Thank You

I wanted to thank everyone again for a fantastic semester. You have devoted a lot of time and energy into this class but it was certainly worth it. There has been lots of growth and stretching and I hope that you all continue taking art classes.

Please stay in touch, perhaps hit me up on some form of social media sometime.

Have a wonderful Christmas break!

-B.

Critique Reminder

On the day that you're work is being critiqued, please come to class early enough to prepare and display your work. Thanks.

FINAL CRITIQUE
Tuesday the 4th
Cierra J., Dillon, John, Cierra H., Matt, Pat, Ariel, Tiffany
Thursday the 6th
Tatiana, Walter, Kolby, Cory, Sean, Destiny, Christian, Hannah.

Tonights Class + Critique Schedule

CLASS 11/29
Tonight we will be drawing a single figure composition for the whole hour. So come dressed in something comfortable. Feel free to bring a pillow or something to make this more relaxing.

You will be working from you 18"x24 Strathmore pad with your entire range of graphite pencils.

What I will be looking for in your compositions is the following:
Use of visual measurement to determine proportion, and placement of figures.
Attention to relationships between figure and ground (forms and environment)
Contrast and an expressive use of value and line.

FINAL CRITIQUE
Tuesday the 4th
Cierra J., Dillon, John, Cierra H., Matt, Pat, Ariel, Tiffany
Thursday the 6th
Tatiana, Walter, Kolby, Cory, Sean, Destiny, Christian, Hannah.

Student Show

Submissions for the Longview Student Exhibition are this coming Tuesday Nov. 20th. Please bring a work that you would like to submit for the show. This is an annual show that takes place in the Cultural Arts Center Gallery and would be a great experience.

I will have submission forms available in class on Tuesday.

Thanks,
B.

Schedule for the remainder of semester

Hey class,
Below you will find the schedule for the remainder of this semester.

Tuesday November 20th - Critique Self-Portraits (entire class) & Show Submissions
Thursday Nov. 22nd - No Class (Fall Break)
Tuesday Nov. 27th - Figure Drawing Sessions
Thursday Nov. 29th - Figure Drawing Sessions
Tuesday Dec. 4th - Assemblage Project Critique
Thursday Dec. 6th - Assemblage Project Critique

e-mail me if you have any questions.

Assemblage/Collage Intro - 11/6

Tonight we will be discussing the nature of drawing and what exists at the core of the discipline. We will be discussing again, what is it that you value most about the act of drawing. What are the attributes of drawing that endure within the other disciplines? How does the act of drawing change as we introduce non-traditional media?

For our most recent project, we are using these ideas to create a drawing using non-traditional drawing materials. The key to this work will be your ability to create an expressive drawing by exploring the collage and assemblage of your chosen medium.

Prepared for class on 10/30

Hey Everyone,
The last two class periods we have been working on portraiture. We have discussed the use of principles in aiding with accurate representations of the human face. We have done a series of drawings of faces as a way of preparing for the self-portrait we will be doing this coming week.

Please print the photo that we took in class and bring it on Tuesday 10/30.

Thanks,
B.

October 11th - REVIEW + NEW ASSIGNMENT

Hey gang,
Last class period we discussed several approaches to drawing the human figure. We discussed anatomy and considering rules to help us create a framework for understanding proportions. Primarily though we discussed how the use of visual measurement should inform a structural mark making. We also discussed the idea of setting pivot points for parts of the body such as shoulders, elbows and other joints. These "pivots" represent areas of the human figure where angles diverge from one another, for example; a bent knee that is perpendicular to the thigh. Using visual measurement can help determine those angles so that they are easily translated to the flat surface of your page.

We did several timed drawings in the last class, including gestures and contour lines. We also used several types of media.

Tonight, October 11th, we will continue doing exercises to help us better understand the human figure and how to approach it in terms of figure/ground. We will also work towards more expression in our mark making.

Next Tuesday, October 16th, class is cancelled due to MCC instructional service meetings.

Next Thursday, October 18th, class will be cancelled due to personal meetings.

Assignment/due October 23rd: Since we will have next week off from class, I am asking you to do two, one-hour figure drawings. You can use friends, classmates, family or strangers as models, its up to you. You may also draw in whatever setting you see fit (a coffee shop or a living room for example). What I will be looking for in your drawing is an understanding of figure proportion as well figure ground relationships and an understanding of value & texture contrasts. These drawings should be as accurately rendered as possible. I will be grading them when we return on the 23rd

Thanks,
B.

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.

Abstraction: Preview of Class 9/24 & Gestalt Psychology

Tonight we will be continue discussing the relationship between "decision making" and abstraction. We will be discussing how your ability to make decisions concerning what will be included and what will be excluded in your work is a product of compartmentalization and abstraction. Inclusion/Exclusion is a type of "editing" is  similar creatively to the decisions one makes when re-contextualizing images. As we start our newest drawings we will be appropriating images from the still-life and re-contextualizing them to develop an image based on your creative impulses and ideas.

This semester we will continue to discuss the nature of figure/ground and how your eye perceives boundary.

Below is a very thorough journal that describes how theories of figure/ground have been developed and how the mind perceives what it takes in through the eyes.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~manish/papers/Wagemans_etal_2012_I.pdf

Figure Ground

We will be discussing the concept of Figure/Ground quite a bit throughout this semester. The prevailing thought is that no form or figure exists in and of itself but is effected and defined by its environment or ground. Objects within a space do not exist independent of one another, but rather, they are interrelated and are necessary parts to define the whole.

