A great couple of days. Last night I was offered another solo exhibition at the Spiral Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI. Then this morning I heard that two of my drawings from my last exhibition were juried into a big show out in Oregon- Au Naturel!
April is looking very busy with my second solo show to hang in 7 months, and the opening of my curated exhibition of drawing from around the country. This life is one fun ride!
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Investigating the Portrait, an Exhibition of Student Work
If you've been keeping up with my occasional posts, you know I had an excellent Portrait Painting and Drawing class in the last spring/summer term. They were such a great group that halfway through I proposed the idea of having an exhibition of their work!
Our local community puts on First Friday gallery walks every month and I loved the idea of linking what we were doing at the college to the greater arts community. I wanted their show to be in the best venue- 22 North Gallery. It is a very classy operation and was very receptive to the idea. Their next open slot was this November, and even after 5 months since the end of the class I had tremendous energy from the students in getting it together.
All of the work represented was from that one class. 38 high-quality pieces from 20 students in 10 weeks! We titled it Investigating The Portrait at Washtenaw Community College.
Not only did it give the students a chance to get their artwork out of the studio and connect to the wider community, but it gave them the opportunity to learn how to prepare for and deliver to a show. All of the artwork in the show was juried by them in the final day of the class, so they got to see much of the entire process of making, preparing and exhibiting the work, as well as some of the curatorial work involved in an exhibition like this.
This has gone so well I might try the same with my Studio Concepts class. From the most representational subject to the most conceptual ones, I am stretching my teaching skills, and really getting my students involved in many aspects of the complex and diverse world of art!
Our local community puts on First Friday gallery walks every month and I loved the idea of linking what we were doing at the college to the greater arts community. I wanted their show to be in the best venue- 22 North Gallery. It is a very classy operation and was very receptive to the idea. Their next open slot was this November, and even after 5 months since the end of the class I had tremendous energy from the students in getting it together.
All of the work represented was from that one class. 38 high-quality pieces from 20 students in 10 weeks! We titled it Investigating The Portrait at Washtenaw Community College.
Not only did it give the students a chance to get their artwork out of the studio and connect to the wider community, but it gave them the opportunity to learn how to prepare for and deliver to a show. All of the artwork in the show was juried by them in the final day of the class, so they got to see much of the entire process of making, preparing and exhibiting the work, as well as some of the curatorial work involved in an exhibition like this.
This has gone so well I might try the same with my Studio Concepts class. From the most representational subject to the most conceptual ones, I am stretching my teaching skills, and really getting my students involved in many aspects of the complex and diverse world of art!
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Studio Concepts Class Developments
This semester I have been teaching Studio Concepts at EMU. This is a fascinating class to teach, and unique among many classes at the college art level. This is a course that asks students to take the formal structures they have learned in their first two years, and asks them to begin considering contemporary art themes in the development of work that builds conceptual thinking into formal creation. It is not media specific, and students are asked to work with mediums they are at least familiar with, and that will most reveal the conceptual meaning built into each piece. Drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, video, performance, installation and more- all are open and encouraged. The diversity of work coming out of one class has been exceptional and exciting!
Within four projects I give them themes to work from and I introduce professional and student work along those themes. Project One explored Time and Place. Project Two, Nature, Science and Spirituality. Project Three explores Identity, Memory and The Body, and their final project will synthesize any of these themes and their own interests. They take these themes, readings and visual presentations and ideate in their sketchbooks. Group and one-on one discussions take place, and the projects develop within the community of the classroom.
Within each project they are asked to make journal entries exploring artists, media and writings based on the current theme. Project Proposals explore what they might make and how, and what problems they might encounter along the way. These are developed into artist statements for each project, that shift and coalesce as the concept and form of each project develops. Studio work time is scheduled where discussions and collaboration continue. I strongly emphasize the quality of their final presentations, as I shift our studio into a gallery-like setting for critique. Critiques are deeply engaging and highly thought-provoking!
