On Drawing assignments : experiments that generate ideas

10 major projects including:

Experiment #1 : On Drawing : An article on drawing promotes drawing on an article

Read the article on Richard Long's drawings and what they can be

Read Sol LeWitt's Sentences on Conceptual Art

Definition of drawing  = 

“The making of marks with meaning” . Robert Kaupelis, renowned drawing professor at NYU 
OR:
a mark-making process used to produce a line - based composition on a ground.
Examples:
1. In figure drawing Jennifer made charcoal drawings on paper. The mark- making medium was vine charcoal; her ground, also known as the substrate, was white drawing paper.

2. In Richard Long’s drawing above, made as he walked for 11 days between the west and east coasts of England, his mark-making medium was his body and the ground on which he drew (left a record of his movement and observed/selected found marks) was the earth. 

EXPERIMENT RULES

Part 1: Read the article from The Guardian on Richard Long

Richard Long > The Guardian and the TATE

Richard Long Walking a Line in Peru 1972

Part 2: Write a one page essay about what drawing is for you and what it can be. 

Richard Long Five Stones

Part 3: In this next step of the project you are to use the article as the ground for a drawing that is inspired by the article. 

• Scan, photocopy,  photograph the article > create some sort of physical artifact of the article.
•        You must use the whole physical article by what ever reproductive means you choose. 
•  The article does not have to remain in tact. 
• You can use any media you choose. 
• You can use mechanical and reproductive means. 
• Completed work may be any size. 
• You should come prepared to “install” your drawing so that it is well presented prior to critique.

Richard Long drawing

On Drawing critique day

   Warhol Diamond Dust Shoes 1980 serigraph

Ideas generating concepts from the TATE article for your own drawings 

1.

He walked back and forth, until the flattened grass caught the light such that it was "visible as a line". Then he photographed the line in black and white, and went home.

2.

A creature's "foil" is the track it leaves on grass or other surfaces, such as shale, snow, sand, forest floor. From the late 1960s onwards, Long experimented with foil works.

3.

The audacity of Long's early work lay in freeing sculpture from the constraints of scale. 

4.

Long's other innovation was to make his work not only in the landscape, but of the landscape. Not land art, exactly - he's always resisted that label (as he has resisted any associations with the romantic walking tradition of Rousseau, Wordsworth, Thoreau).

5.

Long's legs are his stylus, his feet the nib with which he inscribes his traces on the world. Walking becomes an act of inscription, and his work is a reminder that our verb "to write" originally referred to a kind of incisive track-making.

6.

We don't intuitively imagine the foot to be an expressive or perceptive body part. It feels more of a prosthesis, there to carry us about, rather than to interpret or organise the world for us. 

7.

Long's feet see the world for him. But they also, less conceptually, bear him and launch him.

8.

"My work has become a simple metaphor for life. A figure walking down his road, making his mark. I am content with the vocabulary of universal and common means; walking, placing, stones, sticks, water, circles, lines, days, nights, roads."

9.

Samuel Beckett - who, like Long, found much to meditate on and much to laugh at in the act of walking; and who, like Long, loved country lanes and bicycles, pebbles and circles - once observed that it is impossible to walk in a straight line, because of the curvature of the earth. There's a great deal of Long in that remark. 

Experiment #2 : Drawn Systems

Drawing as process, making use of the unit to the sum of the parts - informed by the found text of Huckleberry Finn, 1884 by Mark Twain as substrate

Question: Did you develop an abstract system that effectively/successfully materialized (make physical and visual) the concept of Twain's work? 

random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance rando

random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance rando

random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance rando

random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance rando

random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance random chance rando

exercise #1: Entopic Graphomania

This exercise is based on a Surrealist game. 

Simply grab a sheet of paper—it can be a page from an old paperback book, or anything with markings.

Place dots on specific words or letters. You choose what set of marks, words, or letters you want. 

Connect the dots with straight, curved, or zigzag lines to create a pattern. An exercise like this will reveal hidden patterns and shapes in a system-ruled drawing.  Engage in randomness -- there is ALWAYS potential found there!

In Action: Entopic Graphomania  video

f o u n d   p o e t r y

Allow your choice of media, your mark making become meaningful to the context of the text - keep your marks non-objective. Be wary of falling back into old habits of what feels comfortable, or what you feel the drawing should look like. 

Such assumptions are based in old ways of thinking and what you believe a good drawing SHOULD look like.  

E X P E R I M E N T A T I O N  is key!  Do not worry about what the drawing ends up being. Be  I N V O L V E D  in allowing the concept of the page / the found book / etc. lead you into new ways of connecting concept / narrative with your choice of media a mark.

Experiment #3 : Drawing from Another; the human figure

Drawings that make use of observational sighting from the nude human model

We map the world by the connection with others.

Experimentation of positive form impacting the negative void.

We will work in both wet and dry media - varying scales.

