CAVA1001: Visual Art Foundation 1

S1, 2025

Steps Towards Final Work Project

Figure 1. Marcel Duchamp at the Walker Art Center, 1965. Photo: Eric Sutherland.

https://walkerart.org/magazine/archives-marcel-duchamp

Week 12 Steps Towards Your Final Project: Brainstorming/ Experimentation to Generate Ideas

Over the previous 11 weeks of the semester, you have explored a range of approaches to creative practice within CAVA1001 and engaged in giving and receiving feedback. This has primed you for the next and last stage in the unit: the Final Work Project.

To  explore  future  creative  directions  in  Week  12  you  will  undertake  a  series  of brainstorming exercises.

Materials to bring to class:

Note pad

Drawing paper

Pen or pencil

Tape

Glue stick

Aim:

To discover an idea or theme that you can carry forward as the conceptual focus of your  Final  Work  Project.   It  is  important  to  enliven  the  idea  through  further brainstorming  and  studio-based  experimentation.  This  is  called  practice-based research.

The exercises you will undertake in class are just examples of generating ideas—you do not necessarily have to use these methods; however, you might find one to be exciting and helpful for your final project.

Exercise 1 : The ‘Cut Up’ Method

This exercise is all about embracing random associations and including an element of chance in your creative process.

William S. Burroughs: Writer

Figure 2. William S. Burroughs, Extract from invitation to William S. Burroughs Centenary Exhibition, the ‘Cut-Up’ Technique/Boo Hurray—Emory University.

David Bowie: Musician

Figure 3. David Bowie, Cut up lyrics for “Blackout” from Heroes, 1977. Courtesy of The David Bowie Archive.

Image © Victoria and Albert Museum.

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/en-GB/exhibitions/davidbowieis

Short video of David Bowie discussing his ‘Cut-Up’ Method of song writing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlW4EbxTD8

Dada Artists: Tristan Tzara

Figure 4. Man Ray, Tristan Tzara, 1921, Paris, Centre Pompidou, © Man Ray Trust/ Adagp, Paris.

To begin, we will quickly go around the class and everyone will contribute one word— any word that comes to mind. Everyone will write all words down in a notebook or on a piece of paper.

Using the words write three separate phrases which use between 2 and 4 words.

Play with the sequence of the phrases as a catalyst for new possibilities.

Tips:

Arrange your phrases randomly.

Re-arrange them into new combinations.

Use these words to spark ideas—let them trigger a brainstorm.

Keep experimenting until you find a combination that sparks a strong idea.

Document this phrase in your visual diary.

Briefly explain how you plan to turn this idea into an artwork.

Remember: your word/phrase list should be unique to you.

Let the process guide your thinking—it will help you develop something more personal and original.

Be playful and open—this can be a warm-up or the basis for your final work.

Exercise 2: ‘Cut-Up’ Method to Image

Figure 5. Richard Hartog/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Artist John Baldessari in his Santa Monica studio, 2001.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-john-baldessari-artist-brought-comic-edge-conceptual-art-died-88

“ ... just as the work approaches the brink of absurdity, a prevailing order always reins it back in.”

“A systematic Bewildering, Gardner,” Colin. Artforum International; New York Vol. 28, Iss. 4, (Dec 1, 1989): 106-112.

“I think of humor as going for laughs and that’s not my purpose. I see my work as issuing forth from a view of the world that’s slightly askew.”

John Baldessari, quoted in Hunter Drohojowska, “I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art: A Profile of John Baldessari,” LA Weekly 6 no. 33, 13-19 July 1984, 8.

Generate a visual interpretation of your idea or theme which has come from the first ‘Cut-Up’ method in Exercise 1.

On drawing paper or in a notebook make three separate line drawings inspired by   your words or phrases. These are not detailed drawing—they are quick sketches to work through ideas, to find an image which comes from your idea.

Tips:

Start drawing by representing a visual element of your idea.

Use your 'Cut-Up' research for inspiration if you like.

