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The title of my finished piece is “Dwelling,” due to my pieces connection with nests and cityscapes, which represent a sense of home to me, evoked by my nostalgic feelings toward my grandmother in relation to nests (from which the project originated) and living in an urban area as a child.
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After I realized that the nest I was drawing was too intricate to complete in one sitting, I decided to focus on other aspects of my piece. As a result of this discovery, I began with the creating dimension and depth to my project by drawing a corner in the left hand corner of the sheet of paper. Once I drew a corner, I drew the forest floor using vine charcoal due to the ambiguity of the items in the photography I was referring to. By employing dark and light shading, I was able to create depth with the leaves and figs on the bottom. I also drew one particular tree leave slightly elevated off the air serve as a crescent moon once the drawing is turned upside down.
After drawing the tree leaves, I created concentrated on the upper left hand corner of the corner in the photograph with various shading along with strong and bold yet organic line quality. These markings gave this specific section an abstract appearance.
Because I wanted to incorporate the light bulb above the nest I created in sculpture into my final drawing project, I chose to place it beside the nest. In order to highlight the illumination of the light bulb’s luminosity, I decided to use vine charcoal on not only the light bulb but the nest wires closest to it.
I then worked on sketching the cityscape for the remainder of the piece. Using charcoal, I made quick jots to create energy with the landscape. While sketching the backdrop of the drawing, I looked at the picture upside down to make sure that both sides equally looked like urban scenery.
After I completed the lines that created my nest using various textures and ranges of thickness, I placed a natural spiky object as the cherry on top of an exciting assignment.
My final project was not only refreshing and challenging (in a good way), but it was rewarding as well.
As I finish my final drawing assignment of the semester that consists of vine and compressed charcoal with a use of an array of techniques, such as value, shading, smudge, as well as gentle and harsh lines, I reflect on the question raised on the first day of class: What is drawing? To be quite honest, my semester’s worth of Drawing artwork and assignments have not made answering this thought-provoking question any easier but rather more inclusive than previously thought.
Before taking this art class, I made the following statement:
Art is not a thing; it is a way. –Elbert Hubbard
If someone were to ask me if a particular object was a drawing or not, I am not sure if I would be able to categorically answer them simply due to the fact that “drawing” is a word beyond description with conflicting elements. It is both extensive yet narrow. Concrete yet abstract. To me, drawing is a technique of creating artwork using a single line or a series of lines.
Do lines have to be employed in order to be considered a drawing? The answer is no as evident by the my previous value drawings or my observations of delicate wisps of charcoal smudges or deliberate black ink splatters. Energy is everything, which is not something I can necessarily I can describe in concrete detail but rather something that I can see and most importantly: something that I can feel. After taking this class, I do believe that drawing is not only “a way” but also an indicator of emotion as maintained by the motion of a particular drawing. If a picture is depicted with soft lines and light value, the drawing could evoke a calm sentiment. If a picture is depicted with bold, heavy lines and dark value, the drawing could create a sense of restlessness or vigor.
Just as other media of art are doing, the definition of drawing is not only ever evolving but ever expanding as well.
This particular assignment in my out-of-class portrait series entailed erasure, which took me over four hours to complete. Because I ran out of vine charcoal, the first attempt at this drawing was difficult. As a result of my paucity of drawing utensils, I tried to spread out the charcoal dust as much as possible to cover the entire sheet of paper. Due to my inexperience with erasure, I was a bit reluctant and unsure of how I should approach the assignment. I initially used my gray, malleable eraser. However, after my art professor told me that kneaded erasers push charcoal around rather than removes it. I used a standard white eraser to during my second attempt of completing the assignment. At this time, I especially focused on my model’s eye line and glasses with respect to his nose, mouth, and chin. After paying closer attention to juxtaposition of each of these facial features, my erasure drawing was much more plausible and realistic.
Greeted by a chalk-caked black board presenting the following art exhibition, I had the opportunity to visit the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center with my Drawing professor and several fellow art students last month. While there, the artistic director of the center was kind enough to give us a tour of their current exhibit, “Substitute Teacher,” which will be displayed from March 5th until May 16th. Before giving us a tour, he told us that the art center attempts to “bring and present work [from or of] consequential artists and thinker,” and the following is “representative show of what they do and how they do.”
