Porcelain

My Advanced students when given a choice of material to sculpt with will almost always chose porcelain. I  prefer to use Hagi porcelain, a type of Japanese clay with a really smooth texture. This material is excellent for small, refined details and many students prefer to sculpt with Hagi over other clay bodies with sand.

 Hagi porcelain is considerably more expensive than most other clay, so it is best to have students create small projects first to get accustomed to the feel of the clay and its limitations. When this clay becomes leather hard it is very easy to carve into and does not crumble, the consistency is close to soap or wax.

Student Hagi sculptures in progress

Drawing Exercises

I have noticed that students have become more dependent on using their smartphones in class to look up images for drawing prompts. I can walk by a table and hear them saying things to each other along the lines of "what do giraffe horns look like?" or "do you think this looks like a _____?" I don't mind them using the google image search to fetch the occasional image of something they want to draw but maybe unfamiliar with. But there are a few in every class who rely to much on image searches and not enough on their own "mind's eye" to just draw what they think it looks like. This can decrease the chance of serendipitous artwork and the feeling of creating something wonderfully different from your original intent.

Figure drawing using different techniques

Some just can't resist posing in this great natural lighting

Contour, Blind Contour, Gesture and just observational drawings were explored during the course of the week. I wanted to focus solely on observation of  what is in front of your eyes, no image searches this week.Experimenting with different mediums like the vine charcoal yielded great results for some groups and mixed results at best for others.

I stress with students that were are merely going through the motions of some drawing exercises, and exercises require repetition in order to see improvement. This helps the students who lack the confidence to loosen up an enjoy the process and not worry about what the end results look like. This was particularly true of the blind contour, not begin able to look at the paper really levels the playing filed for the entire class, myself included.

 

Both model and artist were really happy about this particular contour drawing

Blind contour gets them super-focused-albeit for only two minutes

Taking turns drawing each other

Works were evaluated on a pure effort basis, I sound like a broken record when I tell the class "what you put into it is what you get out of it". This happens to be particularity true of drawing exercises.

The Document Camera/Projector

Finding just the right spot
 is important

Using a document camera and projector has been a real lifesaver on many occasions. Having the projector on a cart is best because you can move it around the room. I use the camera to show students' drawing prompts and also use it on a variety of projects where a certain level of accuracy is needed. Students sometimes lack to confidence to free hand large works like our painted ceiling tiles so the camera can be used as a guide and really add to a work.

using existing artworks in a new format