Final Projects: Some Thoughts

In about three weeks the semester will come to an end with final critiques in both drawing classes, and then comes the task of assessing portfolios searching for the skills and conceptual developments that in some cases are dramatic, and in others quieter and more subtle.

The afternoon group has several options for their final projects ranging from self-identity issues possibly expressed as self-portraits with masks or symbolic still-life images to extreme points-of-view, such as a bird's-eye or worm's-eye perspectives on their subjects.  They will be creating the subjects of their drawings by gathering both actual and photographic references, sketching in their sketchbooks, and settling on the strongest solution for a final drawing that best exhibits the range and level of their current skills, which will surely be more developed than a few months ago.

The evening group will be challenging both their manual and ideational/conceptual skills by addressing their current contexts as emerging artists.  Throughout history visual artists have addressed their time and place through images.  Visiting any museum allows us to glimpse into many periods of the past.  If it weren't for artists giving us images for historical reference, we wouldn't know what people and places looked like prior to the invention of photography. Artists give tangible form to the unknown, other worlds, dreams, nightmares, sometimes allowing us to face our fears and confront our passions.  They give tangible form to feelings: love, hate, despair, fear.

Artists offer an innovative way of seeing.  When we experience a work of art, we are required to to deal with that artist's perspective, how they see and feel about the world around them. They bring to their work experiences and interests which help to form, in part, the content of that work. Today is a much more complex time for artists to mine for their inspiration than past times.  The world has gotten much smaller and the universe larger because of our technology; politics is more complex, and the reasons for war more convoluted. Popular culture is eclectic and nonstop, communication almost instant, and artists are using a vast array of materials to express their responses to those many changes.

The next few weeks should be an interesting journey.