Notan Collages - "Expanding the Square"What is Notan?Notan is a Japanese word that means "lightness-darkness." It represents one of the basic principles that help compositions catch the eye and appeal to the viewer. Notan is the ability to see things in terms of black and white, and to consequently build strength in imagery. When compositions work in black and white--they work.To try a notan, start with a square or rectangle of black paper. Use scissors to cut the paper. When a section is cut, it is folded out in a mirror image.
One of the unusual aspects of notan, is you don't know the finished size of the piece until you are done. Simply cut the paper, position them sections out, and glue each section down on white paper.
See more info on Notan and its history after lesson explanation.Materials:
Scissors, glue (glue sticks are fine, Elmer's glue is recommended), white construction paper 12x11 (or two sheets per student of 8x11 card which can be taped together from behind, if necessary) black paper cut into 5x5 inch squares, scrap paper, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners,
Demonstration materials
Either download the Youtube Tutorial on Notan and set this up to be viewed on a laptop/projector, or print off several examples, i.e. the images below, and have the instructor explain how exactly the image was created. An instructor could also create a simple notan collage design as an on the spot demo.
Lesson Procedure: (for a one hour session)
1. Set up the student desks with the following for each student: scissors, glue, a piece of scrap paper, a sheet of white construction paper, the pre-cut 5x5 inch black paper square, a pencil and a rubber. Give instructions (10 mins of instructions max)2. Explain to students that they need to draw an original design on the piece of scrap paper. First they need to trace around the black square onto the white scrap paper. Tell them to make sure their design isn't too complicated to be cut out. With the drawing of this design, ask students to think about which parts are going to be cut out and which parts will remain part of the centre square. They can lightly shade the parts that will be cut out to clarify their design.3. Once students are happy with their designs (and this should take max. 15 mins) ask them to redraw the design onto the black square. They can also lay the scrap piece of paper over the black square and draw over their design firmly to create an indentation on the square below4. Once the image is drawn on the black square, students can begin cutting it out, making sure to keep all the cut out sections in a safe place and not lose any of them. (15 mins)5. When all the cutting is done, students now assemble and glue down their designs. To do this, they place the black square in the centre of the white paper, they fold out the segments that were cut out and place them down mirror image from their previous position. (15 mins)6. To finish, name and hand in work. Clean up, pack up! (5 mins)7. The designs look great stuck up together as a wall decoration.
Assessment:
(What was expected)
More info on Notan
What is dark is not light and what is light is not dark. This is the basis of all design and an important guiding principle of art. It seems so simple but an artist can spend a lifetime exploring the possibilities of light and dark.
"Notan" is the term used by the Japanese to express "light-dark" as an element of design. In the west we use separate terms such as positive space and negative space, dividing the idea of light-dark into separate components. On paper it is easy to see that dark shapes cannot exist without a surrounding area of white. White shapes cannot exist without dark to define it. The two elements are really one. This is an eastern concept of yin-yang that each is what the other is not
Whether they put a name to it or not, artists in all cultures have long recognized the value of notan. Devices have been invented to look for and find it. The "Claude glass" is a convex, black glass used to reflect a landscape in a reduced size with muted colours and less detail. The French painter Claude Lorraine (1600-1683) is thought to have invented it. While the odd one is still seen among "plein air" painters, the more common approach is to view work with half-closed eyes--or to get way back. Another system is to view art and subjects through generally blue or green camera filters or gels. But more than anything notan is a learned skill. For those of us who struggle daily at the painting game--the enemy is "wishy-washy," and the desired object is to yin and yang with the viewer's sensibilities. In the words of Junichiro Tanizaki: "Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides."
There are two types of notan--planned notan and developmental notan. Planned notan is often figured out in a preparatory sketch, or is "ready made" in the subject matter. Developmental notan is where you find notan--indeed you make notan--as you go along. Notan is also a matter of degree--it can be a strong, interactive pattern with negative and positive, even an eye-fooling optical illusion. In abstract work the job of finding notan can be the main joy and source of magic. In more realistic work it can be a skittish but nevertheless satisfying pattern discovered and built during the process. Tuned-in artists find themselves saying: "This is good notan." An exercise that never hurt anybody is to simply plan and calculate good notan into a work--then make sure it stays put.
Best regards,
Robert Genn
PS: "Notan is a synthetic arrangement of dark and light that creates an impression of beauty, regardless of either the colors used or of the subject matter. A strong notan design is therefore the key to a strong painting. Without it, both color and line fail to reach their full impact. Many of the most powerful paintings have the simplest value structures. That is to say, they only use two, three, or four major values." (Barry John Raybould)
Esoterica: Very often the quality of a work can slip because artists simply fail to work things out in the best order. A carefully drawn and even beautifully prepared work may, for example, have poor notan. Never forget that drawing and line can be the enemies of pattern. "Think pattern first, then drawing, then color. The character of your painting is resolved in the pattern." (Edgar A. Whitney)
(c) Copyright 2004 Robert Genn. (reprinted here with permission).
BelowStudent Art work from the Canadian Dream Notan Art Workshop, 2011, conducted by Ben Timmins with the Ottawa International Projects and Exchanges Program.(These works were displayed on the cafeteria of the Ottawa Educational Centre, formerly the Ottawa Carleton Technical School)
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