It is often thought that by examining closely an artists’ drawings, one may see further into their intentions for a particular work, or somehow get closer to the reality of this artist as a person. As unrelated as this sounds when considering art from the theoretical perspective, it has been a fertile area consistently ploughed by art historians. In fact one may argue that the relevance of drawings has been understood by art historians as artists’ diaries, and therefore that much more revelatory than the finished works. This tenet, seen from a voyeuristic perspective, illuminates the possibility of an art-historians’ market-savvy objective. Alternately, one may consider this a keen insight to the creative process, a map of thoughts and ideas that help the viewer understand the rather more academic air of a finished work. Whichever is the case, it is true that drawings were not historically presented or thought to be worthy of exhibition until such a time that art historians took greater interest. This has led to the elevation of the drawing as a ‘serious’ media, one which has the breadth and range of expression to fully incorporate the needs of a work.
Students will take on board such issues throughout this course, specifically via seminar and readings. This core component will take students through a rigorous examination of the presence and application of drawing through out the production of fine art by artists. We will use a variety of unconventional exercises to explore the particular relationship that each of us has with drawing and critique. By combining exercises with studio work and seminars, this class will imbue students with the ability to accede their own expectations from drawings in terms of categorizations, materials and application.
(*note: exact details of exercises and seminars would not be handed out to the students, but would be written and submitted to ART§CHOOL for approval. It is important that the students remain unaware of the details of each exercise before they go through it to avoid being over prepared or rehearsed, however this structure will be explained to students).
Week 1: Familiarize
This session will give all students the opportunity to briefly discuss their familiarity with art making, specifically as it relates to drawing when going through their process of art production. In addition to introducing themselves, students will state their intent and or expectations from the class. We will revisit this at the end of the class to briefly examine how these preconceptions may have been fulfilled or reshaped during the course. Students may bring artworks, slides, photos, video, CD-Rom, or any other documentary format with prior approval from the professor/instructor.
The instructor/professor will introduce the syllabus and explain the intentions for this form of artistic inquiry. Participation from students in questioning the form of the syllabus is encouraged and invited; as such the structure of this syllabus may change with the resultant discussions. Classes are 2 hours each.
Week 2: Exercise 1
A 50’ long roll of flooring paper, a brown construction-type paper will used during this class. In addition, we will collect all manner of mark making implements. From traditional pencils/graphite to bits of plastic found in the bin. These will be arranged on a large table in the studio. The paper will be rolled out and pinned to the wall. For 30 minutes, students will make drawings as they wish, covering as much or as little of the paper as they want to. After this we will discuss the results together. We will take it down, cut it up, and examine the drawing in all ways to emphasize to the class that there is nothing ‘precious’ about this object. This should take a further 30 mins. This exercise will be repeated, and compared to the previous iteration via a final group critique.
Week 3: Studio 1
Studio classes give students the opportunity to create a project of their own. During these sessions, the professor will spend time one on one with each student, discussing their interests and aims for the project. The intention for this structure is for students to investigate their methods and uses of drawing; to experiment with materials and question their relevance to the project in development; to understand the value of scale in such a project, whether that be quantity, dimensions, iterations, etc. Students will continue to develop this work on their own time.
Week 4: Seminar 1
BFA Drawing seminar classes at ART§CHOOL aim to excoriate the routine of discussion. By adding unusual elements to the seminar environment, we anticipate that students will be given access to a certain freedom of thought that is unusual in a seminar environment, and curiously mirrors the contemporary understanding of drawing – that it represents a looseness that enables creative development. Students will import the influences this form of education brings to each, using each session to feed successive classes, cumulatively creating a totally new educative experience that informs from within as much as via external sources. BFA seminar classes will be held at alternate locations: the classroom will be used, but other venues will take priority. Current events etc. will determine to some extent the nature of the location, but some examples are: seminar on a subway car; seminar on the ferry; seminar in a bus; seminar at a video rental store; seminar in a church; seminar during a walking tour of galleries; seminar in trump tower lobby, the list goes on…
Week 5: Exercise 2
Each student will be given a clipboard that has several sheets of paper affixed. We will again use the same table full of mark-making tools, which students may choose from as they wish. Students will navigate the studio room and draw whilst they are walking around. Initially, students will draw from their surroundings. They may use as many sheets of paper a they need, and in fact it is encouraged that students draw as quickly as they can and use as many mark making tools as they feel comfortable with. After 45mins of this exercise, we will stop and review the results. This review will not extend too long, only about 15 minutes to allow for a further iteration of this exercise. At this stage, students may draw from their imagination or from life, as they wish. We will again do this for 30mins, and then take the remainder of the class for review and discussion.
Week 6: Studio 2
-- See Studio 1 above --
Week 7: Seminar 2
-- See Seminar 1 above –
Week 8: Exercise 3
In this class, students will be invited to use video and computer-based tools in addition to traditional drawing materials. Through DV technology, students will be able to quickly make a time-based drawing and examine the results via a projector or screen. Creative software (illustrator, photoshop) will be available for use with a Wacom tablet (a pad that allows use of a ‘pen’ input device rather than a mouse), and the results will be printable or screen-viewable. The intention of this class is to capitalize upon previous discussion of digital media based works that perform as drawings, to infuse the class with the relevance of the pixel in the discussion regarding resolution, and again to free up the students associations of the use value and form taken by the drawing in contemporary art.
Week 9: Studio 3
-- See Studio 1 above --
Week 10: Seminar 3
-- See Seminar 1 above --
Week 11: Exercise 4
At this point in the class, students will be working in depth with their studio project. This exercise is intended to directly facilitate students research by investigating an alternate vehicle for that expression. Students are asked to create an alternate version of their studio project using a different media, or a combination of different drawing tools. It is presumed that by going through this, students will appreciate to a greater extent the relevance of their chosen media. It is not assumed that via alternate media, students will make direct transcriptions, but that their conceptual direction is maintained and embodied through this exercise. The end goal again reflects the contemporary status of drawings: that they are notes, scribbles and doodles of varying intensity and when examined reveal unconscious attributes of both the author and the work at hand. In this context, such content, which might be thought of as errata, or gaffes may well come to be more educationally valuable and even relieving for students.
Week 12: Studio 4
-- See Studio 1 above --
Week 13: Seminar 4
-- See Seminar 1 above --
Week 14: Studio 5
-- See Studio 1 above –
Week 15: Final Group Presentation and Critique
Students will present the results of their studio research to the group and discuss in a wider context what they feel they have achieved. It is the students’ prerogative to discern the correct method for exhibiting this work to their peers, which of course will become part of the critique. At this point that students will revisit their initial statements regarding intentions and expectations for this class.
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