This reading was quite interesting, though I struggled at times with being able to stay focused on the writing as I would get distracted by the drawings. Regardless, it was interesting to see how the two go hand in hand with one another. After all, just as words are often used to convey our own thoughts, so to can drawing be utilized as well. I feel like so often, words are the automatic go-to for expressing ourselves- perhaps this is due to the notion that words have a more definite meaning with less room for interpretation. Drawings and imagery itself however I feel often is perceived as having a looser meaning to it, feeling not as rigid. Thus, I feel that it is important to remind ourselves of the duality of word and drawing, and consider more deeply how the two relate to one another and also how they can be utilized together. The five drawing actions referred to served as a way of looking deeper at the roles that different actions used in actually drawing play and how they can relate to larger ideas trying to be portrayed. Often when I draw, I do not usually put a deeper meaning into what I am making- I often draw just because. However, it certainly is worth a second look if there could really be more to what I am drawing that I may not be consciously aware of.
Category Archives: Reading Reflections
What Artists Do and Say When They Draw
When I draw, I think too much. I am not confident in my drawings. I feel comfortable painting and using charcoal because it is more natural for me to manipulate and is similar to my thought process. Drawing makes me feel like I am not really in the moment. It takes away from my process. When I paint, I don’t really plan what my paintings will become. I listen to music and the shuffling of music influences what I paint. This is why it is tough for my to explain what I was thinking or doing while I was painting. It is almost like an out-of-body experience. In the past many of my teachers asked me why I paint what I paint. I have a hard time coming up with an answer because it is so different every time. Through this semester, I have realized I’d like to keep a log of the songs I listen to while I paint and also a log of my thoughts while I paint. Many times I get very caught up in my imagination. I don’t keep a sketchbook either. It has never been part of my practice. My artwork is always in the moment. I feel that my process is very similar to cognitive ethnography and this is possibly very important in my studio and pedagogic research.
Written Response- Kantrowitz
I agree with Melissa, I found that the cognitive ethnography was interesting. As an artist, we are constantly looking at other artist work, thinking about: What were they thinking? How did they do that? What is their process? And What is their inspiration? The idea of doing drawing studies in an informal setting, the wild, was fascinating.
I liked how each artist had a different jump off point, and an entirely different work of art. However, when they were broken down into the node diagrams they had some overlapping components. Overlapping in the sense that they all revisited at least one place in their drawing and that they all jumped back and fourth through out. The science behind drawing and what our brains does while we do so is fascinating. Even on my visual response I have now had some ideas for my projects and layers that I want to try in other works of art. This all happened with great a 10-20 minuted period which is astounding.
Visual Response- Kantrowitz chapter
I was really draw to the idea of the cognitive ethnography and how you showed a bunch of different artist drawings so I figured I would do a drawing of my own. I sat down in my apartment and looked at things that were in front of me, and things that were going on in my space. I was making a banana bread so the numbers, banana and loaf show that
Reading Response to What Artists do (& Say) when they Draw
“Drawing is a tool of thought.” This quote resonated with me since I forget this frequently; especially on a micro level. With my personal artwork, I think of the end result; but, my focus is never on a point or a stroke. I never think about thinking regarding strokes or mark making. The majority of the time I subconsciously make decisions.
Cognitive ethnography struck my curiosity. I would actually like to try this. Watching myself make decisions and then narrating it might bring to light some subconscious decision making. Helping to place more emphasis back on the mark or decision making. This would result in revisiting my work with positive revisions, especially if coworkers or peers are not around to request opinions or thoughts.
Vermeer in Bosnia Response- Lindsay W.
I found it remarkable how Weschler was able to interweave the history and creation of Vermeer’s paintings with something as dark as the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal. The reading brings up this idea of Vermeer creating seemingly peaceful works of art as a response to the tumultuous times that surrounded him. It is not an idea that is at all new, but it also made me think more about the lives that artists such as Vermeer lived and reasons that art is made. In the history of art, especially during Vermeer’s time, art was primarily commissioned by patrons, be it wealthy merchants, nobles, or the Church. Thus it starts to lead to the questioning of was it necessarily Vermeer simply painting to escape the troubled times around him, or him receiving the commission to do so? It brings up a lot more questions to consider the very purpose of what art should be and do. Art is not necessarily always a definite way of being able to tell about the experiences occurring at the time of its creation.
One line in particular that grabbed my attention was Weschler’s use of the phrase “inventing peace”. The very image that is created by an artist in a painting, or taken in a photo, has the possibility of achieving just that. When one looks at a picture, there is an automatic assumption that we have about what is it that we are seeing, and the very reason of why it may have been made. The image is itself an invention by the artist to make the viewer think something, that may or may not actually be true. This very notion of the truth of an image ties back to my project from over the summer. While I focused primarily on the use of an image to retain a memory, and the ultimate decline of the memories validity, it similarly brought up this point of the viewer’s interpretation and understanding of an image versus the actual truth behind the creation of the image.
Last reading of the semester
For our last reading on the creative process for this semester, I am giving you a chapter in press that I created for a book on applied cognitive psychology, entitled,”Representations in Mind and World.”
What artists do (and say) when they draw: pdf-chapter
Response to Vermeer in Bosnia
After reading the article I found myself agreeing with Lindsay B. Just this weekend I came to the realization that I find it hard to make artwork for others. My motivation unfortunately takes a steep decline and I put it off for as long as possible. My mom wants me to make two more paintings like the one I made of myself but of my sisters to hang up in our living room. My mom has also told me shes going to hang up literally every painting I have made the last few months. I think for me, the question of the painting is what is most exhilarating to me. When I am asked to recreate an image for someone else there is always the other persons reaction and expectation to worry about.
I have been bridging my landscape and portraits together in a dreamy and enchanted way and I really like how they’re coming out!
Artwork in response to Vemeer- Brette
Portrait of a student- India Ink on paper
I have taken interest in women’s sociocultural roles since this recent election. Students of various ethnicities, especially the girls, have remained very quiet in my classes since the recent presidential results. After researching a little about Veemers famous painting, Girl with a Pearl Earing, I looked deeper in the expression of the girl wearing the turban. Her gaze is sad and still as she stares out at the viewer. When I painted this portrait, I had a particular student in mind. One a very talkative, lovely and vivacious girl has become silent. I am almost concerned…
I tried to use color to suggest a grim and sad mood; I also incorporated text maybe to suggest her oppressed thoughts. I may do some more portraits this upcoming week…
A Chronogram poem – in relation to vemeer
I was browsing through, this poem resonated with me .. I am thinking about Vemeer and the hardships he faced throughout this career and also his life…
Unnamed
The world asks you to surrender, more than you carry.
A garden trowel held loosely in a gingham apron pocket.
A watch burnished drab from ticking,
a feather found just when your belief in feathers had vanished.
So much is asked of our tender human souls.
So many things we could never part with.
And, yet, on a day like every other day,
walking in sunlight down a hill,
the morning’s flash-force glint touches your breath and you stop, empty as you dare to feel, and reach for
something, unnamed, to find the weight of it is comfort.
– Susan Rousseau