student drawings
March 29, 2010
It seems impossible to have come this far already, but my time at Nipissing is almost over: classes end this week, and because fine arts studio courses don’t have a slot in the exam schedule, the last class of the semester is given over to the final critique. It’s almost over but for the very large task of grading portfolios and documenting work.
Here are a few of my life drawing students’ completed second-to-last projects, a two-week drawing using the skeleton and the figure. They had a week to work on the skeleton drawing, building it up with mixed media, before adding in the model the second week. I didn’t plan the pose to help them integrate it with how they’d drawing the skeleton, so they had to figure out for themselves how to make the drawings successful. Some of them chose to make the figures literal and solid while others allowed the two forms to move in and out of one another more fluidly; below are examples of both approaches.Their final project, a similar two-week drawing with two figures, is due this afternoon in our final critique.
Kelsie Lauzon
Laurel Gough
Cayla Carter
Laura Randall
Dan Pigeon
Posted by jodi on March 29, 2010 at 9.27am
student work: first colour print
March 26, 2010
A few of my students’ first colour linocuts from earlier in the semester. These are printed by hand with a baren and spoon, and are a combination of reduction and multi-block (they were given two blocks to work with and had to do a minimum of five press runs).
Caitlyn Nelson, Shani, 12 colour print (edition of four).
Shantelle Labrie, Cohen, 5 colour print (edition of four).
Cole McNaughton, Ooh, Shiny!, 5 colour print (edition of four).
Posted by jodi on March 26, 2010 at 8.44pm
student drawings (in progress)
March 15, 2010
My life drawing students did some amazing work today. Last week we were all set to start a big project for which they had bought oversize paper and prepared it in advance, soaking and stretching it out onto a drawing board, and then our model didn’t show up. So they improvised by drawing one of the skeletons instead, then worked the drawings up further outside class during the week. Or, rather, they were supposed to work on the drawings outside class, but some of them clearly did not, about which I was feeling somewhat pissy when I got to class. Then they totally redeemed themselves by doing amazing work today with the model, drawing the figure in on top of their previous drawing and doing a pretty good job of it despite their apprehension about introducing a whole new element so far along in their work. Thus is the peril in having such high expectations for both their work ethic and their product, because although they don’t quite always meet the former they’re certainly well on the way to meeting the latter and so I can’t be anything but totally pleased with them, which pains me a bit even though I myself struggle constantly with time management and so expecting better from them is TOTALLY HYPOCRITICAL. But I want them to learn good work habits, and I want them to surprise themselves with strong drawings they can be proud of, and if they don’t manage their time well and work hard enough to get those amazing drawings they’re proud of then I feel kind of offended like they’re blowing off all of my high expectations and hopes for them and also I beat myself up for not pushing them enough even though I’m probably a total hardass on them all the time. Which is why they shouldn’t let crazy neurotic people teach art but then who else would want to do it?
Ahem. So. Amazing drawings! Look! And keep in mind these are still in progress. After today’s session with the model, they have another week to pull these together so they make sense compositionally. I expect some of them will still change quite a bit.
See the rest in the class flickr set.
Posted by jodi on March 15, 2010 at 10.36pm
back to basics
March 6, 2010
Yesterday I taught a small beginning bookbinding workshop. Participants made models of three simple book forms: a single signature pamphlet binding, a Japanese 4-hole binding and perfect binding. Here are some of the finished samples:
Because we have no bindery equipment here, I brought up this somewhat primitive trimming apparatus that my dad made for me back in the 1990s when I was doing a lot of bookbinding but didn’t have any money or any tools. Propped up on one end (the end you can see here, with blocks under it to keep it steady) a pair of backing boards can be slid inside and the book clamped for rounding the spine. At the other end it’s got a nice high smooth wooden wall that’s used for a guide to keep the blade nice and straight for trimming the clamped book; it uses an old blade from a plane with leather wrapped around it, and back when I was trimming twenty textblocks a day with this thing I’d wrap my hand in leather and fabric as well and still get blisters in two lines across all four fingers. It’s a grueling job, but it does the trick.
Using this old trimmer again has me really looking forward to getting the new (to me) Chandler & Price paper trimmer up and running once I’m back home (remember how I was going to get the base sanded and painted over the February break? Didn’t happen). Did I mention that I’m planning to spend my whole summer down in the basement just cutting up books all day? Any books I can get my hands on. Because I can, that’s why.
