Unit 6 Arts of the Neoclassical Era/ Context

Assignment 4:  A Study of Symmetry

Whether you call it the Age of Reason, Enlightenment, or Neoclassical Era, the 18th century was a time when the pendulum was swinging back toward classical values.  One of the concepts which appears in theatre, visual art, music, and architecture of the time is symmetry.  Your portfolio assignment is to create a design that is based on the concept of symmetry.

Your design may take any form you like.  You may use reflectional symmetry in which one half of an object mirrors the other half (ex. a mask) or rotational symmetry, in which all sides are the same (ex. a starfish).

Here are three examples to get you started:

(1) An elaborate cut-paper design

(2) A colored "floor plan" or bird's eye view of a formal Neoclassical garden, with pathways, and beds in perfect rotational or reflectional symmetry around a central sculpture or fountain.

(3) Most challenging:  word-based symmetry.  This might be an experimental work using palindromes (see Wikipedia for examples), or a ballad in which there is a symmetrical pattern of stanzas and repeated verses, or even an outline or reproduction of a symmetrical object using letters, numbers, and figures.

Anything goes, in fact, as long as it's clear that you fully understand symmetry and know how to use it. 

Note: I took the first option, and made this cut-paper design of reflectional symmetry.  I began with several sheets of construction paper, folded each (separately) down the middle, and began cutting patterns.  When I had experimented with several sheets of paper I placed them on top of each other (matching folds) to see what kind of color and pattern would emerge.  It didn't work right on the first try, so I enlarged some of the cut patterns and revised the papers until the stacked pattern looked good to me.  This was a pretty quick process; it would have been much more challenging if I had tried to use rotational symmetry.