Posted: July 17th, 2009 | Author: Sean | Filed under: Finished Works | Tags: 2007, andy fletcher, dean valadez, drawings, fall, old, spring | No Comments »
Several long lost chapters of my artwork have now resurfaced. This past weekend in Madison I was able to gather up work both from my childhood, but also from my drawing classes a couple years ago.
Yesterday I scanned in over 200 images and am slowly chipping away at them; editing, cropping, web readying them. For now, here are the best images from my Spring 2007/Fall 2007 drawing semesters:
The first drawing at Peck School of The Arts
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Posted: February 12th, 2009 | Author: Sean | Filed under: Artists, Sketches, Thoughts | Tags: a bill, classroom without walls, dean valadez | No Comments »
This blog has been dying, starved as it is of recent posts. I plan to remedy this right now.
I recently stumbled upon A Bill’s blog which I found through an online collaborative art project started by my most inspirational professor. A Bill’s work reminds me of some of my own, lots of detail, a digital vibe, and an inter connectivity between areas of the work. After doing a poor job on my last drawing assignment I was offered some helpful suggestions as to how I can better utilize my personal interests in art. My initial drawings were very fantasy oriented. Lots of monsters, battle scenes, warriors, futuristic machines, ect. In this regard I have always had an interest in representing the human form and environments attempting both 3d landscapes and ridgid topographical cities/battlefields. I was never really one for abstract pattern or loose scribbling. My drawing style was very tight. Hitting art school really changed the way I draw. I am much looser and more confident in my strokes.
I never realized until this week how similar my old drawings are to my current works. My interest in the figure and physical spaces are very strong to this day. The largest divertion from my original subject matter was my new interest in portraiture. However I still deal seriously with enviroments in my portraits. Anyways, what I realized was that I could perhaps combine my tight and loose styles. I did this once in my first drawing class to produce a portrait made entirely of triangles:
Exploring the hybridization of 3d and 2d spaces, ridgid and loose line qualities, and enviromental and figurative content is my new focus. Tonight I’m going to a bar to hear a friend on open mic night and yes I will be bringing my charcoal and papers.
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Posted: January 28th, 2009 | Author: Sean | Filed under: Artists, Projects, Thoughts | Tags: classroom without walls, dean valadez | No Comments »
Long over due for a post here. Its too bad this will be a short one, with few words and a newest work inspired by an online collaborative wiki (a bit redundant yes) project sparked by one of my professors Dean Valadez. This is the link to the site here. Below is my first act of participation.
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Posted: January 12th, 2009 | Author: Sean | Filed under: Thoughts | Tags: art theory, dean valadez | No Comments »
Artists are supposed to be creative right? I would argue that everyone should be creative, that everyone can find value in it. Artists among them can use this tool to make work that is exciting, interesting, and that brings about a different way of thinking. The question was raised to me the other day: can creativity be tought?
I do believe it can. One of my favorite professors Dean Valadez introduced the idea of creativity in an interesting way. He taught that when the mind finds itself in a place it is unaccustomed to it is forced to think differently. In class one day Dean told us that we could not draw with any sort of stick tool: no pencils, no charcoal, not even a bamboo pen for ink. The class freaked out. ”How are we supposed to draw!?” “This is impossible!” “Is he serious?” We were forced into a situation where our previous skills were of little use. Everyone was uncomfortable. This sort of discomfort is what Dean described as creativity. I would agree. Many of my most creative moments have been when I was forced, under pressure, and unfamiliar with the situation.
I wish I had taken photos, but the result of these works were quite interesting. New qualities of the mediums appeared. New possibilities arose. This sort of experimentation is essential to an artist because the more an artist knows about his tools the more he can build. Artists are problem solvers, they react to visual (in this instance) problems and solve them. The more you know, the quicker the solutions come.
Oh and if you want to know how we were able to draw with charcoal, graphite, and ink without using pencils, charcoal sticks, or bamboo pens you’ll have to just try it yourself!
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Posted: October 24th, 2008 | Author: Sean | Filed under: Thoughts | Tags: art theory, dean valadez | No Comments »
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned both in my art studies and my meditation studies was the concept of non-permanence. Things change, a lot. In fact, they never stop changing. When you’re at your drawing board, easel, pottery wheel, or whatever it is that you do, and you think to yourself “I can’t change this, I’m going to stop working it” pause and rethink what you’ve just said.
There have been many times when I have given up on a work that I knew wasn’t working. I gave up because I thought it couldn’t be fixed. What was really happening is I gave up because I thought it would take too much effort to be fixed. My instructor Dean Valadez once showed us slides of a Rembrandt work in progress. The medium was an engraving and throughout the work’s progress figures and space was actually erased and shifted. Thats right, metal was erased. The lesson was, if these guys can erase metal because they felt something wasn’t working then you sure as hell can erase some charcoal and graphite.
This concept really liberated me in the sense that it allowed for much more experimentation. Hmm, the body is a little far to the left, I’ll just erase the whole thing, or shift the background until it works. Hmmm, what would this drawing look like if it was cut up and rearranged? Lets try it. Hmmmm, how could I make this face look more voluminous? I’ll just paint over my ‘favorite’ part of the painting and see what happens. This references ideas of experimentation and process, which are integral in understanding how a work ticks, and more importantly, how the human eye ticks.
The other day in drawing class a comment made by my teacher irked me: “You might be over working it at this point.” I nodded, but continued to work the image. Overworked? What? Seriously? I’m sorry, but I don’t think it exists. The majority of people do, but I don’t. When an artist feels that their work has been overcooked it merely means that the work looked good, then after some more manipulation lost something. All this means is that you have to go back and add some more, find that “click” in the image where you know the piece as a while is strong.
Change can be scary, but when you’re working on a piece, you can’t let that stop you from leaping off into your vast imagination.
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