88 Works

When I attended the Corcoran waaaaaaaay back in the day, we had an assignment called 88 Works. It was an exercise designed to help students develop artistically through discovering what their stylistic tendencies were. It's a great exercise to do but it's pretty intense if you have trouble turning things around quick like I do. But, part of the learning process is to let go of perfection and just do so that what falls out are the root tendencies of your own personal style and aesthetic. A while ago I felt like I needed to revisit an exercise like this but couldn't find it anywhere. When I was in school the rumor was that this project was a distillation of a previous iteration called 100 or 120 works. Wow! Years after I graduated I heard that it was whittled down to 50 works. To my delight, I was tidying up (thanks, Mrs. Kondo!) and I found my original copy of 88 Works. I know I had done a search with no success in the past and I was thinking that maybe there are others out there who would like a copy of this exercise to give them an inspirational jolt so here it is:

88 Works 

(in 100 days)

• Be Open
• Be Quick
• Be Intuitive
• Be Experimental
• Be Imaginative
• Use as wide a variety of materials and processes as possible
• Don’t be judgmental
• Remember: You are gathering information, gaining experience, not producing “works of art”

After the 88 works, the faculty will work with you to pull information out of this experience. Have fun, work hard.

• Drawing of the inside of your mouth
• Sculpture of the inside of your mouth
• Painting of top view of your head
• Drawing from an object
• A drawing without space
• __________________________
• __________________________
• 3-D landscape
• 3-D modeled
• A painted object
• Drawing as a fantasy map
• __________________________
• A nonobjective drawing
• A black and white drawing (dry)
• A black and white drawing (wet)
• A black and white photo (you shoot)
• A photocopy
• 3-D carved
• __________________________
• 3-D thick and thin wire
• 3-D with movement (kinetic)
• __________________________
• __________________________
• A collage from image-sorting trio(s)
• A book
• __________________________
• A monochrome painting
• A transparent painting
• __________________________
• A monoprint
• A drawing from life
• 3-D from life
• 3-D an African headdress
• 3-D as a weapon
• __________________________
• Painting like a photo
• Drawing by abstracting another work (of yours)
• Oil painting of bottom of your shoe (sole)
• Acrylic painting as puzzle
• __________________________
• A micro-drawing
• 3-D paper
• 3-D like a drawing
• Spin art painting
• Painting using a stencil
• Acrylic over wet oil painting
• Painting with a front and back
• 3-D like a painting
• Drawing as a symbol
• 3-D as a symbol
• __________________________
• Painting as romantic landscape
• Drawing as an illness
• 3-D as a shelter
• 3-D assemblage
• Drawing like a sculpture
• 3-D, a found object
• 3-D from photographs
• A painting made up of units
• __________________________
• 3-D made up of units
• 3-D as narrative
• Painting as narrative
• Painting, non-rectangular format
• 3-D as doll furniture
• Painting with a stick
• Painting without paint
• 3-D within a cube
• __________________________
• Drawing from a dream
• 3-D from the same dream
• a color photo (you shoot)
• Drawing with text (words)
• __________________________
• 3-D as toy
• A drawing from memory
• 3-D with text (words)
• A drawing from a poem
• __________________________
• 3-D as a package
• 3-D as a tool
• A drawing of the hand you write with
• 3-D with an arc and a curve
• A poem of a drawing
• A thin painting
• 3-D an object with no history
• Drawing as a political/social statement
• __________________________