This Week 10/12 & 1/14

Hello,
First of all I wanted to correct something I said last week. I mentioned cancelling class on Tuesday but I needed to double check....well, I am glad I did. We will be cancelling Wednesday class NEXT WEEK...not this week.

This week we will be working on our Self-Portrait.

Drawing 2 & 3 Students will be beginning a new project today. Be ready :)

9/30

Hey Class,
In tomorrows class we will be discussing the need for abstraction as a way of understanding the world. We will discuss the history behind it and how it evolved. We will begin our project.

D2 Students will continue working on their non-traditional self-portrait.

D3 Student will continue working on their collage portrait.

9/16

Hey Class,
Be ready to work.

Drawing 1-3, it's your last day to work on this project in class. Be ready to critique your work on Monday of next week. GAME TIME!

9/9

Welcome back class,
Drawing 1 - last week we discussed the final image in our "Masterpiece Dissection" in order to learn and understand what makes a successful completion. We should be analyzing the structural components and decipher the principles that make the image unified, dramatic, expressive and communicative. The third drawing is an exact replica.

Please come to class with the first two preliminary drawings completed.

Drawing 2 - we began an environment/perspective drawing

Drawing 3 - be prepared to begin second project

8/31

Drawing 1 - Please be ready to continue working on you dissection of you Masterpiece. Make sure you have your image printed in color and at a high resolution.

Drawing 2 - you will continue working on your third drawing in your Related Subjects Series

Drawing 3 - you will be finishing up your environmental study today.

8/19

Hello Drawing Students,
In today's class we will be discussing form and the use of line as a structural tool. We will also begin the conversation about the importance of making art as well as an introduction to "form".

Drawing 2 & 3 Students,
Please be ready to start drawing immediately. We will also begin discussing your drawing journal.

Thanks

Critique Night

Critique Night

Tuesday 28th:
Jeremy, Andrea, Denica, Ali, Ashley, Jessy,
Thursday 30th:
Joshua, Alyssa, Maria, Tony, Melissa, Emily, Stephanie

feel free to bring food

4/9

Hello!

We are going to introduce a new project that challenges some of our perceptions of art making as well as stretches our understanding of material and concept. Please be prepared tonight to discuss our next project.

4/7

Tonight we will be doing a full night of drawing a single figure. Bring your headphones...be ready to enter the drawing zone.

4/2

We will continue with figure drawing exercises tonight. We will be progressing towards more complex exercises that challenge our mode of thinking and understanding of form.

Schedule for the remaining of the semester:
Tues, April 7th - Figure Drawing: One Figure, Full Class
Thurs, April 9th - Introduce final project
Tues, April 14th - Studio Night
Thurs, April 16th - Studio Night
Tues, April 21st - Studio Night
Thurs, April 23rd - Studio Night
Tues, April 28th - Critique
Thurs April 30th - Critique



Tuesday 28th:
Jeremy, Andrea, Denica, Ali, Ashley, Jessy, Stephanie
Thursday 30th:
Joshua, Alyssa, Maria, Tony, Melissa, Emily, Stephanie

3/31

Hey class,
Tonight we will begin a series of figure drawing sessions (3 total nights of drawing).

3/26

Hey everyone,
tonight we are spending our last night in class working on our self-portraits. please be ready to do lots and lots of shading. love ya.

3/22 Portraits

Hello,
The next two class periods we will be devoting our time to working on our self-portraits. I will be actively helping you work through the shading process. Keep in mind the most interesting images are going to express the widest variety of values.

Our time together will go fast. Be ready and please remember to work outside of school as life allows.

3/19

Please check your e-mail. Please have your photo printed and ready for tonight's class.

Review:
We walked through facial proportions and how to draw facial features. Please review the attached images to prepare for tonights drawing.

Welcome Back - 3/16

Hello Everyone. Long time not talk.

When we return to class tomorrow, anticipate the remainder of the semester to go very very fast. We will cover portraiture, the human figure and alternative drawing media before the end of the semester.

Tomorrow we are discussing the formal properties of the human face but also discuss the history of portraiture and why art that depicts humans is still significant. We will also be taking your photos in preparation for your portraits.

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 & Thursday Critique

Tuesday:
Joshua, Alyssa, Maria, Tony, Melissa, Emily, Stephanie (2)

Thursday:
Jeremy, Andrea, Denica, Ali, Kent, Ashley, Jessy, Stephanie (1)

2/19

Hello Class,
We are going to continue working on our current drawing in class tonight. Be prepared to explain your concepts and ideas as well as techniques.

