COLOUR

Colour is an important element of art and one that is prominent in many Soft Sculptures, particularly with artists such as Troy Emery. There are three properties of colour:

Hue: The name given to a colour.

Intensity: The vividness of a colour. The intensity of a colour is often measured by its brightness. Low intensity colours can be described as dull or subtle. Other common references to colour intensity may include colourfulness, saturation and strength.

Value: This refers to the shade or tint of a colour.

The relationship between colours as demonstrated by the colour wheel below is extremely important to many artists and is key to Troy Emery’s work. The patterns he creates clearly display a consideration of the relationship that exists between colours. For example; complementary colours are colours that are opposite to each other and that when put together enhance the other.

STUDENT ACTIVITY:

Pre-cut dots in a range of colours and sizes (use the colours presented in the colour wheel above). Make sure you have several of the same colours. Using a Styrofoam ball, paste the coloured circles onto the sphere in a particular pattern. Discuss the importance of complementary colours when deciding what colours to put next to each other.

Discuss your choices with your classmates and identify which compositions of colour did and didn’t work. Analyse your findings.