There was an earlier rendition of this particular art show over a decade ago in Montreal, Canada. Prior to beginning the tour, the artistic director asked us what ideas we associate with the word, “substitute.” From painting and drawing to film and sculpture, this show consisted of an array of artwork.
The artistic director felt that the draw back from having a tour guide was the innate tendency that humans possess in which they stop looking at the piece as soon as the tour guide begins to talk. As a result of this natural reaction to do so, he suggested that as Robert Smith, the New York Times critic, said, “You have to be able to hear yourself see.”
In keeping with the theme of substitute, the artistic director made a note that there are no actual labels on the white walls, which were substituted for pencil etchings. These writings were done in order not to make the show seem so didactic but rather a bit slack.
There were a number fascinating pieces of artwork displayed in this particular show. Due to my love of literature and art, one of my favorite pieces was entitled, “A Day at the Beach” by Nina Katchadourian. This particular piece of artwork consisted of a series of book spines encased in a glass box frame that created a short poem:
A Day at the Beach
The Bathers
Shark 1
Shark 2
Shark 3
Sudden Violence
Silence
Not only was this piece done in a way that focused on juxtaposition but it was simple yet strong and thought-provoking as well.
Another piece that caught my attention due to its intersection between art and literature was one done in which I could not find the title nor the artist’s name on the box, where it was being displayed. This artist created sculptural anagrams. With a two-sided message concealed in black, sleek, cursive script on a pedestal, this piece was the epitome of a sculpture in which the piece changed depending on the angle the viewer was looking at it from. On the front of it, the piece read, “MONUMENT.” However, the back read, “TREMBLING.” The ironic juxtaposition of this pair of words made the piece fascinating and thought-provoking. Although the artist simply conveyed two words, the piece was incredibly powerful with a plethora of depth and meaning behind it both literally and figuratively.
Other artwork included Brody London’s “Without Sun,” Michael Smith’s “Sears Class Portrait #1 (99-07),” Mira Schor’s “Lack,” “Ism,” and “This Way That Way;” along with a number of other interesting pieces.
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In addition to the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, I attended the student art exhibition, “Agnes: The Iconic Women at ASC” last month on Thursday, April 15th. In to addition to delicious hors d’ oeuvres, sparkling beverages, and fresh fruit, the student art showcase featured a number of absolutely fantastic pieces done by art students throughout the academic year.
Several projects that were displayed during this showcase including
Some of my favorite pieces included the one completed by this semester’s Visual Thinking class, including several art projects from my current drawing class. I was thrilled to see several of my pieces of artwork that my professors had selected to be presented. These pieces included my sculptural project from my “Hear No Eden, See No Eden, Speak No Eden” sculptural project, my in-class and out-of-class drawing value assignment, along with my architectural ink drawing.
In addition to artwork from my Sculpture and Drawing class, the show included pieces from this semester’s Photography class, last semester’s Painting class, and those from the Visual Thinking class for both semesters.
Several of my favorite pieces presented during the exhibition were from the students in this semester’s Visual Thinking I class consisted of Erin Knox’s “Carl the Elephant,” along with drawings that focused on the folds of fabric pieces.
“Carl the Elephant” was incredibly reminiscent of the negative and positive space drawing that I completed at the beginning of my Drawing I class. The “space in between” was simple yet extremely evocative due to the wires’ line quality that Erin created within this sculpture.
Along with the sculptural elephant, the fabric drawings were unbelievably realistic due to the light and meticulous shading as well as the gentle line quality.
The art exhibition was truly a delight for the eyes; and I am so delighted that I came!
This blog post was partially written over a month ago. Regardless, the Klimchak Monday Morning Workshop was the second art event that I attended this semester.
Last month, I had the opportunity to attend Klimchak’s Monday Morning Workshop in which he taught us as a group how to create music, using alternative instruments. Klimchak began the session by asking us to think of and perform the silliest walk we could think of. The group produced a number of hilarious strides that made a number of us giggle or laugh. This exercise was a fantastic way to start a Monday morning due to the innovation of the activities, shaking out our funny bones and leaving the group without any inhibitions to do whatever Klimchak asked us to do next.
