He Received a Bachelor S Degree in Architecture from University of Southern California

Grace Phillips

About:

-He is a Canadian American born on February 28th 1929.

-He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from University of Southern California.

-He has been a professor at an abundance of prestigious universities, and is currently back at USC teaching architecture.

-He is famous for his abstract sculptural architect designs

As a child, his grandmother would bring home scraps of wood and metal from his father’s hardware store. He recalled them playing with them on the ground, building these wonderful fantasy cities. These are the memories that drew him to the architecture field.

He believes that architecture can solve many difficult problems with cities, and that what attracted him to the field. He is inspired by a sense of responsibility and human values and how these relate back to the community. He loves his work to have movement and life, otherwise “what’s the point of it.” His movement in his work is in response to the fast moving world around him, and his way of connecting to it.

His Work:

-It would be classified as deconstructivist architecture, which is a style that departs from modernist techniques. It has a lot of distortion, fragment pieces, and manipulation.

-His work is highly abstract and distorted.

-He focuses on light and movement, and form follows function.

-All interaction between the building’s surroundings, people, and negative space are very important. He considers the buildings around his work when designing. The negative spaces that people walk through are just as important to him as the formal structure.

Lesson Ideas:

The reason I would want to do a unit based on Frank Gehry is because he is such an innovator. His ideas are very unique, and completely bizarre. I would want to show my students examples of non-traditional artists to help facilitate their own creative thinking. Also, I think architecture is important, and it usually doesn’t get talked about until a college art history course. It should be introduced earlier on in students’ academics. Architecture is an art form that is not covered enough in high school, and I would definitely want to incorporate it into my classroom.

1)Art Production:I would have my students create a building or structure using a similar method as Frank Gehry. I would want them to use the same processes of building with thick paper, cardboard, and other cheap found materials. Their building should be their dream house. They do not have to look like Gehry’s work, but I wouldn’t want to see a box with a triangle on top. I would also be open to letting students creating an abstract sculpture using the same materials.

2)Art History: I would have the students create a presentation comparing modernism architecture with post-modern deconstructivism. They would have to provide examples of both movements and compare the major differences. They should touch on the different philosophies between the movements, and how modernism influenced post-modern deconstructivism. They could also find similarities between the movements.

3)Philosophical Frame: I would have the students spilt into two groups and debate whether or not Frank Gehry’s work is art, or even good art. They would have to explain why or why not they believe its art. I would want them to touch on if it’s appropriate that he does function follows form instead of the traditional form follows function. Is it art or a crumpled paper turned into a building? Before the students debated, I would give them time to research to provide scholarly evidence to back up their claims.

4)Art Criticism: I would create a worksheet for my students to fill out where they had to touch on describe, analyze, interpret, and judgment. For each section they would have to use artistic vocabulary from the elements and principals of art, and specific vocabulary used during the presentation to discuss Frank Gehry’s work. The judgment section is not to be confused with judging whether its art or not. This section is judging on how clearly did the artist illustrate their ideas to the audience.

References:

•Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from

•Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from

•Sydney, P. (Director) (2005).Sketches of frank gehry [DVD]. Available from

•Straub, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from

•Greenberg, J., & Jordan, S. (2000).Frank O. Gehry : outside in / Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan. New York : DK Ink, 2000.