as many greys as possible
4) Sort by color
5) Use railroad board or chip board to mount the colors for exercises.


First Assignment:
1) Create an illusion of red:
   (A) as black
   (B) as grey
   (C) as white
in 3 separate studies, using, to define the objective, 8 other hues beyond a constant red.
2) Place all 3 studies (24 colors plus red) into a single arrangement of color and shape.
Note: choose most saturated red.
This is a perceptual problem to challenge preconceived ideas of color. Intensity of a color does not increase by lightening or darkening which only affects hue. Perception depends where the color falls in the value scale, i.e. red as opposed to yellow. You will use a red that has a constant position in the value scale but change its function relative to the colors around it. This will be affected by the size of the color shapes and saturation levels.

Wow! No wonder I didn't understand what was going on.

Hedda Sterne, Machine No. 5