Let the drawings evolve Ñfollow where it leads, rather than sticking too closely to the original idea.

You can try to move away from words, shifting your thinking to a purely visual language if you want, or keep words as part of your composition.

Use drawing freely—it's flexible and spontaneous.

Be playful and relaxed—don't worry about perfection or outcome.

Look back at all three drawings—is there something visually interesting to develop further?

Decide how to use this—as a warm-up or as a foundation for your final project.

Exercise 3: Self-Directed

The previous exercises are structured to encourage you to play with ideas in a dynamic context and to engage in practice-based research. That is, to attempt to discover more about an idea or a creative direction through brainstorming and studio-based processes. As outlined, these exercises can be approached as open conceptual development activities, or you can try to find something specific to develop further as a theme for your response to the Final Work Project.

Exercise 3: CAVA1001 Modules + Your Ideas = Self Directed

On a sheet of paper or in a notebook write down a list on the left-hand side of all the Modules you have completed in CAVA1001 this semester—revisit each module in Canvas to refresh your memory if you like:

Automatic Drawing

Experimental Field Recordings

Collage Painting

Print Lab

3-D Object Studio

Ceramic Lab

Now, down the right-hand side write at least 6 words or phrases which come directly from you—distinct ideas or characteristics that make you who you are.

These words could be about:

Your cultural identity and heritage

Interests and hobbies

Social or political concerns

Things that give you joy or entertainment

Emotions: Happiness, kindness, humour or things that upset you

Food, exercise, mental well being

Happiness, kindness, humour

Now link these words or phrases to one of the ways of working you’ve learnt about throughout the modules this semester. Think about which modules you enjoyed most, and which materials would suit your words, phrases and ideas best.

What are you most skilled at? What way of working do you think has the most potential as a vehicle to articulate your ideas?

Are you still lost for ideas?

Here are some samples from a wry handout that John Baldessari gave to his students to:

-    Challenge the creative mind

-    Offer a teaching method which allows students to seek out ways of shaping work from their own internal logic.

Variations on: CalArts Post-Studio Art: Class Assignments (Optional)

-    How can plants be used in art?

-    Give a verbal description of someone or something to another student to draw.

-    Collaborative digital collage project—each student gathers images & then swaps images with another to edit & make a composition.

-    What art could you make with a budget of $0? What themes might reoccur? How can you transfer these materials into art? How can you imbue these materials with meaning?

-    Make a storyboard with images of all the objects you look at in a random space or environment over a set interval of time.

-    Take the trash from someone’s wastepaper basket and make a collage portrait of them with the materials.

-    In a pairing of two students, one person makes up random captions. The

other person gathers random images or take photos. Both match captions to images together.

-    Disguise an object to look like another object.

-    Make up a list by looking at art books and talking to artists about things to

avoid when making art. Do them. Ask yourself if the results are good or bad.

-    What art can you make with a pair of Walkie Talkie radios? Or other electronic devices?

-    Can you make figurative sculptures using tissues and tape?

-    Photograph or draw the reverse of or underneath things—uncharacteristic views.

-    Put labels on things to list their contents.

-    Verbally describe a landscape instead of painting one.

-    Repaired or patched art. Recycle—find something broken and discarded & mend it with unconventional materials.

What will you do for your Final Work Project?

Working out the answer to this question is now the task at hand.

Step 1: Reflect on your experimentation in Exercises 1-3 and try to select 1 idea that you can take forward as a possible response to the final project. This is your unique theme!

Step 2: Develop a studio-based experiment for your theme that will assist you in understanding the idea even more. It is good to explore a range of possibilities and seek to discover new opportunities. Be creative, playful, experimental, inventive and innovative.

Step 3: Present your experiment in class for discussion. And then engage in further creative development. These activities will be the focus of the Week 13 Class where there will be opportunity for discussion and critical feedback on your idea and work-in- progress.

Left: Photogram by Man Ray. Right: Asger Jorn using a ‘light pen’ to sketch.