Practically this concept effects your drawing in terms of the object. No object that your represent will ever exist on its own but will be effected and informed by its space. We will discuss this often within the context of class.

Here is an article that I found online that describes Gestalt Psychology and the history of figure/ground theory.

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html

Reductive Process

Recap: Sept. 3rd - 14th

Over the last two weeks, Drawing 1 has been working on exploring the formal properties of a famous work by a Renaissance artist. Each student brought in an image of a famous Renaissance work that was compelling to them.

The first day of class we discussed what it meant for a work of art "speak" to us or "compel" us. Many of you mentioned how narrative and character portrayal was important while others said the mystery of an image makes work more interesting to investigate, search out. We discussed how historical context can effect the relevance of an image and how work has changed since the Renaissance.

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 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. In the following drawings students used their pencils and their eye to test the scale of figures and their positions within the image.

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. 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.

The last drawing took a full week. At this point you were each in a position where you were ready to execute the drawing with exactness.

All three of these images are due today and will be critiqued in two weeks along with your next project.

Thanks.

A Broad History of Abstraction

This 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.
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/

Thursdays Class Review - 8/30

Yesterday we took some time in the gallery at the Longview Cultural Arts Center to discuss Jonathan Dankenbring's art show - LO. Afterwards we spent an hour doing a value drawing of the space and the shadow tones cast by the objects. We discussed shading technique's for developing smoother more consistent value tones.

The second half of class we spent time experimenting with cross-hatching techniques. We used india ink with calligraphic pens to do value drawings of forms.

Assignment: Bring in a printed image (8.5"x11"-standard paper size) of a Renaissance era painting. An example is Michelangelo's Holy Family (see below). We will discuss why on Tuesday. Thanks.

Review Tuesdays Class - 8/28

Last night we continued discussing value and its application. We did three drawings that took the majority of our class period. The first was an exercise in drawing form, beginning with a line gesture, focusing on proportion and the use of visual measurement, and working towards the application of value tones. The second was a positive/negative drawing that forced you to use value rather than line to distinguish the boundaries of forms. In the third and longest drawing, we created a value drawing for which only shading was allowed. This third drawing began with capturing the dark value of the negative space and allowing it to work towards the variety of values that distinguished the detail of the forms. In other words, you were asked to shade and entire image without ever using "the line".

All of these drawings/exercises were intended to force you away from the line and force you to see form in terms of the value. So often we think of drawing as being an illustrative process, focused on the use of technical lines. Neglected is the use of value, which provides the artist the ability to create a greater sense of three-dimensionality in their work.

Opening Exhibit at Longview Cultural Arts Center

LO -

an exhibition
by Jonathan Dankenbring

August 24 - September 29, 2012
MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center

Opening reception: August 24, 2012 5 - 8 PM

The exhibition LO - explores reductive image making in a
culture where minimal modern forms engross us on a daily
basis. The works exhibited approach the viewer silently, in
stealth-like fashion, quietly probing the audience to consider
their historic references as well as the viewers’ personal
relationships with recent forms of technology.

http://jdankenbring.com

Review of Thursdays Class - 8/23

Hello Class,

Last night we introduced line as a structural component to creating three dimensional imagery. We started with basic forms, practicing how to create quick drawings intended to inform greater detail. We discussed symmetry and proportion. We also began discussing visual measuring and how we can use our pencil (outstretched) to measure objects in order to create accurate proportions and angles on the surface of our page.

Before we left last night we briefly discussed value. Value is the relationship between light and dark. We discussed both flat and graded value and how they are employed. Flat values are applied to flat surfaces where graded value is used for contours, areas where the surface of the object has curvature or shifts.

Once again, I am very pleased to see where everyone is at in terms of ability. This class is starting from a really good place.

Thanks,

B.

Preparation for Thursday

Please have all of your materials ready for class on Thursday. Once again, Utrecht (Westport) and Creative Coldsnow (Westport and Metcalf) are your best bet for finding what you need as well as receiving discounts. In fact, I just learned that Longview students receive a 40% at Creative Coldsnow, so that might be worth the drive.

On Thursday we will be working with value and basic ideas and techniques for creating form.

Thanks.

Welcome to Drawing - 8/21

Hello everyone,
I am really looking forward to this semester and hope that it will enrich all of our perspectives. Once again, this class will be focused on both formal issues of drawing and technique as well as concept and the development of ideas within our works.

This blog is simply a guide to help you review some of the things that we have talked about in class and to provide an outlet for further conversation.

Below is the Material List for the class. Please be sure to review your syllabus concerning classroom policies.

Materials List / Drawing 1-4

Soft and Hard Charcoal (Charcoal pencils, Vine and Compressed)
H, F and B series pencils *see chart
Black India Ink and drawing tool with nib and Rigger/Liner Brush or Calligraphy (Sumi) Brushes
White square drafting eraser
Kneaded eraser
Scissors
Rubber Cement Glue with Rubber Cement Eraser
Pad of Newsprint (18x24 at least)
Pad of Strathmore-non-charcoal tooth (18x24 at least)
(You can purchase different sizes of paper, just make sure you have this size.)
Tote Box

Optional:
Sketchbook
Ruler
Pins
Painters Tape or drafting tape
Prismacolor pencils and markers ($$)
Micron pens

Your materials list will be dictated by the progression of our dialogue throughout the semester.Your projects will vary dependant on your concept. Be ready to make purchases or use materials that are for specific projects throughout the semester.


Please let me know if you have any questions.

-Brandon