Experiment #4 : Media Spills & Fallen Paintings : drawing as installation

Use drawing to create/transform/reinterpret existing space

Barry La Va b. 1941 Process Art

Process Art is a movement that situates the "process" of making art as dominant idea. It is a style that is not interested in predetermined ideas or compositions.  Other Process artists include: Eva Hesse, Lynda Benglis, Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, Alan Saret and Keith Sonnier.  

Robert Morris felt work

Richard Serra 'drawing'

See also :: Guggenheim Museum Process Art exhibition

YouTube video with Tuttle 'drawing' 

Richard Tuttle 

current:

Polly Apfelbaum

Polly Apfelbaum

Apfelbaum at MoMA

Apfelbaum at the Brooklyn Museum

Donald Judd 

a hope chest

the seven dwarves

Process Art:

Part A

> Make a drawing with string or some sort of malleable length (chain, hair, etc). 

> Think about the back ground it is going on.  Do not attach it to a substrate. 

> Photograph it.

> Dismantle.

> Do two more drawings, making now 3 separate 'drawings.' 

> Print these out, or refer to them digitally.

PART B:

> What inspires you?

> Keep a running list throughout this experiment (think back to Apfelbaum and her inspiration of Power Puff Girls, hope chests and the works of Minimalist Donald Judd)

> You need to experiment with materials (wet and dry)in new ways and actions

> Use materials on new substrates

> Commit to a media that you wish to delve in further with

> Accumulate Formalist marks and shapes from this material and action

> Install in an area (any scale)

> Photograph

> Disassemble

> Reorganize again

> Repeat for a total of 3 different installations

> Print in color 8 x 11" minimum

> Bring in photographs and the actual parts that made up your installation

Experiment #5 : Round Robin & Beyond the Exquisite corpse : Collaborative Works

Collaborative drawings engaging the entire class moving around the room and working on 3 canvas drawings becomes a collection of varying interpretations and responses.

Among Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). 

Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution.

The technique got its name from results obtained in initial playing, "Le cadavre / exquis / boira / le vin / nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine). Other examples are: "The dormitory of friable little girls puts the odious box right" and "The Senegal oyster will eat the tricolor bread." 

These poetic fragments were felt to reveal what Nicolas Calas characterized as the "unconscious reality in the personality of the group" resulting from a process of what Max Ernst called "mental contagion." 

At the same time, they represented the transposition of Lautréamont's classic verbal collage to a collective level, in effect fulfilling his injunction-- frequently cited in Surrealist texts--that "poetry must be made by all and not by one."

The game was adapted to the possibilities of drawing, and even collage, by assigning a section of a body to each player, though the Surrealist principle of metaphoric displacement led to imagesthat only vaguely resembled the human form.

* For examples of the original Exquisite Corpses, check out the slide show at: http:// www.exquisitecorpse.com/definition/About.html

Source: "Dada & Surrealist Art," by William S. Rubin 

Experiment #6 : Body as Measurement

Drawings that make use of one's physicality as a way of perceiving and framing the world

The self is insistent. 

Our experiences with the world take on meaning because of the way our bodies experience the world. Our experiences become the material out of which we make art.

Experiment #6 :
Measure some aspect of your body.
Use that quantity and method of quantifying your body to inspire a drawing.

The relationship between concept and form and use of materials: 

Question: Did you develop a way to effectively/successfully materialize (make physical and visual) your particular measure of your body? Is the relationship between the “thing” you made and your concept (the way you measured your body) effective? 

Experiment #7 : Obsessive Drawing & Performance Art

Either using your own body, or creating a device that makes repetitive marks, construct a narrative, ritual, or action. The final drawing will be an artifact, a residue of the performance. The 'object' drawing will define area, time, energy, dimension, scale and object

Experiment #8 : Mapping Time & Space

Drawings that construct a narrative that maps areas over a period of time

Experiment #9 : Micro Macro Relationships & mixed media collages

Unique drawings that amplify their relationships to each other and are found in nature, in math and in the sciences, etc. Mixed media collages that are informed by Dadaist principles of chance and randomness, and the power of 'Fortune'

Experiment #10 : Poetic Marks & Repetitive Actions Final project

Conceive of drawing as leaving traces on the world, either in human-built environments, or natural environments. This concept could result in an object, documentation of the action in photos or video, a performance, or a combination of these

research paper & multi media presentation

Matthew Ritchie (b.1964)

www.matthewritchie.com

Research Papers & Multi Media Presentation (2)

Thinking, creating and writing go hand in hand in all studio practice.  

Writing is another way of investigating one’s expressive voice and translating visual research into textual language.  

Research of outside (historical and contemporary) artists and designers is an expectation of all art and design students beyond what is discussed in class.

Students of SA302 will engage in two research papers of artists / designers that make use of a creative approach to drawing.

#1 In the first paper, the student will introduce an artist or designer’s work who makes use of drawing in an experimental way. Introduce three creative projects by this artist/designer, a give a descriptive analysis of each.  Due by Week 9

#2 In the second paper, the student will write a comparative paper of the work of an artist or designer that parallels one of our own projects in concept and/or methodology. Introduce three creative projects by this artist / designer and compare it to your own solutions to the project. Due in Week 14

Research Methods & Organization

Research both artists/designers and develop a written formal paper on both.  

