What do we learn about the process of the designers and the artist discussed in the text? What is the role of “process” in their overall activity?
The designers consider the process of making the work as the focus or takeaway. They are led to create using instructions that will determine how the piece looks, not themselves. They are emphasizing how they don’t just make art in a process, but rather the process makes the art.
Describe how their approach differs from designs or drawings you have created in the past and what the impact on the resulting work is.
The designers focus on what they are actively doing to create their works, while I am more accustomed to drawing a product. I am not confined by strict rules that dictate my actions, so I have the freedom to use my process as a means to a result. On the other hand, the designers are limited to only following their instructions, which means the process becomes the result itself.
The text introduces the concept of the conditional drawing, where the artwork is the result of a series of instructions (rules) being performed. Can you imagine a (short) set of rules that, when followed on a sheet of paper, might produce an interesting, or unexpected, result?
My conditional drawing rules would be:
Use red, yellow, and blue
Roll a die
If 1 or 2 use red
If 3 or 4 use blue
If 5 or 6 use yellow
Draw a circle
Roll the dice again
If odd, draw a circle in empty space
If even, draw a line through a circle
Roll again
If odd, draw a circle in empty space
If even, draw a line starting from the end of another line through a circle
Continue elongating the line through the circles
Describe your thought process when devising your rules. Can you imagine the resulting image in your head, or are you tempted to act out your own rules on a sheet of paper – just to get an idea of what the result might look like? (If the latter, try to identify what part of your rules made you do so.)
My goal while creating the rules was to create scenarios that would keep changing, or where every attempt would look different from the previous. Using a die was just an easy way to devise change. Since my rules aren’t too specific, I can think of what the outcome could possibly look like, although it will still be different depending on the person doing it. I think in general; an outcome would look like an array of multicolored circles looped together by a multicolored string. I think wherever the person starts, the circles will remain similar in size until they start running out of room, then the circles will gradually become smaller.
