Drawing Marathon - Fall 2008

Week One: Tuesday, September 2 – Saturday, September 6, inclusive
Week Two: Monday, September 8 – Friday, September 12

Graham Nickson

In this Marathon, students learn the importance of drawing as the basis of understanding one’s experience of the world. Drawing is seen here as the most direct route to the examination of our perceptions. Unorthodox tools and exercises will be introduced to broaden the student’s drawing vocabulary.

This course will investigate many implications of drawing as a physical and cerebral activity as well as drawing as a philosophy.  The very specific nature of drawing in its role in painting will be analyzed and the relevant aspects of this pursued in depth: the art of drawing and painting as one; drawing as metaphor for color, drawing in painting over the last centuries. It will discuss key issues, including those of scale, tiny to huge; the use of different formats; the use of the rectangle, the vertical axis and its significance; the nature of distortions; the compression of space and depth; the search for ‘form’ and its consequences; space and its meaning, how it functions in drawing and different kinds of space; and the nature of relational drawing.

We will approach the meaning of images, investigating what contributes to a “powerful image”.  We will discuss “pictorial” subject versus narrative subject: the diversities of structure, especially using strategies like the grid, the organic spiral and geometry, all of which play a part in research into the language of drawing.

Each day produces an intense working mode, using the vitality of each individual’s purpose.  Students work very hard and are offered individual criticism on a one to one basis, constantly.  The average day usually contains several group critiques and a lengthy final critique at the end of the physical drawing session, and is intensified for the last critique at the end of the course.  The dialogue and discussions within the group are expected to be clear and succinct.  The students are encouraged to participate and understand the visual language of drawing.

A full materials list can be downloaded here. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to open this file.