Each paper should be a minimum of five pages, excluding images.

 • Student papers need to include a short biography on the selected artist/designer (maximum of 3 paragraphs each).

 • The bulk of the paper should develop a well analyzed deconstruction of three creative works.

 • Each analytical deconstruction needs to thoroughly discuss how the formal elements are employed. Does the choice of media add any additional information (i.e. a drawing of the Mona Lisa in chocolate and diamonds is interpretively very different than the original painting of the subject). Additionally, the paper needs to thoroughly speak about the expression of the work as a whole. Is symbolism being employed by the creator? How?

 • The finished papers should be a minimum of 5, double spaced pages, excluding images.

 • MLA or APA style, double spaced, maximum 12 pt. legible font

 • A formal Works Cited Bibliography needs to accompany the paper

 • A printed copy of thumbnails, figures or image plates needs to appear at the end of the research paper including the works of art you are deconstructing, noting complete details; title, date, dimensions, media, collection of each and URL source.

2 Formal Papers + Multi media presentation - 5% each x 2 = 10%           10 percent towards final grade

Experiment #4 . media spills & fallen paintings

Barry La Va b. 1941 Process Art

Process Art is a movement that situates the "process" of making art as dominant idea. It is a style that is not interested in predetermined ideas or compositions.  Other Process artists include: Eva Hesse, Lynda Benglis, Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, Alan Saret and Keith Sonnier.  

Robert Morris felt work

Richard Serra 'drawing'

See also :: Guggenheim Museum Process Art exhibition

YouTube video with Tuttle 'drawing' 

Richard Tuttle 

current:

Polly Apfelbaum

Polly Apfelbaum

Apfelbaum at MoMA

Apfelbaum at the Brooklyn Museum

Donald Judd 

a hope chest

the seven dwarves

Process Art:
Part A
> Make a drawing with string or some sort of malleable length (chain, hair, etc). 
> Think about the back ground it is going on.  Do not attach it to a substrate. 
> Photograph it.
> Dismantle.
> Do two more drawings, making now 3 separate 'drawings.' 
> Print these out, or refer to them digitally.

PART B:

> What inspires you?
> Keep a running list throughout this experiment (think back to Apfelbaum and her inspiration of Power Puff Girls, hope chests and the works of Minimalist Donald Judd)
> You need to experiment with materials (wet and dry)in new ways and actions
> Use materials on new substrates
> Commit to a media that you wish to delve in further with
> Accumulate Formalist marks and shapes from this material and action
> Install in an area (any scale)
> Photograph
> Disassemble
> Reorganize again
> Repeat for a total of 3 different installations
> Print in color 8 x 11" minimum
> Bring in photographs and the actual parts that made up your installation

Student Work

Matisse - influence for above student work

one day / one d r a w i n g

exercise #1: How to "Actually" Doodle

Doodling increases your visual literacy and helps you process ideas, even when you are not trying! Experiment with different materials, and draw whatever comes to mind. Doodling is extremely helpful in strengthening memory! Recruit others in collaboration to develop a doodle to add onto. 

In Action: Doodling increases M E M O R Y

exercise #2: One Day, One Theme

Choose one theme or one kind of object, and only draw that thing during the course of a day. 

You can vary your approach to this by choosing an animate or inanimate object, a color, a size of something, things that are scary or make you laugh, or things that start with a specific letter.

You can also use synonyms, such as things that move you emotionally versus things that literally move you, like modes of transportation. The more thoughtful you can be, the more you exercise your concept-building abilities as well as you hand skills.

In Action: One Day = One Theme

exercise #3: Word Stacks

Take 25 blank index cards and cut them into thirds. On the first stack, print an adjective on each card, on the next stack, print a noun, and on the third stack print a verb on each card. Shuffle each stack separately, then draw one card from each pile and put them next to each other, forming a phrase such as Devilish/Book/Laughing.

Draw it.

In Action:  Word Stacks

Playing with Sketches > Whitney Sherman is an award-winning illustrator and director of the MFA in Illustration Practice at Maryland Institute College of Art

Assignment BOOK from Pratt Institute

Experiment #3: Figure Drawings & Notes on Conceptual Thought : AKADEMIE X LESSONS in ART + LIFE :: Institute for Spatial Experiments

Include at least 5 figure drawings that you completed with the model Robin.

Notes on Conceptual Thought :

The weather project, 2003
Tate Modern, Turbine Hall, London, UK

AKADEMIE X LESSONS in ART + Life : Love Letter from Us 2015

Akademie-X > Phaidon

Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience.

Olafur Eliasson web

Playing with Space & Light . TED talk 2009

It is not just about decorating the world… but about taking responsibility. 

                                         Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson's W O R K S

"Perhaps the strength of drawing and its durability is that its moment of closure will also never arrive."             Brian Fay

STUDENT WORK