Lastly, they are asked to create an online presence and share their writings, research and final development with the class, and if they wish, the entire world beyond. This helps to prepare them for an increasingly important online art community and market.
What a fun class to teach! Watch as I add more of their completed projects to my Studio Concepts web page. Be sure to scroll over each opened image to see the materials and themes explored!
http://nick-reszetar.squarespace.com/student-work-studio-concepts/
Within four projects I give them themes to work from and I introduce professional and student work along those themes. Project One explored Time and Place. Project Two, Nature, Science and Spirituality. Project Three explores Identity, Memory and The Body, and their final project will synthesize any of these themes and their own interests. They take these themes, readings and visual presentations and ideate in their sketchbooks. Group and one-on one discussions take place, and the projects develop within the community of the classroom.
Within each project they are asked to make journal entries exploring artists, media and writings based on the current theme. Project Proposals explore what they might make and how, and what problems they might encounter along the way. These are developed into artist statements for each project, that shift and coalesce as the concept and form of each project develops. Studio work time is scheduled where discussions and collaboration continue. I strongly emphasize the quality of their final presentations, as I shift our studio into a gallery-like setting for critique. Critiques are deeply engaging and highly thought-provoking!
Lastly, they are asked to create an online presence and share their writings, research and final development with the class, and if they wish, the entire world beyond. This helps to prepare them for an increasingly important online art community and market.
What a fun class to teach! Watch as I add more of their completed projects to my Studio Concepts web page. Be sure to scroll over each opened image to see the materials and themes explored!
http://nick-reszetar.squarespace.com/student-work-studio-concepts/
Monday, July 18, 2016
Highlights from my Spring/Summer Portrait Painting and Life Drawing class!
This is one of the best classes I have taught. The energy, engagement, and openness to learning was as intense as any up to this point. I had tremendous fun teaching it, and I really had the opportunity to push this very dedicated group of students. I thought I'd share some of the highlights.
This class had not been offered at the college for about 8 years, so it was up to me to reintroduce it and structure it in this contemporary age of art, where the portrait continues to reemerge as one of the premier art forms.
I wanted to start off with some firm grounding and understanding of underlying anatomical studies. This provided the students the opportunity to learn about the volume-defining structures of the skull, the expression-defining connection of muscles, and- most importantly- the proportional measurements of the portrait from a underlying viewpoint. I wanted their first major project to be something foundational to build on for the rest of the class- before we moved into linear, full value, chromatic or conceptual work as we went forward.
We started off by drawing the skull models and flayed heads in the studio. I even brought down the plastic anatomy models from the biology lab, with their removable anatomical layers. Students worked on skull drawings, sketchbook studies, and eventually a homework project that overlayed the muscle layer over the skull. Using dark carbon pencils on paper for the skull, they layed a sheet of frosted mylar and drew the muscle layers in graphite- allowing them to see how the two layers worked together, and attachment points for the muscles. I asked them to play with the transparency and depth between the layers, something the digital reproductions have a hard time conveying.
After a week of anatomical and proportional studies we brought in live models to apply these proportional measurements and early anatomical understandings. For some students drawing from live models was brand new, for others, they had varying amounts of past experience. Drawing from life is very challenging, but is also essential for understanding the volumetric nature of the head. I also made sure students were studying both more frontal and profile views, as they often choose the same positions in the studio. Having a budget for two models helped with that tremendously. All drawings are about life-size, on at least 18"X24" paper.
Week four and we moved into monochromatic full value. With some sketchbook studies and demos under our belts, we got out the Planes of the Head models I had just had the college order. Lit with a strong light source, students were asked to use the sight measuring techniques they had learned as well as the Six Degrees of light we had been studying to draw these models out in charcoal. I told them these would be some of the most important studies we made as we headed for full value, monochromatic and chromatic, with our live models. They proved to be some of the most valuable studies of the whole semester!
Back to live models, we spent two weeks on monochromatic studies with charcoal.
