#collageastool

Studio Project #1: Grid Structure + Collage = tools for interesting drawings

As we move deeper into the semester and get closer to the end, our class time is shifting away from the still life into the contemporary practice of drawing from a bigger more zoomed out lens. As we have seen in our lectures on contemporary artists using drawing through out the semester, every drawing is a combination of what it is of, and how and why it is made. All three of these things impact how we make sense of what we see. 

For our first studio project, I’d like each of you to work hard to begin to build in what I’d call “intentionality” into your drawings. As articulated by Margaret Davidson in “Contemporary Drawing: Key Concepts and Techniques”:

“Intentionality means working on your art consciously. Consciousness in drawing calls upon the artist to think holistically about the drawing, to continuously think of all the concepts and how they interrelate, and to remember that every decision has a reason behind it, a reason that pertains to the meaning of the drawing. It takes practice to become conscious of things previously done unconsciously, and it takes practice to assess those things and then choose to either continue them or change them.”

This project is one tool for you to think through what this might look like and to begin to consider how you can make your own art with intention.

Some decisions are made for you for this project, specifically: technique and surface. But many decision are still wide open: subject matter, mark marking style and mark making materials, what kind of space is described (illusionistic, flat, abstracted, expansive, etc.) and scale. 

The rules:

1.) Use a grid structure to create this drawing.

2.) You will create a collage as a tool to make your drawing. This collage should incorporate ideas, forms, images and materials of genuine interest to you as an artist. The finished collage is what you will use as the source of your drawing. This source collage will not be shown with the drawing, but is a tool used to make a drawing.

3.) Use provided paper for the finished drawing. You can adjust the actual size scale of your drawing as your ideas dictate within this limit. (You can decide to cut the paper to the appropriate size or shape for your ideas.)

4.) Media is open for this drawing. Color is also an option if it is helpful to how you want your drawing to communicate.

Things to consider:

What do you want your work to communicate? What subject matter, forms, ideas, moods and concepts are you interested in exploring in your work? How can the process of a drawing best serve your ideas?

As you work through the composition of your collage remember that it is going to be translated into drawn line and value. Use your collage as a starting point and tool to help you create an interesting drawing, something that expresses what matters to you as an artist. These don’t have to be the most important or profound ideas you can imagine. Sometimes a silly idea can make for the most compelling art. Draw from what you understand and are interested in spending time thinking about.

Studio Project #1 is due on Wednesday, November 20th.

Images above: