Art historical and contemporary art examples will be introduced throughout the course, and it is expected that students make at least one trip to New York City during the semester to explore contemporary galleries and attend three visiting artist lectures. Critiques and discussions address both the formal and conceptual aspects of drawing such as ideation, subject, meaning, context, intentionality, and alternate readings of the work, among others. The second half of the semester focuses on the use of value, gesture, and mark-making to address similar formal and structural components with pen and ink. The first half of the semester focuses on the use of line to address composition, creating space, perspective, accuracy in “seeing,” and mastery of materials such as pencil and charcoal.
Projects are designed to increase the student’s technical and perceptual ability within a variety of drawing-based approaches. Students are taught to see the three-dimensional world around them and to capture what they are perceiving in two-dimensions. This introductory course is designed to familiarize the student with the basic principles of drawing.
