TENSION BETWEEN THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE

Emily Riordan

Jessi Davis

Sophia Wiley

Spacing, tension and balance must be given total focus when developing a composition. Last night's collage addressed these three aspects. Students made a design of repeating primary and secondary elements moving down columns. The objective was to achieve total balance between the positive and negative areas without one dominating the other. In all three compositions above , the black and white areas are able to exchange roles. It is possible to see the black areas as positive and the white areas as negative and yet the white areas could also be seen as positive and the black areas negative. Great consideration must be given to the tension and spacing between the columns. In addition, the types of shapes (curves, angles, etc) as well as whether a shape is concave or convex profoundly affects the balance between the dark and light areas.