Art 179L HM Introduction to 2-D Design



Chaos to Order, September 29-October 13, 2022
Photocopy Compositions, September 29-October 13, 2022

Pliable Plane: Self vs. The Whole, November 17-December 9, 2022

Parsons Engineering Building



Students of Art 179L HM Introduction to 2-D Design (Fall 2022)




View of 2-D and 3-D artworks in the hallway of an academic building. Various designs using fabric and other media are attached to the wall and behind and above two sofas.
Pliable Plane: Self vs. The Whole, 2022, mixed media. 


View of 9 artworks in the hallway of an academic building. Various 2-D designs are attached to the wall and behind and above two sofas.
Chaos to Order and Photocopy Compositions, 2022, works on paper.



The HMC Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts presents student artwork from Art 179L HM Introduction to 2-D Design (Fall 2022). A series of rotations throughout the semester will showcase selected projects from the course.

Chaos to Order
For this project, students were asked to create a series of 5 compositions that flow from chaos to order (or order to chaos). They first chose a shape, or two shapes, to work with, and were asked to keep the same amount of shapes in each composition. They focused not only on creating five dynamic compositions but on establishing flow and unity across the set. The pieces play with the design principles/ elements of the arrangement, unity, and positive and negative space. Artists include: Megan Chen, Dante Christian, Flannery Daley-Watson, Zach Fineberg, Kaitlynn Gray, Jay Jiang, Amalinalli Martinez-Hahn, Wali Shaikh.

Photocopy Compositions
For this assignment students used found objects and a Xerox machine to create unique compositions by laying objects directly onto the glass of the machine. The pieces explore design principles and elements that we are discussing as a class such as positive/ negative space, gestalt, rhythm, contrast, focal point, and arrangement, and ultimately explore how to create a dynamic unified composition using limited constraints. Artists include: Megan Chen, Dante Christian, Flannery Daley-Watson, Zach Fineberg, Kaitlynn Gray, Jay Jiang, Amalinalli Martinez-Hahn, Wali Shaikh.

Pliable Plane: Self vs. The Whole
For this project, we will be blending the first three skills we have developed in this class (sewing, dying, and embroidery) to create a piece that acts as a pliable plane in Andrea Zittel’s definition above. A pliable plane can be an artwork on the wall, a wearable on the body, a room divider in space, a rug, a mat, a quilt, a flag, a protest sign… In addition, your pliable plane should reflect the idea of “the self” in relation to the whole. This can be a personal consideration (thinking about you in relation to your family or community) or a broader consideration of self in relation to nature, society, culture, politics, or gender. Artists include: Annie DeVoe, Ruth Mekonnen, Anya Porter, Luke Rodley, Katie Wu.

– Professor Lindsay Zappas

Parsons Engineering Building is open Monday through Friday, 8AM to 5PM. The exhibition is open to the public. The Covid-19 guidelines will be updated as new information becomes available.

The course and the exhibition are taught and curated by Professor Lindsay Zappas.


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