Interaction and Transparency Assignment

Color Studies: (Albers) Color Interaction

“In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is—as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.”   Josef Albers

In Class Exercise: Experiment with color interaction studies using color aid paper in your sketchbook.  You should complete the following by placing a squre within a square or a strip within a rectangle
One value becomes two
Two Values become one
One color becomes two
One color becomes two hues of the same value
One color becomes very visibly different in both hue and value
Two colors become one


Transparency:
In class exercise: Experiment with transparencies (median and dark transparency) using gouache and color-aid paper in your sketchbook.

The objective of this exercise is to create the optical illusion of transparency with opaque color and is not to be confused with literal transparency.  The illusion of transparency enhance the appearance of spatial depth in a 2D design.  This illusion is produced by one shape overlapping another and thereby forming a third shape that seems to be a part of each.  Imagine two translucent rectangles superimposed at right angles to form a cross.  Emerging at the intersection of the cross is a square, with the color of the square determining the effect of transparency.
There are two distinct categories of transparency, median transparencies and dark transparencies.
In Median Transparencies the hue and value lie precisely halfway between the hue and value of the parent colors.  Median transparencies work well when the parent colors differe in value.  Parent colors that are close in value make for poor median transparencies.

With Dark Tranparencies the intersecting hue is darker than both of the parent colors.  Dark transparencies work better when the parent colors are close in value, but they do not work well when both parent colors are dark and equal in value.



Outside Assignment: (Albers) Color Interaction
Required Materials: gouache, brushes, palette, color-aid paper, bristol board, glue stick or matte medium, sketchbook, graphite pencils, water container, metal ruler, exacto knife and paper towels.

Recommended text: The Interaction of Color (Revised and Expanded), Josef Albers, Yale University Press, 2006 (on reserve in the library).

• Create two related 7x10” designs using geometric or organic shapes, or a combination of each.  Use a different palette of colors in each. Use at least 15-20 shapes and at least 5 to 6 colors. Use each color more than once.

In one composition, exhibit the interaction of color by using a common color on various background surfaces to create the illusion of different values, hues or saturations.  In the other composition, exhibit the use of transparency in the composition.

-You should include a median and a dark transparency in the transparency composition.    You might want to use a background or try and keep the composition simple, as transparency has a tendency to get confusing with too many shapes and intersections.

-Exhibit the interaction of color by using a common color on various background surfaces to create the illusion of different values, hues or saturations.

• Mount your 7x10” studies on 9”x 12” Bristol. Use a 1” border. Keep border clean. Craftsmanship in the execution of the studies and presentation is important.  Use equal parts of Gouache and color aid paper.