Posted by jodi on March 6, 2010 at 9.08pm
student drawings
February 24, 2010
I’m a bit behind in posting student work and now have a rather large pile in my office waiting to be marked, photographed and handed back. Guess this weekend is for grading.
These are a few of the self portraits my Drawing II students did last month. For more you can check out the class flickr set.
Emily Evans
Nick Scarfone
Erikka Molenaar
Posted by jodi on February 24, 2010 at 9.13pm
quick portrait studies
February 9, 2010
A few of the portraits my life drawing students drew of their classmates (20 minute studies):
Marie, drawn by Laurel Gough
Kathleen, drawn by Shea Lacombe
Cayla, drawn by Annie McIntyre
More drawings from this session can be seen in the class flickr set.
Posted by jodi on February 9, 2010 at 8.36pm
drawing II, surface expression project
February 8, 2010
The first major drawing project for my Drawing II class was a closely observed study of an object of their choosing. The objective was to create an expressive drawing that was highly descriptive of the object’s surface while addressing (through composition on the page and/or the quality of the mark-making) the object’s function or its importance. Here are a few of the finished drawings (more projects, and detailed shots of these ones, are in the flickr set for the class):
Nick Scarfone (well worn jeans)
Brittany Lee (pressed flowers)
Ben Barak (old sneaker/new sneaker)
Posted by jodi on February 8, 2010 at 7.35pm
some images from life drawing class, february 1
February 4, 2010
Spent some time reviewing facial anatomy and portraiture, since many in this class seem less confident with the faces than they are with the rest of the figure. I’ll get to see how well they’re integrating this review and practice with their figure drawings next week when we have a model again, but by the third portrait they did in class (of each other) they were really getting it.
I was going to upload another studio video, but it looks like it might take all night and half of tomorrow for it to upload to flickr. Don’t get too excited, it’s just more drawing on the same drawing again, only this time in red ink. Woo!
Posted by jodi on February 4, 2010 at 11.02pm
abrasive
January 27, 2010
I always leave my Wednesday morning class with a headache. It’s got twice as many students as my other two classes have, and they’re an energetic bunch even at 8:30 in the morning. I often have to shout to be heard or tell them to shut up and listen, and while they’re drawing, while they’re sitting around waiting for class, while they’re dawdling to set up their easels, they are constantly yakking. All at once. Mostly I don’t mind, because they’re fairly engaged with the drawing they’re doing in class, and so far most of them are doing pretty good work. And I would much, much rather have a noisy talkative class than a morose class that doesn’t want to participate. But now it’s suppertime and the mild headache I left class with at 12:30 has unfurled itself into a full-blown migraine. I need to either get these folks to quiet down somehow, or have the drugs at the ready the second I walk out of there.
Posted by jodi on January 27, 2010 at 5.03pm
blue skies
January 21, 2010
It was an insanely fine day here in this little corner of the Great White North. Here, have a look:
Yup, that’s the same old path up the same damned hill AGAIN. One of these days I’ll walk somewhere else, I promise. And when I do, I’ll be sure to photograph the snow over there for y’all. I’m quite certain it will look TOTALLY DIFFERENT and Not At All Boring.
I don’t teach again until Monday afternoon, and as we’ll be critiquing a drawing assignment and then having another session with the live model, I don’t really need to do any planning for it. I’ll still be heading in to the school over the weekend, however; there are a couple of shiny new woodblocks waiting in my office and I’m looking forward to getting started cutting on them. I’m also planning to poke around the print shop a bit and get a better look at what letterpress equipment is in there, and think about what sorts of projects I might be able to do while I’m here. Then there’s that whole lithography shop worth of equipment and supplies that’s been recently donated to the school and hasn’t even been fully set up for use yet, and it’s pretty damned tempting to try and start working on a stone, since I wouldn’t have to worry about getting in the way of students with it. If I don’t get too caught up in all of that, I’m going to try and spend a bit of time working up a drawing for my next tattoo (which I’m planning to get while I’m here in North Bay) featuring one of these cute little fellers:
Posted by jodi on January 21, 2010 at 9.21pm
