This deck of cards is designed to help people in their process of organizing materials, perceptions, and decisions related to sound, movement, or any other artistic medium.

The 86 aspects can be used as lenses to evaluate and analyze art, but they can also focus our attention on the composition of nature and the environment. There is a single aspect on each card, and on the back is a corresponding question related to the aspect.

Adapted from Mike Vargas’s article, “Looking at Composition is Like Painting the Golden Gate Bridge: 86 Aspects of Composition,” published in Contact Quarterly, Vol. 28 no. 2, Summer/Fall 2003.

Mike Vargas works internationally as a freelance composer performing, teaching, recording, and improvising. www.mikevargas.net

Card concept and production by Jun Akiyama.

“Dancers, choreographers, improvisers, and teachers worldwide have been finding Mike’s article about the 86 Aspects of Composition to be a tremendous resource in their work. Several have even fashioned their own cards as a way to extend their use of the Aspects in their creative process. After dancer Jun Akiyama made a prototype deck of the cards as a gift to Mike, many people asked if they could buy one. Now, happily, the answer is: Yes!”—Nancy Stark Smith

Source: https://contactquarterly.com/contact-editions/title/86-aspects-of-composition#$