Janet Kaiser on fri 24 sep 99
Earl Brunner wrote:
>snip<
>He took me into a large greenhouse on campus, sat me about a foot away
>from a large philodendron and had me draw with out looking at the paper.
>
Earl went on to say one of his best drawings ever...
Well, Earl, I do not recall the name of the author, or the title of the
book, but when I was taking a life drawing class at SUNY Plattsburgh, NY in
1975-6, Prof. Mikelsson was teaching this technique. I have been sorry ever
since I was only a poor British exchange student who could not afford to buy
that book...
Anyway, we had to practise at least two hours per day and my room mate got
really tired of sitting still so much. It was fascinating! You trained your
eyes to follow the contours of the human body. Not just in outline but as if
you were gently "drawing" an imaginary line across the surface. It helped
some to think they were drawing a soft brush along...
The only time you looked at the paper, was when starting out at one point
(and even that brief glance was only as a "beginner"). Once started we never
looked at the paper.
In practice, the pencil was being lead by the eyes via the brain. So it was
a case of eyes (= seeing and caressing), to brain (absorbing and processing
this information from the eyes) to hand (doing what the eyes - via the
brain - told 'em to do) to paper (= a secondary result of the whole
process).
There was no mixing up of data between seeing and getting it onto the paper
as the finished "product". I was remarkable... I still have some of those
drawings plus one by the prof. The quality is similar to Rembrandt's
drawings. Amazing.
Now, was this "teaching seeing"? It certainly taught a great many to draw...
Only drawback being, you had to keep up the practise. I tried it again not
too long after these classes and had totally lost the ability although I had
done extremely well (got A+ grade for the course ).
What I have retained ever since, is the sensual feeling I get when I do
draw. An almost tactile "laying on of eyes"... ooh, I just cannot explain!
Like fondling a pot but with the inner eye.
But this (as far as I am concerned) was not the original point of the
discussion on design. I still feel that it is a totally different aspect.
Everyone can "see", so the "teaching to see" is only teachers trying to lead
students to _using_ that sight in some way, almost like an "ulterior
motive". The rest is then interpretation and that differs so much from one
person to the next.
In a ceramics class (this time back in the UK) we once had a whole 2 hour
lecture teaching us to see and learn the "best" shape of a handle in
relationship to a pot. Lots of images of "good" and "bad", loads of
pitchers, teapots, jugs, cups and vases to handle (excuse the pun) and look
at. The "classical" Greek and Roman where the favourites. But then it came
to _making_ the perfect pot with handles.
Again, another two hours of critique on the end product. Had anyone produced
_anything_like_the_CLASSICAL_shape? Or even approaching what we had all
agreed was "good design". Oh! dear NO! So what was the point of seeing and
learning in that example? Did it work? Where we just all too dumb?
It is back to the theory being a very different kettle of fish to the
practice! And don't we ALL know it?
Just my humble opinion
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art, Criccieth, GB-Wales
Home of The International Potters Path
http://www.the-coa.org.uk
postbox@the-coa.org.uk
Donn Buchfinck on sat 25 sep 99
ok ok
I get to interject my two cents worth here.
if you want to learn good design do what the Greeks did, they had a handle
on design and proportion that no one culture has been able to match.
Study the figure.
take figure drawing, figurative sculpture, the kind of class where you use
calipers and measurements,
a person will develop a natural sense of proportion through doing this.
I am talking about doing it as an exercise, not as an art form, I think it
is a great art form myself.
Draw your loved one. We probably would get along a lot better if we all
spent more time in the nude anyway with our loved ones.
look at people, their bodies, you will find that you can look at a persons
face and see how the body will be poportioned.
Look into people's eyes, learn to see them, it can be learned. too many
people have lost the ability to look people in their eyes.
This is the best way to learn a sense of porportion for pottery, the Greeks
made great pots not only great temples.
Look at a mans body verses a womans, you learn an understanding of weight,
of how forms can be either classified feminine or masculine. Why is that???
you see the skin, pottery deals with skin.
studying the figure is directly connected to making better pottery, and in
the end this is the only complaint that I have about a lot of handmade
pottery in the world, that a lot of time and money and energy is spent on
equipment and learning technique but precious little time is taken to learn a
sense of porportion and detail, a personal asthetic. It is ok to look at
other pottery for inspiration. But when you are making, put the thought into
your mind, that the pot originaly came from something else, and would you
rather drink from someone else's cup or from the well itself.
Donn Buchfinck
San Francisco
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