The first day of classes that week was that foundations students were divided into two groups A&B. I was sorted into Group B where I was going to focus on observational drawing and studio research. In class that day we did observational drawing in the university's main courtyard using charcoal. The goal of this activity was to try to draw/sketch faster as well as become more accurate with our observational skills. For each piece we did we had five minutes to complete. We did observational drawing for about three hours that day. The homework that night was to draw three scenes with trees/architecture in them. For each piece we did we were expected to spend one hour on. This piece was due the next day and the pieces had to be completed by sunset that evening.
The next day we had to all hang up our pieces for a critique from our art professors. Everyone had their pieces finished and we had an hour long critique on almost everyones pieces. A lot of the students in class felt nervous in a way because our objective was to draw fast and accurately. The way we did our assignment was very different than most students art styles. For me personally it was out of my comfort zone but also with a medium that I was familiar with to some extent. After the critique there was a presentation of artists and different art styles. There was also a demonstration on creating 3D forms to proportion. The homework was for students to create a fantasy scene incorporating 3D forms into their piece. This assignment is due Monday September 10th.
Day Three:
Wednesday was the day both groups are combined and we watched a movie about an artist who worked with as bunch of different mediums and how his art evolved over the years and where he first started.
Day Four: Studio Research
Classes on Thursday and Friday is taught by different professors than in the beginning of the week so I was also in a different floor of the art studios that day. Studio research that day everyone had their sketchbooks and we were asked to answer three questions:
1.) What is one childhood book that you would reread if you had the chance?
For me I chose the book The Giver by Lois Lorwy because I enjoyed reading that book in middle school and I have reread it before because I liked the storyline.
2.) What is one item from your past that you still treasure today?
One item that I hold important to me is my first tutu that I wore in a dance recital when I was four years old. This item is important to me because I have been dancing for a very long time and it is nice to look back and see where I started in this tiny lilac tutu and now I am on my 14th year of dance. It reminds me how hard I have worked to be in the place I am today.
3.) What places do you find intriguing? Explain.
I think that anywhere away from home is intriguing because there is so much more out in the world that I do not know of yet and wherever I go there is something to learn or discover.
After the questions we shared our answers and we walked to the university's ceramic art museum. Our homework assignment is to pick a vessel and observe it for two consecutive hours and take notes/sketches of the piece.
For me personally I enjoyed doing the work a lot because I never really had a chance to take a ceramics course in high school and I felt like this experience made me appreciate ceramic art much more than I did before. I also think I had a bit of a roadblock when doing this assignment because my professors said to watch a piece for two consecutive hours and I think the idea of sitting myself down for that long was difficult but I ended dup really enjoying myself and not getting bored with it. I know that some students were very bored after a half an hour and even left before the two hour mark. However, once I got into my creative mindset it was easy from there with my full focus on the piece and doing sketches as well as taking notes.
Day Five: Studio Research:
The last day of the week was when we all shared our notes from our observations in the museum to our classmates. We also did an exercise about cognitive fitness where we would walk around the room and draw our surroundings from memory which I found was very challenging yet very interesting. Our next assignment was to create our own little museum of things that we find in a section of campus. By Wednesday we have to find four items of our choice in our select groups. Another art homework we were assigned to was to create or maintain an online presence as an artist to have a platform to display our work. I have used this blog in the past so I am trying to post more updates on my art and my progress throughout the years. Our task on our blog is to post weekly or daily of something we do every day. My current ideas in the works is doing something dance related and pose across campus doing a certain pose of places I go to or have been to before.
