Guidelines

Material Studies and Maquettes!

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After testing more that 1600 materials for the right filament, including coconut fiber, fishing line, and even hairs from a friend's beard, Edison and his workers finally figured out what to use for the filament--carbonized bamboo.1

Material studies should reflect successful research in the direction of your final project. Sculptural processes are often unpredictable and this step is crucial to developing your project proposal. As artists working in sculpture we often face a steep learning curve with each new project, even experienced sculptors sometimes find the processes and materials you expect to work a particular way surprise you. Your studies are an opportunity to work out both possibilities and limitation, as such, the number of material studies you are required to bring to class should reflect rigorous experimentation and should be successful. Bring in your failures in addition to your final material studies. Maquettes are small three-dimensional thumbnail sketches. Sometimes they may be as simple as cardboard models of proposed works others may be fleshed out miniature works using the intended materials. Very successful maquettes should relay a clear sense of the final work. You may wish to include images of your maquettes in your proposals. Project sheets indicate specific maquette guidelines.

Proposals
!! Proposals should reflect a well-considered concept and a specific final form
along with a clear plan of action to bring it into being. A very good proposal takes presentation of information into consideration. Proposals must include: o o o o Concept One or two paragraph description of your ideation, motivation, and concepts. It may be helpful to describe what you hope to invoke in a viewer. Description One or two paragraph description of your final sculpture. What is it? What does it look like? Materials List and Local or Online Resources you intend to use Projected Timeline Day-by-day timeline of what specifically (Work is not specific enough) you intend to complete and how many hours you expect it to take. Most of your projects only allow for one week between proposal and critique. A clear plan of action is crucial to success. You may include research and development time completed before the proposal is due. Drawings and Sketches of your sculpture with measurements. Include a variety of views. You may have extra drawings with small possible variations. Besides traditional drawings, you may consider collage, digital sketches and images of your maquettes. Research May include a wide range of sources from a variety of fields. Include relevant vocabulary, summaries of your research. Images of visual Inspiration and artwork you are looking into in relation to this work is required. Write short statements explaining your interest in each and site reference material. Wikipedia is okay, but shouldnt be the only source. Presentation Should be well organized and have clear language. Grammar and punctuation are important in typed proposals.

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http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/000_story_02.asp