To help with the transition to color work, something students often find a bit intimidating, I had them draw with the 3 colors of Conte Crayon; Sanguine for the warm midtones they saw, Bistre for the cooler shadow values, and white for the brightest highlights, which were always a bit cooler than the surrounding light areas. I allowed just a touch of black to cool down the core shadows, and asked them to maintain luminosity in those deep areas. We combined this essential color theory with the planar, anatomical, and proportional system we were learning and it was off the races! Students were able to make some very believable skin colors and textures. I thought these were some of the simplest and most beautiful works of the whole semester, and they really helped with our transition to full chroma.
And then it was on to full chroma. I decided we would use chalk pastel for a number of reasons. For one. it was analogous to the dry work we had been doing with charcoal and conte. For another, the studio we are in is not ventilated for fumey paints such as oil. Finally, I have experienced in other painting classes that acrylics are too frustrating with their drying times, and that pastel could create much more believable skin tones. But before we started with live models, students were asked to recreate some master pastel portraits to take some of the learning curve out of the transition to full chroma.
Even their sketchbook studies were something to note!
After these studies, and loads of research on pastel I had given them, it was time to bring the models back. and apply full chroma pastel to our life drawing practices! Yes, these were all done from life in the studio.
The images above represent a broad range of the class, not just a few of the best performers. But I did want to share the extremely impressive progress and growth of one in particular. These three images represent who I call my most improved student. Even I, a college teacher of five years, have not seen anything quite this dramatic. I like to think I had a lot to do with this. One of her first studio drawings, a full value drawing from about midway, and a full chroma painting from near the end:
Lastly, I gave them their final project: The Contemporary Portrait. It asked them to take the proportional, structural, value, and chromatic tools they had learned throughout the semester, and create a composition with meaning in its form and concept. As you could imagine, the diversity of my Community College Students (Yes, these were COMMUNITY COLLEGE students) produced a dramatic variety of interpretations....
I will miss this class. I simply LOVE teaching art!!!!!
This class had not been offered at the college for about 8 years, so it was up to me to reintroduce it and structure it in this contemporary age of art, where the portrait continues to reemerge as one of the premier art forms.
I wanted to start off with some firm grounding and understanding of underlying anatomical studies. This provided the students the opportunity to learn about the volume-defining structures of the skull, the expression-defining connection of muscles, and- most importantly- the proportional measurements of the portrait from a underlying viewpoint. I wanted their first major project to be something foundational to build on for the rest of the class- before we moved into linear, full value, chromatic or conceptual work as we went forward.
We started off by drawing the skull models and flayed heads in the studio. I even brought down the plastic anatomy models from the biology lab, with their removable anatomical layers. Students worked on skull drawings, sketchbook studies, and eventually a homework project that overlayed the muscle layer over the skull. Using dark carbon pencils on paper for the skull, they layed a sheet of frosted mylar and drew the muscle layers in graphite- allowing them to see how the two layers worked together, and attachment points for the muscles. I asked them to play with the transparency and depth between the layers, something the digital reproductions have a hard time conveying.
Week four and we moved into monochromatic full value. With some sketchbook studies and demos under our belts, we got out the Planes of the Head models I had just had the college order. Lit with a strong light source, students were asked to use the sight measuring techniques they had learned as well as the Six Degrees of light we had been studying to draw these models out in charcoal. I told them these would be some of the most important studies we made as we headed for full value, monochromatic and chromatic, with our live models. They proved to be some of the most valuable studies of the whole semester!
Back to live models, we spent two weeks on monochromatic studies with charcoal.
And then it was on to full chroma. I decided we would use chalk pastel for a number of reasons. For one. it was analogous to the dry work we had been doing with charcoal and conte. For another, the studio we are in is not ventilated for fumey paints such as oil. Finally, I have experienced in other painting classes that acrylics are too frustrating with their drying times, and that pastel could create much more believable skin tones. But before we started with live models, students were asked to recreate some master pastel portraits to take some of the learning curve out of the transition to full chroma.
Even their sketchbook studies were something to note!
