Front Page Assignment (Extra Credit Opportunity--due Monday April 29th)

Pick out a headline story from the newspaper that has the power to elicit a strong emotional and visual response. Consider how you are personally affected by the story. Ask yourself: Is the political personal? What images does the story conjure up in your mind’s eye?

You should select your story from the front page of a national paper like the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune. Local newspapers might also serve, but not the fabricated headlines of a tabloid like the National Enquirer.

Although some stories may be accompanied by a photograph, you are expected to build a visual interpretation all your own. Remember that you are not doing a narration or illustration of the article; rather, you should consider the source as the core from which to draw an emotional and aesthetic response.

In doing this, you are limited to using a monochromatic palette (white, black, grays, and a chosen hue). This restricted palette forces you to be creative and stretch your interpretative powers. Some works by well-known artists that may help to better understand the project are Francisco de Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Sue Coe’s How To Commit Suicide in South Africa, and George Tooker’s Government Bureau. 

Final Project--Choose from 3 prompts

•Proposals due Monday, April 29th: Proposals must include 5 COMPLETE sketches, 3 artist references, and a typed, written portion presenting your ideas for the assignment you have chosen. Please also include planned materials, paper size/type, etc. I will check your proposals and meet with everyone individually during class on the 26th. It's important that you're in class that day to discuss your project proposal with me in person, if for any reason you cannot be in class keep in mind you will need to schedule an alternate time to meet with me!

•Projects due Wednesday, May 8th for our Final Critique (and final day of class):

Drawings should be on paper that is AT LEAST the size and quality of 30”x22” watercolor paper. Any necessary materials or methods can be used.

Prompt #1: Get Lost…

Make a map of Iowa City based on your own personal experiences and views. Fictional places, memories, instructions on how to explore certain areas, written or sketched details of importance, unique information about the past, present or future can be included. Drawings can be considered as an emotional geography to the town and should be unique to how one feels and exists in a place. Brainstorm about how you spend your time in Iowa City. What activities, seasons, holidays or memories are important to you? How can thoughts, feelings or daily routines be expressed to someone who has never been here?

Examples:

-Make a drawing or diagram that portrays how you spend your days.

- Focus on a location that is important to a memorable event.

-Create a walking diagram of the classes you go to everyday.

-Make a drawing of how your nose reacts to different smells found around town.

**For examples, check out what these other artists did when asked to do this about New York City: http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/general/getlost/index.html

Prompt #2: Expanding the Narrative

This project explores the relationship between photography & drawing. Many good photographs tell a story. In preparation for this assignment, you will choose a particular photographer whose work you respond to. You will then choose a particular photograph of theirs that interests you. You are required to bring the actual book or photo you worked from to the critique. You can also bring up your artist's digital portfolio or blog on the projector in the classroom during critique, as long as you also have some kind of hard copy of the photo you chose to work from. Once you have chosen a photo, you will then expand the narrative that exists within that image. For example, what could have happened before this photograph was taken? After the photograph was taken? What could be happening outside the frame of the photograph?

In planning your drawing, consider the themes, photo aesthetic and concepts in order to expand these into a new narrative (stemming from the original photograph).

Below are some well-known photographers for you to start with:

Robert Frank (esp. his series ‘The Americans’)
Larry Clark (esp. his series 'Tulsa')

Nan Goldin

Ansel Adams

Diane Arbus
Cindy Sherman

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Sally Mann

Michael Kenna

Richard Avedon

Laura McPhee

Erwin Blumenfield

Neal Rantoul

Henri Cartier-Bresson

David Mussina

Carleton E. Watkins

Paul Strand

Allen Ginsberg

Walker Evans

Dorothea Lange

Suzy Poling

Annie Leibovitz

Minor White

William Henry Jackson

David Muench

Timothy H. O’Sullivan

Alexander Rodchenko

Jerry Uelsmann

W. Eugene Smith

Edward Steichen

Joel-Peter Witkin

Keith Carter

Also, some recent Pulitzer Prize winners:

Craig F. Walker (2010)

Todd Heisler (2006)

Carolyn Cole (2004)

Carol Guzy (2000)

Prompt #3: The List Assignment

There are many variants on the idea of making drawings that take off from certain verbal sequences. Below is a menu of choices to spur you to partake of more imaginative visual nourishment.

Select a word or sentence fragment from column A and combine it with one from column B. You may elaborate on the combination however you choose, but a selection from each column must be the starting point for the assignment. Your objective is to respond to the sequence in any way you see fit, using any or all of the techniques you know.

