This PREP workshop was made possible by the NSF grant DUE: 0341481

From Prep08Wiki

We have discussed depth in art, looking at some of these pictures:

• History of depth
• Escher's Depth, Tower of Babel, New Year's Greeting Card, Gallery, House of Stairs.

Here are some more:

• Duccio, The Last Supper, 1308-11.
• Durer, St. Jerome in His Study, 1514
• Pozzo, The Apotheosis of St. Ignatius, c1690-1694.
• Dali, Christ of St. John on the Cross, 1952
• Escher: Inside St. Peter's, Cubic Space Division, Other World, Up and Down, Welder

and a simple applet for drawing a cube in two point perspective (move the red points): Perspective Applet, by Cathi Sanders.

Write questions you might ask you students about depth and perspective either in class, on homework, or on exams. Put the questions on this page, in your group's section.

(If you click the 'Edit' for your section rather than the entire page, we will avoid edit conflicts).

Contents 1 Group 1 2 Group 2 3 Group 3 4 Group 4 5 Group 5

Group 1

1) Find the perspective lines and vanishing point in 2 or 3 point perspective images.

2) Search for artwork with 1,2,3 point perspective, zeniths and nadirs.

3) Draw a square in 2 or more different perspectives

4) Sketch a fence or road in 1-point perspective, and then again in 2 point perspective

5) Project or in-class activity - find a video game that utilizes perspective. Analyze what features of perspective the programmers used, and what do you think they intentionally did not do to facilitate prgramming and implementation?

Group 2

Group 3

A very good text to follow for art, perspective and mathematics is Annalisa Crannel's and Marc Franz' textbook. I think it is called Viewpoints.

See [[1]] for a pre-print, which I'm sure it is illeagal to distribute.

Some images of students beginning their exploration of perspective by doing the "masking tape on glass" exercise. Note that this exercise is often done in introductory drawing classes.

A nice image for perspective and depth, which is in the Art Institute in Chicago: [[2]].

Stephen says: bryan asked how we test perspective.i test my students in perspective by having them do constructions like drawing a cube, and doubling a cube or having them find the viewing distance re:Crannell & Frantz

Group 4

Consider Durer's St. Jerome in his study.
1. Before you draw in any perspective lines, what point perspective do you think this was done in (1 point, 2 point...)?
2. Draw in some perspective lines - were you correct in #1?
3. Using your perspective lines, add a box to the painting, next to the skull on the left.
4. Does the location of the vanishing point have any significance in the painting?

Consider Pozzo's The Apotheosis of St. Ignatius.
1. Where do you think the artist is standing? In which direction is he looking?

A question for our class: Can we give them one measure and have them figure out what other measurements are? For example, if we give them the height of one column, and possibly some other information, can they compute other lengths?

Group 5

1. Give students several images of pictures with various sorts of perspective, along with photographs of railway tracks, telephone wires, etc. Ask students to identify and draw parallel lines in the image, and see how, or whether, they converge.
2. Draw simple object, such as a cube, in one and two-point perspective. Then do same with a 3-D letter L or F.
3. Take students to a museum, student art exhibit or senior thesis presentation and ask them to identify the perspective used in various paintings.
4. Ask students to take photographs of scenes with perspective (rows of buildings, etc.), print them out, and draw the perspective lines. Students should try to photograph the same scene from different angles/locations, and compare the vanishing points. Buildings with rows of columns are particularly appropriate - can compare the first and last columns in the row.