After these studies, and loads of research on pastel I had given them, it was time to bring the models back. and apply full chroma pastel to our life drawing practices! Yes, these were all done from life in the studio.
The images above represent a broad range of the class, not just a few of the best performers. But I did want to share the extremely impressive progress and growth of one in particular. These three images represent who I call my most improved student. Even I, a college teacher of five years, have not seen anything quite this dramatic. I like to think I had a lot to do with this. One of her first studio drawings, a full value drawing from about midway, and a full chroma painting from near the end:
Lastly, I gave them their final project: The Contemporary Portrait. It asked them to take the proportional, structural, value, and chromatic tools they had learned throughout the semester, and create a composition with meaning in its form and concept. As you could imagine, the diversity of my Community College Students (Yes, these were COMMUNITY COLLEGE students) produced a dramatic variety of interpretations....
I will miss this class. I simply LOVE teaching art!!!!!
Friday, March 25, 2016
Starting to hit on some things with these latest drawings. I'm imagining a whole row of expressive, abstracted figure drawings for my solo show, that compositionally flow together. Working themes focus on corporeal and spiritual existence, but that is as far as I am conceptually at this point.
Intuitive and material explorations, informed by rich surface qualities are important, as are gesture and a sense of space and rhythm. I think as more of these drawings emerge, I will start to figure out just how all of those things will work.
As of yet, this series is untitled. This one is made of charcoal, gesso, ferric chloride and pastel on paper, 52"X32" More to come, just gotta line up more models!
Intuitive and material explorations, informed by rich surface qualities are important, as are gesture and a sense of space and rhythm. I think as more of these drawings emerge, I will start to figure out just how all of those things will work.
As of yet, this series is untitled. This one is made of charcoal, gesso, ferric chloride and pastel on paper, 52"X32" More to come, just gotta line up more models!
Friday, March 4, 2016
Solo Exhibition and More Coming Up!
This week I was invited by Olivet College in Michigan to hang a solo exhibition as the first artist of the 2016/2017 season! I have just printed out the floor plans and will head into the studio today to start planning and thinking. What a wonderful opportunity. Time to get to work!
A few days later I was invited to curate an exhibition on Contemporary Drawing at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania for Winter 2017. I'm also in talks to bring my Drawing Marathon out to Oregon later that summer after winning First Place at Clatsop Community College's Au Natural Exhibition last month. What a busy year and a half coming up! But I am used to it, this is what I love!
A few days later I was invited to curate an exhibition on Contemporary Drawing at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania for Winter 2017. I'm also in talks to bring my Drawing Marathon out to Oregon later that summer after winning First Place at Clatsop Community College's Au Natural Exhibition last month. What a busy year and a half coming up! But I am used to it, this is what I love!
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Biggest Sculpture Yet!
Friday, February 26, 2016
Drawing with a Sculptor's Eye...
With a break from one of the three colleges I am teaching at, I've been able to really get into this new series of drawings I've started. And the sculpting I've been up to is really changing my outlook! With this I'm planning to push deeper into the 2D intuitive abstraction I have long worked at achieving. I'm actually using large scraps of paper as my gestural and compositional studies, then taking that work to the gessoed panels hanging on the wall, which are heavily textured. Often the pose ideas come from simple gestural marks like you see on the left. From there I am working into the original poses with shifts in the live poses, and photographic sources. Much of the rest is just intuitive abstraction and imagination. They change by the hour, and I have no idea what they might become. Why else would I make them? That is the fun, and challenging part!
Getting Warmed up with Weekly Life Drawing Again!
Just getting warmed up again with weekly Life Drawing at The Downtown Art Collective I helped to start. This is a 40 minute drawing from the end of last weekend. Using mostly subtractive methods, I wanted to see how quickly I could get to the heart of a solid drawing that would still have energy and depth.
Charcoal on paper, 24"X36"
Charcoal on paper, 24"X36"
Drawing and Sculpting, An Artistic Duality.
Drawing and sculpting. The parallels are clear at times, but the different forms that can be achieved striking as well. Either way, I am having a blast!
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