A                                               B

I dreamt of                               pollination

I am                                           the stomach

The son of                               outer space

The future of                           gone fishin’

I love                                        atomic particles

The ecstasy of                         gender

The opposite of                      endings

Fear of                                      ammunition

The archeology of                 poverty

The anthropology of             honor

The ghost of                            the dream

The public                               the dictionary

The politics of                        the private

I consume                                the secular

The mechanism of                 ice

The absence of                       parallels

The project of                        vulnerability

The circus of                          X-ray

(A) tradition(s) (of)               hierarchies

The breath of                         order

The mythology of                drought

The daughter of                    yellow

I hate                                       luminosity

Inventory of                          the sun

The nature of                        long shadows

In the shadows of                 nature

The deceit of                        the insect world

The price of                          epiphanies

Arbitrary Value in-class exercise 4/24

During class, you'll arrange yourselves in a circle and I'll be giving each of you a small, simple object that can be described with a contour line. You will then begin with a quick (2-3 minutes) contour drawing of your object.

You will then leave your object behind and rotate clockwise to the next student's drawing and object, and complete another quick contour. This is repeated until the papers are filled with drawings of various scale, including some that may overlap. At this point you will return to your own place and decide whether you want to add any more contours of your object to the drawing.

In the second phase, you will turn your paper in all directions to look for interesting movements or directional forces and also a focal point. Then, using a limited range of four values, you will work to achieve balance and integrate the background with the foreground. The values are used to describe pattern and not to create three-dimensional volumes.

Student examples for 'Observation to Abstraction'

Reminder for materials needed on Mon. 4/22

Just a reminder that for our final day of drawing with a model we'll be working in ink. Therefore, be sure to have your india ink, bamboo brushes, and Bristol paper with you for Monday's class. You will also need to bring some small containers to hold water and different values of your ink, i.e. recycled yogurt cups, plastic or styrofoam cups, mason jars, plastic shot glasses, dixie cups, etc.

From Observation to Abstraction due Mon. 4/22

The objective of this assignment is to concentrate on purely formal issues in the creation of a visual statement. You will be required to crop a still life drawing in such a way that the immediate identification of its subject(s) becomes impossible.

Take at least three different still life objects, and use them to produce eight brief thumbnail sketches. Do not limit yourself to traditional still life materials. From these sketches, pick the most promising composition on which to base your larger and more complete final drawing in which you have cropped the original view in the thumbnail image so that we cannot recognize your factual starting point.

Materials:

18”x24” Drawing paper

Any combination of graphite, charcoal, conté crayon, white pastel, etc.

Abstraction lecture 4/17

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8S6WX-p8zmBWWhKMEFzblZJdVE

'Drawing From a Film' student examples

'Forrest Gump'

'Psycho'

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'

'Prozac Nation'

'Across the Universe'

Drawing From a Film, due Monday 4/15

Drawing from a Film, due Monday 4/15

For this assignment, you will be making a drawing that represents an interpretation of a film. Avoid literal or direct associations. In planning your drawing, think about the themes, imagery, general aesthetic and concepts within the film you have chosen to work from. Interpret those aspects into a drawing that is entirely your own.

Materials:

18”x24” Drawing paper

Any combination of charcoal, graphite, conté crayon, white pastel, etc.

(If you choose to incorporate ink or other wet media, please use heavier watercolor paper instead of the 18”x24” drawing pad paper.)

Wednesday 4/3: Chuck Close lecture & Grid Enlargement Self-Portrait

Below is a link to the Chuck Close lecture I showed in class this Wednesday 4/3, it might be helpful to reference the examples of his work while working on your own self-portrait:

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AcS6WX-p8zmBZGYzcnM4dDNfODRkd205OXBmcQ&hl=en


Grid Enlargement Self Portrait (due Wednesday, 4/10 for CRIT #3)
This project is a Chuck Close inspired grid enlargement drawing. The drawing should be a self-portrait, head & shoulders shot with a simple background. You must find or take a simple photograph of yourself to draw from (again, preferably a head & shoulders shot with a simple background). Start by drawing a one-inch grid across your 6”x8” photograph. Blow up the image to 18"x24" (This is 3x as big. Draw 3" squares on the drawing). (**Remember that your paper measures 19"x24" in total, be sure to account for that additional inch on the vertical, we're using the 6x8 to 18x24 enlargement to make things more simple). The objective is to choose a method of mark making and repeat this mark to create a portrait. I want you think about how your marks can project a mood. Strong results usually come from treating each 3” square as a separate drawing comprised of your chosen mark making method. Focusing on this aspect will strengthen your overall result. 

Materials:

18”x24” drawing paper

graphite and/or charcoal (any combination of graphite pencil, compressed graphite, charcoal pencil, vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, conté crayon, etc.)

**please remember to spray your finished drawings to ensure that they aren’t damaged in transport or by handling them during critique, etc. Remember to only use spray fixative OUTDOORS and with proper ventilation!

Some student examples for your reference:

Wednesday 4/3: Intro to Figure

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8S6WX-p8zmBdV9aTkc4RERudWs

Feel free to review for Monday's class if you'd like, and remember to be on time on Monday for our first day with a model!!