Drawing -- Contour Plant

This is a contour drawing of a plant in our class room. It is a good exercise.

Drawing -- Blind Contour Denise

Another blind countour drawing, this one of fellow student Denise. (She looks a lot better than this!)

Drawing -- Blind Contour Hand

Our assignment was to do several blind contour drawings (drawing without looking at your paper). This is my left hand without looking at what I am doing.

Sculpture -- Transformation

Our assignment was to take an everyday object or series of them and transform it. I chose drinking straws. My artist statement follows the photo of the sculpture.

The Transformation sculpture, Spiral Trapezoid, is a symmetrical, standing sculputure created from plastic drinking straws and glue with a paper-covered mat board base. The sculpture is mounted to the base and should stand slightly below eye level. Its dimensions are roughly 7” high x 10” wide x 10” deep. It is a mostly “closed” form and should be viewed from all four sides.

The sculpture was created from seventy-six drinking straws, including nineteen of each color: striped red, striped yellow, striped green and striped blue. Each trapezoid contains one straw of each color. Straws were trimmed so that as the spiral rises, the ends of the straws converge. Each straw was also notched twice with a paper punch, Lincoln-log style, so that the structure would have more stability.

The sculpture is designed to explore color and line. First each straw itself is a line in a trapezoidal structure and each straw has several straight, colored lines on it running from tip to tip. Second, these colored lines form the basis of the exploration of color in the sculpture. The colors are the three primary colors plus green. The order of the colors as the spiral is formed is always red, yellow, green and blue. As the colors revolve around the spiral, one complete rotation is created. Third, there are eight implied lines formed by the ends of the straws that rise in the shape of the spiral and converge slightly above the sculpture. The movement of these implied lines, up and toward the center, and converging above the structure, provide the “open” aspect of the form.

Drawing -- Three Forms on Paper

This was during our first week of drawing and an introduction to charcoal. We had a piece of paper, the same size as our drawing pad. Upon this we placed a piece of white paper and three objects arranged on it. The goal was to get a realistic drawing. Charcoal can be a little tricky as every little mark really shows up and once it is on the paper there is no going back.

Sculpture -- "Strong Center"

Our first assignment was to create a sculpture that emphasized both structure of the form (the skeleton) and the surface of the form (the skin). This is my sculpture, followed by the artist statement.

The Skeleton and Skin sculpture, "Stong Center", is an asymmetrical, hanging sculputure created from wire, glue, rough newsprint and watercolor. It should hang at approximately eye level. Its dimensions are roughly 22” high x 17” wide x 13” deep. It is designed to be viewed from all sides.
The sculpture is designed to explore several complementary and contradictory aspects of life. First it explores the relationship between self-control and creativity. The tightly wrapped center represents an individual’s self-control that allows him or her to achieve their full creative potential. The curvilinear soaring wires represent that creativity. The occassional supporting wire loops represent an individual’s experiment with new things and their return with confidence to their center to try new endeavors.
Second, it represents the contradiction to simultaneously be open and reveal one’s center and to keep it concealed. This requires the viewer to take some time to pause and look at the sculpture, to see what is really there. Third the colors are designed to invoke both nature (green) and society (purple). In some cases they overlap and in others they are quite disjoint. It should be noted that edges are torn in both nature and in society. Finally, the sculpture represents a distinction between what is revealed on the outside (which is often muted) compared with what is present on the inside (which can be more vibrant).