After doing so, he asked to walk again using at various strides. Some of them were fast. Some of them were slow. This new exercise allowed us to pay close attention to the rhythmic quality of our paces. While doing so, we used bags of sand or bells to enhance additional musical attributes to the strides we already had.
Following several individual stride exercises, we broke up into small group and thought of quick musical routines to perform in the front of the group. Overall, our group did really well. In addition, we did other exercises that included snapping and clapping at different rhythms and paces, which was truly exciting.
Taken as a whole, the exercises were incredibly fun; and I work love to attend another workshop like this one in the future.
The last piece of my drawing portrait assignment consisted of an ink drawing, using a fountain-like pen. As with my previous four pieces, this model was reading. Due to the unpredictability of these drawing utensils, I was a bit easier on myself, realizing that unintentional splattering could happen (and did). During this piece, I first drew the outline of each facial aspect and then “shaded” it accordingly but using a series of hatching and cross hatching. Due to the richness of black ink, I occasionally used my fingers to smudge to create a faint sense of value. This particular smearing can be seen underneath my model’s ideas. Overall, this experience was very enjoyable, which taught me the importance of patience as a result of the pen’s capriciousness. Just as with the bind contour self-portrait, I think it would be interesting to try this drawing again with additional time.
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Poised in midair by translucent plastic strings, a stunning collection of beauty products skim from neighboring trees above a pair of identically contoured, soft blue and tan travel boxes. These objects are illuminated by a small, brilliant series of lights that linger within and amid the trees. This image serves as the summation of my final sculptural project.
In this particular sculptural project, I chose to not merely create an avante garde rendition of a totem pole but to also convey a relationship between my late grandmother and me. While totem poles illustrate a number of different stories from familiar legends to extraordinary events, I focused on clan lineages. Because my grandmother died before my birth, I have no stories to tell of our experiences together but instead stories to listen to and draw conclusions from.
With this particular sculptural installation, I wanted to convey a sense of beauty, wonder, and ambiguity: all the things that summarize our relationship.
The string of lights represent the strong, inevitable lineal bond that we as family members share, which is evident by the brightness of lights that serve as a reminder of the blood that run through my veins that give me life. In addition to the luminosity, there is a codependency formed through the juxtaposition of the set of lights in which they are linked to one. Is one set sustaining the other or are both of them formed as one?
Similar to the string of lights, the trees serve to express the same familial sentiment in which they not only neighbor one another but are physically connected as well. Just as the juxtaposition of the trees form an organic relationship, the boxes form one as well in which both are emanating equal amounts of light but unequal amounts of substance. This substantial difference creates somewhat of an imbalance between the two objects, representative of the amount of knowledge I have about my grandmother opposed to the amount of knowledge that is still left unbeknownst to me.
The beauty products represent all of the things not only left behind but also the things left unsaid. The floating arrangement of the items create a sense of airiness to convey some sense of intangibility in which some things are just without reach, creating frustration and curosity.
Due to its sheer simplicity and ambiguity, I believe that this piece is not only empathetic but beautiful as well.
This particular drawing in my portrait series (that consisted of to a blind contour of a skeleton) went by pretty quickly. While drawing, I specifically focused on the spine due to my fascination with repetition. However, my favorite part of the piece would have to be the joints in the lower right hand corner due to the jagged, realistic line quality that I was able to capture.
Overall, this specific assignment was useful when drawing the other portraits, because it stood as the framework (otherwise known as skeleton) for the remainder of my drawings. With this piece, I was able to better understand the human body and the correct position of each body part both apart and together.
The next assignment that I completed was a blind contour of my own face. This assignment was very reminiscent of the self-portraits that I had to complete towards the latter part of last semester in my Visual Thinking class. As a result of my familiarity with self-portraits, I felt a bit more comfortable drawing myself in this particular context. Evidently, this assignment just oozed with line quality goodness. For some reason, this piece is very precious to me. Perhaps, this feeling is due to the fact that I was wearing a bow in my hair that day. I was particularly pleased that I was able to create texture in my lips by overlaying them with creases. Overall, the assignment was fun; and I think it would be really interesting to see me do this assignment again for a longer period of time.
