Opening Sequence :: The Pacific

Thanks to Brian D for pointing the way to the opening credits of the HBO miniseries, "The Pacific."

EU Gender Equality Drawing Competition

For the fourth year in a row, the European Commission is organising an international drawing competition on Gender Equality, which will be launched on the International Women's Day – 8 March 2010. Eight to ten year old children in developing countries are invited to express in a drawing their vision on the theme of gender equality. This year's theme proposes to reflect on how girls and boys, women and men, can together make the world a better place.

The deadline for entries is May 14, 2010.

For more information, please visit the EU website.

Inscriptive Science

The International Graphonomics Society is dedicated to investigating how marks are made, be they semiotic or less so... I am more and more interested in thinking about how inscription *happens* especially as mediated through digital technologies. Any resources, please let me know!

More simple gestures...

Gestures by Koki Tenaka

Sai Hua Kua - Very Kinetic!

I like that this "space drawing" by Sai Hua Kua has the potential to inflict rope burn on innocent bystanders. Two versions, with and without thrill-seeking audience.

Studio Show at the MCA Chicago

The City of Big Shoulders (that sticks with me for some reason - I see them everywhere!) was host to a whirlwind art tour this past week, with a highlight being the first floor of the MCA, as nine artists take on the ethos of The Studio. In my solipsistic way, I considered it a drawing show, foremost, with studio explorations from Kentridge, Tacita Dean, Andrea Zittel, Nikhil Chopra, Amanda Ross-Ho, and more. Deb Sokolow's wall drawing for the lobby is hysterical and brilliant.

Full details on the show are here on the MCA website.

Kentridge at the MoMA on the Web

William Kentridge has been my hero since I picked up a piece of charcoal, and the current exhibition at the MoMA is once again testament as to why. The online resource has some of the highest-quality video footage of his animations I have seen online, combined with interviews and excellent text. If you've tried to get any HD footage of Kentridge animations from YouTube, you know how frustrating it is to have to weed through people's handheld camming attempts, well-intentioned though they may be.

http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/williamkentridge/flash/index.html

Delicious.

Rembrandt Resource

http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/ An excellent collection of image and word, used by Heidi Jensen at Clemson in teaching self-portraiture. Any other good self-portrait resources in the mix?

Of Bodies in Motion

Yesterday was art-magical in Columbia, SC. Not only was it 68 degrees and sunny (thank you, latitude!), but an inspired collaboration occurred between dancers and draw-ers, yielding sparky insights and open declarations of mutual love.

On the dance side, high school dance students and their teachers joined up with USC dance students and professors to learn a 3-minute etude that the HS folks will take back to their schools to perform and teach to other students. On the drawing side, three of my students and I spent three hours recording, through drawn gestural line, this experience of dancers learning the etude. What emerged were drawn signatures of danced phrases - 10 - 20 body positions conspiring into single figures.







The linkage between drawing and dance is in many ways easy and obvious - one makes a physical move that conveys direction, speed, intensity, pressure, duration and space. But it was truly exciting to have dancers look at abstracted marks on the page and recognize themselves in them; as well, for those drawing to feel like we were dancing as we moved and left material traces of vision. The immediacy and intimacy of the experience was inspiring (and thus highly recommended - go draw dancers! Hurry!!!).

Xenakis on AIR

Curators Carey Lovelace and Sharon Kanach speak to their exhibition Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect and Visionary, running at the Drawing Center until April 8.

AIR's David Weinstein speaks with Lovelace and Kanach here.

And morning synesthesia yields a very happy combination - a video of a Xenakis percussion piece - listen/watch/envision a drawing... delicious.

Sketchbook Project Exhibition Tour

The Art House Co-op's Sketchbook Project is now on tour for 2010, giving viewers the chance to ogle and handle hundreds of sketchbooks crafted by artists from around the world. The collection will be traveling to major cities in the US before finding repose in its Brooklyn home.

Call for Papers : Drawing and Technology

Tracey has announced their 2010 Drawing Research Topic - Drawing and Technology, and is now accepting papers for review and publication.

From their website: "Tracey is a peer reviewed electronic journal dedicated to drawing and contemporary issues. It is varied and diverse with a fast growing readership of academics, students and practitioners representing a wide range of drawing interests including fine art, architectural design, graphics, product design and visual communication, ideally any activity in which drawing is essential."

The Tracey website is a great collection of writing on a wide range of research topics, from the syntax of mark, to the state of drawing education, to mapping and memory. The questions raised are vital, and the coverage thoughtful.

Schjeldahl on Bronzino

Peter Schjeldahl (my favorite, and I think one of the smartest and most accessible art critics in the mix) writes about drawing, Bronzino and Mannerism (and echos of Mannerism today) as manifest in the new exhibition of such at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A short spoken analysis of a few key drawings can be heard here; the article appears in the February 1 New Yorker.

The Drawings of Bronzino will be on exhibition at the Met until April 18, 2010. See images from the show and hear interviews with curator Carmen Bambach here.

Lekker Bloggerie

I just ran across a great drawing blog by Renata Petrakova, a student at the London College of Communication - excellent graphic resources amassed therein! Thanks, Renata.

Kassan - Drawing Closer to Life

David Kassan's new drawing DVD, "Drawing Closer to Life," documents the artist's studio process in a way that offers a smart and exciting look at how a sharply-rendered observational drawing unfolds over time. Kassan talks viewers through every step of the process, from choosing paper to bringing the piece to a satisfying close.

The DVD will be available this spring. Sign up for an availability alert via Kassan's website.

Manifest INDA - Deadline Extended

Greetings! Happy new year and holiday season in general - I hope it was good for all.

Manifest Gallery has extended its deadline for submission to the International Drawing Annual. 48 hours remain, so act fast. The INDA features drawings, and writing about drawing, from artists the world over, and is an excellent venue for exposure and exchange. Details about how to submit are found here: http://www.manifestgallery.org/inda5/. Entries must be postmarked or emailed by January 7, 2010.

While you're on the Manifest website, check out the PDFs of all their catalogues - a fantastic offering! http://www.manifestgallery.org/manifestpress/catalogs/index.html

Change of Scenery

I am the first to acknowledge that academia affords some incredible bonuses, one being the time to travel and recharge between semesters. Regardless of circumstance or geography, I think it's vital to see and work from new material as often as possible, activating the visual spark that keeps drawings vitalized. Is this all a rationalization for being on vacation? Nonetheless, I recommend the coral...

Happy holidays and enjoy the new year ahead!

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/colorbook.htm

Watercolor Disaster

No, not a studio tale of terror, but a link to a Australian film from 2005 that uses watercolor and drawing in a decidedly dark and therapeutic manner.

Global Drawing Feel-good Yummy Time

Hopefully you spent the day drawing with others who love it as much as you do! The SketchCrawl here in Columbia spanned four hours and three locations, with good will and fine lines, all in abundance (and leaves, lots and lots of leaves).

You can see highlights from the local tour here and be sure to click on to the next level up to see results from cities around the world.

Columbia SketchCrawl this Saturday

A local plug for a global phenomenon! If you are within reach of Columbia, South Carolina, please join us this Saturday, November 21, at 10:00 in front of the McKissick Musuem as we launch our first SketchCrawl. SketchCrawl is a network of simultaneous drawing events - people from 150+ cities assemble and draw together, then post the results to www.sketchcrawl.com. Go to their Forum section for the list of participating cities, and get your crawl on!