Fall 2010 - DRAWING

Drawing is closely connected to personal ideas and expressions; creativity directly connected to our experiences. Nurturing our 'artists-within' has much to do with freeing our hands to follow our hearts and minds and freeing our eyes to respond to the world around us, and there's a lot happening in this world that warrants our responses. Each of us is immersed in this world, we're caught in the wake of stimuli that is visual, emotional, social, and cultural. That information is constant and often unrelenting. This massive accumulation of experiences and the energy and excitement of being alive While it's happening are valid as material for our art. Learning how to translate your perceptions into an art form, such as drawing, is the essence of becoming an artist. An essential aspect of this process is learning to respond sensitively and knowledgeably to artworks, those made by others and your own work during the act of creation. We'll be spending a lot of time in that arena.

Drawing has changed in form and purpose relative to the role art and artists have played in various societies over the past several centuries. Such as that illustrated in the cave drawing above, did it represent the day's hunt or animals that were revered? The REnaissance was a huge changing period for drawing, as it was vital to the spirit of investigation and cultural rebirth. Look at the drawings of DaVinci or Michelangelo, their expressions are vastly different from the folks living in the caves. In the late 19th century, innovation played a big part of the drawing process with the addition of collage, layered pastel work, and monotype. Today drawing has reached a new height of independent status. Drawing can be enormous and richly textured. The format and vocabulary of drawing have been extended into room-filling environments with the addition of found objects, printed materials, and even video animations.

Drawing today is about the importance of individual expression and originality, and by means of its flexibility of form and processes, it's directness of execution, drawing is ideally suited to communicate the artist's touch and thought to the viewer. Let's start drawing toward our discoveries.