Tuesday 10/1

Hello Class,
This next class period is our last day of studio work before critique. Drawing 1: We will continue discussing your approach to the Still-Life Abstraction and discuss techniques.

We will be critiquing on October 3rd & 8th.

Thursday (3rd) Critiques: Vanessa, Curtis, Jillian, Mychaela, Alex, Christina, Katie, Sabrina, Tyler
Tuesday (8th) Critiques: Christie, Victoria, Tim, Kimberly, Sam, Nikki, Alyssa, Stephen

What is Art Criticism?

Art Criticism is crucial to an artist’s growth and ability to contribute to a larger dialog within art. In our class, critique happens both through the daily formative assessment of the instructor but also in the conversation between classmates. Through constructive analysis the individual artist should gain a more complete perspective concerning their own work.

After a project is completed we will conduct class critiques where students will display their work in front of their peers. The class will discuss each piece individually addressing both formal and conceptual aspects of work. Within these critiques students will be focusing on the successes of the work as well as potential room for improvements. Each individual viewer/critic must participate in the class conversation as it will have a direct reflection on class grade.

There are four major characteristics of art criticism that must be taken into consideration as we conduct critiques: description, analysis, interpretations and evaluation. 
Description: In this step you will be asked to discuss formal aspects of the work that you can identify while viewing the work. This should not necessarily include personal opinion but describe the subject matter as well as artistic elements used within the composition.

Analysis: In this step you will discuss how the compositions formal elements have been organized and are interrelated. How do the components of the work interact? What are the similarities or contrasting elements? How are basic principles or techniques being used within a work.

Interpretation: The information described and analyzed is used to identify meaning or sub-text within the work. Through "interpretation" the viewer may seek to understand the ideas and expressive qualities of the work as experienced by the artist. The viewer/critics primary focus should be on how the work affects their personal thoughts. Personal interpretation should always be justified by evidence gathered from analysis.

Evaluation: Based on ones description, analysis and interpretation, how does the viewer judge the quality or success of the work? The following criteria may affect ones personal judgment: execution of technique, expressiveness, personal response, originality or position within cultural and historical contexts.

Regardless of how one responds to a work, constructive dialog must be the result. Through critical dialog artists’ grow and are stretched to consider their work less subjectively and with greater intention.

Tuesday 9/24

Hey Drawing 1 Students - just a reminder that tonight we will be discussing abstraction and will be executing a still-life focused on the process of editing.

Drawing 2 - We will be further discussing ideas of portraiture and the execution of your final drawing.

Drawing 3 - We will be introducing your next project and new concepts surrounding the work.

Tonight's Class 9/19

Drawing 1
Students will begin a new still-life drawing tonight. Please bring graphite pencil and good paper.

Drawing 2 & 3 will begin a new project tonight.

Draw America

http://hyperallergic.com/82253/famous-artists-asked-to-draw-a-map-of-the-us-from-memory/

REVISION: Today in Drawing 9/17

9/17, 4:00pm
DRAWING 1: Change in plans, we are going to continue working on your Deconstruction Drawing, please bring that drawing to class tonight!

9/17, 7:00am
Hello Drawing 1,
Today in class be prepared to draw from still-life. We will be spending a large majority of the class time executing a single drawing of a still-life. In the process of the next two weeks we will be addressing the issue of abstraction and the types of creative decision making that constitute as abstraction.

Drawing 2
Will continue working on the environmental study.

Drawing 3
Will continue working on the Technology & Society drawing.

Thanks,
Brandon

Review 6/5 - Preview 6/10

Drawing 1: Last class period we concluded our work on a drawing that reduced a famous classical Masterpiece down to geometric shapes and flat values. In this work we investigated compositional attributes of the work. The goal was to prepare yourself to see formal properties of the work that would otherwise be neglected.
In class on Tuesday 6/10 you will begin the third and final drawing in the series. This particular drawing will be an accurate interpretation of the image. The third drawing will include all of the compositional elements; line, value, form, texture, of the original work. This drawing will take all of two class periods and whatever time necessary outside of class to fully represent the details of the work.

Drawing 2: Last class we began and environmental study. This drawing is devoted to understanding spatial relationships and perspective.

Drawing 3: Last class we began a work that was devoted to the effects of technology on society. Research was done to learn more about the pros and cons of different forms of technology throughout history or within our contemporary society. In this work you were given the liberty to create a fantastic image or a purely representational one devoted to either celebrating, discouraging, dismissing or the neutrality of your position in relation to the research.

Review of 9/3 - Preparation for Thurs. 9/5

Drawing 1:

Tonight we began working on exploring the formal properties of a famous work by a Renaissance or Baroque artist. Each student brought in an image of a famous work from one of these periods.

In our work we began dissecting our found images by first recognizing its scale, proportion and the position of the figures through the use of a single, contour line. Your entire drawing was completed in an hour and a half with the use of one single line. Though a frustrating process, many of you found how difficult grappling with proportion can be. After this we discussed the basic use of visual or in this case comparative measurement.

Our second drawing was a geometric or planar study. The controls in this drawing were that it must be executed using only basic geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle and rectangle). Students were forced to simplify their image, discover its essence, if most basic formal properties. In this drawing students used their pencils and their eye to test the scale of figures and their positions within the image. Then you were asked to use your value scale to shade the image with flat value tones. Once again this forced you to see the work in its most general terms.

We will continue discussing the relationship of Renaissance art versus art that is made today. We will also discuss the formal properties of the artwork and what makes the work compelling.

Drawing 2 & 3:
Tonight was our last class period working on the current project. Be prepared in the next class period to start your second project.