Thanks

Inspiration

2/17 + Assignment

Drawing 1 -

Last week we began discussing the stylistic differences between historical art movements both in content and and aesthetics.The intention of the following paragraphs is to give you an extremely broad context for certain departures from realistic renderings over the last several centuries. Abstraction is nothing new and is in fact as old as mankind. It has a rich history full of inexhaustible intentions. Please note that I am only attempting to briefly explain the reasons for monumental shifts over the last 500 years that effected western society specifically. This is not intended to explain abstraction or its philosophy but simply to give reasons for stylistic changes within art, specifically painting and sculpture.

In the western world, in centuries prior to the 1400's, art was primarily made as a reflection of spiritual or social constructs made in response to political structures or authoritarian commission. Imagery at times was propagandistic, mythological or decorative in nature and generally portrayed types of abstracted human and animalistic figures.

It wasn't until the European Renaissance that the ideal of representationalism became the focus of artists. The Renaissance was a time of innovation in technology and sciences. During this period their was a turning away from religion (not in theme but in personal practice) and a greater focus on social-interest and the progress of the sciences. Across the board artists had a desire to depict real-life with a sense of awe for the biology of the human form as well as nature & architectures mathematical properties.











Paolo Vernese, The Wedding of Cana

Representationalim is the deptiction of the natural world the way it is seen. In other words, when artists make artwork, they make it with the intention of capturing it accurately.

Several hundred years later (forgive the broad neglect of chronology and progress), with the invention of the camera, artists found reasons to make artwork that focused less on specificity of depiction and more on the "essence of reality". Artist began departing from the literal representation and began abstracting (departure from whats seen and the employment of categorical devices) the natural world around them. Abstraction is art that may or may not refer to reality but strives to represent thoughts, ideas and emotions through the alteration of reality.




Another reason for this evolution was the affordability of painting supplies and the artists freedom from the "commission" work. Artists could make more personal work because they were no longer tied to the demands of other individuals. Artists began experimenting with the placement of forms, color, medium as a reflection of personal thought as well as the excitement of experimentation.



Many artists in the early 20th Century were talented at representationalism but chose or grew into abstraction as a more creative way of expressing ideas. Pablo Picasso is a well-known 20th Century artist that worked in both representationalism and abstraction. See some of his progression and diversity below. Notice how the early work was more representational but over time he abstracted the human form by depicting it with geometric shapes, pattern and eccentric color.























Many contemporaries of Picasso and other abstract artists were not satisfied by using basic abstraction to depict the essence of reality. Artists throughout the last 120 years have departed completely from realism by working in pure abstraction or non-objective styles. Non-objectivism is based on artist pure imagination and creative impulses and has no overt visual connections to reality. Many artists have and continue to use pure abstraction (non-objectivism) as a way of creating work. See some examples below.

It is important to note that each stylistic movement continues to be explored within the context of a contemporary dialog. Artists are constantly recontextualizing, re-working, deconstructing and re-theorizing previous ideas and methods.





Kandinsky, Comp 8






Willem De Koonig








Jackson Pollock working on one of his floor paintings.



Jackson Pollock, #8







ASSIGNMENT: After reading the post, find three images that reflect each of the three stylistic differences (not necessarily from the eras discussed). In the comments section, post a link to each of the three images along with the name of the artist, work and time period.

EXAMPLE:
Artist Name:
Name of Art
Time Period:
Link:

Images can be found by using a search engine or going to museum websites. Below is a list of a few museums that have sites with lots of images.
http://www.moma.org/
http://www.guggenheim.org/
http://www.tate.org.uk/
http://www.googleartproject.com/

2/12

Drawing 1 -
Last class period we practiced drawing still-life and completed an entire drawing in one class period. Tonight we are going to address the history of abstraction and how it should affect the way we see art. Tonight specifically we will be talking about the creative process, decision making, preference and those things effect editing.

Drawing 2 - Monument/Nothing Drawing

2/3

Drawing 1 - Continue discussing "what makes a masterpiece?". Continue/begin our third and final drawing in our series of compositional studies.

Drawing 2 - more perspective drawings.

1/29

Drawing 1 - Please come to class tonight with your contour line drawings of your Masterpiece completed. Be prepared to draw your geometric study.

Drawing 2 - Environment studies begin tonight.

1/22

Hello Everyone,
Tonight's class will be composed of a few introductory still-life drawings and conclude with a larger still life.

We will discuss figure ground a bit more.

Drawing 2 - be ready for your third drawing in your series.

1/20

Drawing 1 Students will be continuing to work with form through the introduction of still-life tonight. Before we begin drawing though we will complete our value scales (graded, flat, cross-hatching)

Drawing 2 Students will begin their second drawing in a series of drawings which will be discussed further this evening.

1/15

Hello Drawing Students,
In today's class we will be discussing form and the use of line as a structural tool. We will also begin the conversation about the importance of making art and even if there is any.

Drawing 2 Students,
Please be ready to start drawing immediately. We will also begin discussing your drawing journal.

peace