The Emotive Figure: Sustaining an Inquiry
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Drawing the Figure: Sustaining an Inquiry
A drawing can open a question that the next drawing carries forward. This course explores working in a series as a way to pursue an idea, challenge familiar decisions, and discover possibilities that emerge only through sustained engagement. Rather than treating each drawing as a separate resolution, students will consider how a group of works can accumulate meaning through both continuity and difference.
Working from the model, students will develop several series over the term, giving each investigation time to evolve. We will look at master artists such as Edgar Degas, whose many studies of bathers reveal an ongoing investigation of gesture, viewpoint, shape, rhythm, and space. Formal elements and principles will remain the foundation of our investigations, with particular attention to plasticity—the dynamic shaping of the figure and pictorial space. Changes in scale, material, mark, and composition will become opportunities to redirect an inquiry rather than simply produce variations. The emphasis will be on developing a body of drawings whose relationships reveal more than any single work can convey.
- To ensure a well-rounded studio education and allow space for new students, we kindly ask students who have taken 3 or more terms with Jill to consider exploring other classes and instructors.
Recommended for Master Certificate students and Intermediate-Advanced level students.
Your instructor has provided a list of materials required to participate fully in this class.
If you have any questions about specifics or what is needed week-to-week, please reach out to your instructor via the email in your confirmation letter.
View the supply list: https://www.dickblick.com/lists/blicku/HU4UTRG2ZV1TM/
Jill Bateman
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