The document discusses different types of materials used in art and design, including their properties and appropriate uses. It covers selecting materials based on intended purpose, ease of use, health hazards, and sustainability considerations. Specific materials discussed include bamboo, new technologies like aerogel, and the use of found objects and readymades in conceptual art. The document emphasizes researching materials and understanding how their intrinsic qualities can enhance a work's meaning.

1. MATERIAL and FOUND OBJECT

2. Introduction
Material Carries Meaning
Marc Quinn. Self. 1966. Self-portrait. Frozen blood, vitrine,
and refrigeration unit. The artist poses in background.
Selecting the right materials for your
purpose is critical and demands that you
accumulate knowledge through research,
experiment, and experience.
Material carries meaning and contains
content. How would the self-portrait differ
if made of painted plastic instead of frozen
blood?
Truth to materials is a modernist tenet
suggesting that materials should be used
in ways that take advantage of their
intrinsic properties and do not appear to
be another material.

3. Workability
Ease of Use
Most materials fall into one of
these groups:
• Wood, fiber, and paper-based
products
• Metals
• Earth-based materials such as
clay, stone, concrete, plaster,
and glass
• Plastics and foams
• Dyes and pigments
Some factors in choosing materials,
particularly for beginners include:
• Ease of forming
• Cost
• Availability

4. Workability
Ease of Use
Health Hazards in Design and the Arts
If not handled properly, art materials are dangerous
• Spraying and sanding requires a respirator
• Safety glasses and proper ventilation are often required for a
variety of processes
• Many materials should be kept off your skin.
• Eating or smoking should not happen too close to your studio
space.

5. Material
Bamboo
Although bamboo has been used for centuries, it is being used as much as ever because it is:
• Renewable
• Versatile
• Grows in abundance in warm climates globally
It is used for small products and large-scale projects using traditional techniques, as well
as more groundbreaking contemporary purposes.
Bamboo tea whisk. Japan. Calfee Design. Bamboo bicycle.Bamboo scaffolding for bridge construction. China.

6. New Materials
Technological Development
The evolution of material for sculpture, products,
and structures has a long and interesting history.
Some of the more promising new technologies
include:
• Aerogel - the lightest known solid is
incomparably strong and insulatory.
• Carbon Fiber – threadlike with a very high
strength-to-weight ratio
• Synthetic Skin – a number of skin substitutes
for medical purposes.
• Others – composites, laminates, new
polymers, nanotechnology, biotechnology,
fiber optics, super-hard materials and
specialized adhesives.
Aerogel supporting a brick. A 2.5-kg brick is supported on top of a
piece of aerogel weighing only 2 grams.

7. Sustainability
Reuse and Green Design
Sustainable or green materials refer to products
• Made from reclaimed materials
• That can be renewed or regrown as fast as they are consumed
• That have a local source
• Made from recycled material, or are recyclable.
• “Folk Art” often follows these ideas
Green Design in architecture and interiors focuses on creating energy-efficient,
environmentally sustainable spaces.
Cook + Fox Architects. LiveWorkHome. Eco-friendly house.El Anatsui. Dusasa I. 2007. Aluminum liquor bottle caps and copper
wire, 20’ x 30'. Venice Biennale.

8. “What’s in your product? What’s next after its use? What resources does it take to make? Start answering these key questions and get
on the path towards reaching 21st century definitions of quality and value.” c2ccertified.org
Cradle to Cradle Design
Design which takes into consideration the environmental benefit or harm of
• materials and how they are sourced
• manufacturing methods including energy use and transport
• what will happen to the product when its useful life is over --- can it be recycled
or re-purposed?

9. Bridging Art and Life
Art and Everyday Experience
In relational aesthetics or
“relational art” the artist is
viewed as a catalyst of social
experiences.
Less than a hundred years ago
livestock were part of daily life;
today they are invisible. The
Virtual Pasture was an artwork
installed on the campus of The
Ohio State University.
The introduction of sheep to a
university campus is more than
surreal juxtaposition; it is a
proposal for a balanced life.

10. Felix Gonzales-Torres Viewers are invited to partake of candy in heap on gallery floor.
RELATIONAL ART

11. A very different kind of hybrid object
exists in the realm of contemporary
electronic products—it involves
combining functions that previously
existed as separate products.
This hybrid tendency in electronic
product design is referred to as
convergence.
Hybrid Form
Blurring Boundaries
Apple iPhone.

12. One of the most recent manifestations of the found object is Damien Hirst’s thirteen-foot
tiger shark in a tank containing formaldehyde, here installed at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. Concerning context and the found object, Roberta Smith wrote in the New York Times,
“… at the Met, of course, it still shocks. If you passed it at the American Museum of Natural
History across Central Park, you might not look twice.”
The Found Object
The Readymade
In the early 1900s Marcel Duchamp claimed various objects to be works of art. This simple
act has dramatically impacted the art world for a century.
Damien Hirst. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. 1991.

13. The combination of two or more found
objects is often referred to as an altered or
assisted Readymade.
What is responsible for a work such as
Picasso’s Bull’s Head assemblage?
It is neither skill nor hard work. It is an
intellect that makes creative connections,
discovering new meaning in that which has
been discarded and overlooked.
Pablo Picasso. Bull’s Head. Assemblage, bicycle seat and handlebars.
1' 1 1⁄2” x 1’ x 7 1⁄2".
The Found Object
The Altered Readymade and the Bricolage

14. A bricoleur is someone who tinkers or putters
about. Bricolage is generally used to describe
a constructed object that is made with only
materials at hand, regardless of their origin or
purpose. The bricoleur is clever, proficient at
combining preexisting things in new ways.
Joseph Cornell. Medici Slot Machine. 1942. Construction.
1' 3 1⁄2” x 1’ x 4 3⁄8”..
The Found Object
The Altered Readymade and the Bricolage
Joseph Cornell’s studio, Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY.

15. Many designers and D.I.Y. practitioners are
repurposing existing objects and utilizing found and
discarded wood and metals instead of using new
resources.
The interest in ordinary and discarded objects is
growing, primarily because of the idea of reuse, an
aspect of green design.
Clare and Harry Richardson. Committee
Design. Surprise(lamp). 2010.
The Found Object
The Altered Readymade and the Bricolage