More--

To elaborate a bit on the last post--another way for you to get a sense of who you are as an artist? Look at what you surround yourself with visually/aesthetically. Any connections?

In looking around my living space, my love for intense color and lots of it, and an interest in thinking about things/shapes/colors/textures in-relation is pretty apparent. Just look around--what do you just do?

Oh yes, you ARE here in these lines...

The above images are details of (from top to bottom):
1. Jenny
2. Hazel
3. Grace
4. Garrett
5. Emily (whoops, Cathryn)
6. Ashley
7. Amanda

Toward the end of Thursday's class, I snapped some details from a few of the drawings still being worked on...

I uploaded them to my computer and then, today, readied them for this post. I find it interesting to note that though I did not mark where each image came from on Thursday, I was able to identify them pretty easily today. And I recall very clearly where each detail comes from in the full-scale image. Jenny's lines hold such care--slowness and precision. Cathryn's dappled, itty-bitty marks depend on value shift in some very smart, interesting ways. Grace's line's are assertive and architectonic. Garrett's and Grace's line have some affinities--but Garrett's lines employ diagonal shift. Ashley's were easy to recall--her subtle curve or slope toward the ends of her lines and their wispy-ness--these characteristics are distinctive. Hazel makes nice use of scale shift. And Amanda's lines can barely conceal their energy, their desire to hurry up and become a gesture. (I think I touched on all the images above...)

I write these comments because I want to assure you, or maybe reassure you, that yes, YOU are in these drawings. They are slow drawings and the directives I've given you do reign you in, BUT over the course of these weeks of working, 2o-some different hands have emerged before my eyes. I do have the benefit of comparison, and I've looked at a zillion drawings in my 9 years of teaching drawing, but you should see the differences above too I believe, if you really look.

On Thursday morning, a designer/illustrator/former UNCG undergraduate in design Kyle T. Webster gave a great talk in the Weatherspoon. I was struck by his passion, his energy, his connection to students, and by some things he said. In particular he talked about the importance of not "forcing" style but allowing style to emerge over the course of A LOT of drawing. He is right. You all DO have YOUR manner of drawing,YOUR HAND. And if you draw, draw, draw, that hand will naturally emergy, and you'll start to see it....be patient. (And keep drawing!)

Amazing post on what a SKETCHBOOK/NOTEBOOK could BE!

I found this post on a blog called Design Observer....no doubt many of you are design majors and here is a wonderful example of how drawing/sketchbook/notebook-keeping fits in to a creative life.

I, a painter/drawer/collagist am VERY inspired!

Looking for light (Friday afternoon)

I was home uncharacteristically early yesterday--and while walking through my house was suddenly struck by the pattern of light on a yellow chair. All of sudden I saw little shapes of light every where--

The brilliance of the afternoon, the unexpected bits of luminosity peeking out behind doors, on a red stool, across a leaf--all was delightful.

Might you document the shapes of light YOU see and post them here for us to see?!

Happy weekend!

William Kentridge Interview

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev: You've often said that everything you do is drawing, and that you see drawing as a model for knowledge.

William Kentridge: What does it mean to say that something is a drawing--as opposed to a fundamentally different form, such as a photograph? First of all, arriving at the image is a process, not a frozen instant. Drawing for me is about fluidity. There may be a vague sense of what you are going to draw but things occur during the process that may modify, consolidate or shed doubts on what you know. So drawing is a testing of ideas; a slow-motion version of thought. It does not arrive instantly like a photograph. The uncertain and imprecise way of constructing a drawing is sometimes a model of how to construct meaning. What ends in clarity does not begin that way.

The above exerpt is the quote I read to you at the start of class on Thursday.

Think about how this quote reiterates your own experience. Do you relate to his thoughts on process? Of starting a drawing with one conception of what you think you are doing...and having that initial conception clange or dissolve as the drawing procedes?

Or do you have an entirely different experience in drawing?

Very cool drawing blog....

Check out An Open Sketchbook--a blog written by a prof in Iarc. AND to top off its interest (to me at least) today's post features the back of my head--always a thrill to find oneself unwittingly the subject of another person's drawing--especially when said person can draw really, really well.

You might also get some ideas for your posts from An Open Sketchbook--Prof. Suzanne Buchanan Cabrera fits drawing into her daily life beautifully.

Have a great weekend!!

(No homework, and bring all the materials we were to use today to class on Tuesday.)