During my experimental drawing elective I used a wide variety of materials and techniques with manipulation of scale, angle, proportion, texture and layering etc. I used a camera to document my findings, allowing me to evaluate what I had found throughout the day, while incorporating photography itself. Alongside the practical work I researched into other artists for inspiration. Some of these were new artists I had never touched on before which broadened by awareness within the subject area, giving me a better understanding of how to achieve a good range of experimental drawings.
Drawing is the base of everything in any art discipline, developing and improving on this from what I’ve learnt in the elective will hopefully filter into my own discipline giving me a better understanding of producing more innovative and experimental work from now on. From this elective I agree with drawings as being evidence of thinking and making a mark. This can be altered through process of experimentation and development. It’s a journey through time and space and can be unpredictable and surprising. Within my drawings I included different processes through drawing noted by Richard Serra (1978) by manipulating a wide range of materials. Drawing can be evidence of thinking (Vija Celmins, 2004) and evidence of going from one place to another- as a kind of journey.
Throughout experimenting I really liked working with wire and its dense structure, which can be molded again and again. Photocopying allowed a good effect with light and dark, which I interpreted through different qualities of line to give a completely new approach. Scaling something up or down or interpreting something into a different medium can completely change the perception of it showing how versatile drawing can be. I particularly found layering effective, it seemed to tell more of a story. The drawings can work together either in contrast or to show the change from the original image to the last.
I liked the idea of things changing over time whether it was using a sundial or when I look pictures of grumbling objects. It was effective to see how the original structure has changed which from these images I developed through experimentation with technique and approach. Paying attention to the idea of drawing as a means of travelling.
What surprised me the most about the elective was the scope of techniques there are and the materials you can use to produce a drawing. I Really liked using collage, I found it freed up the use of line and can be built on with the use of texture. Interpreting an image from 2D to 3D and back again was a process I found useful in creating a new approach to an object playing with different mark making, scales and proportions.
I maybe should have developed each mini project more, or alternatively focused on maybe one project throughout the elective to achieve a more rounded outcome that showed the true development from one idea to the next in the process of experimentation.
Some artist research from my elective;
Love this exhibition, really inspirational in terms of shape ideas and surface treatments. There was such a wider variety of fabric and materials, I'm excited to really get into this project now.
