In class I strive to not produce just 'pretty' art but to have a concept or technique built upon. Students are told in class that I do not care how their artwork looks but how much effort they put into it. I would much rather have a student try for months to work hard on a drawing and have it look 'terrible' then to have a masterpiece done in a few minutes. When people work hard on anything it becomes a part of them, they earned the final results through all of the work they put in. Any skills are not learned overnight, it takes time to develop them. I want to teach students patience, skill, and value through their art. Each lesson I teach is a student by student basis, some students need more of my help while others need me to step back and allow them to stumble and fall and problem solve on their own. Learning is about trial and error, making mistakes is part of the process.
Grid drawing is a technique that allows some students a greater ability to draw more accurately. Using the grid to replicate what an artist sees we are able to produce similar results or enlarge the object we are drawing. Even the Egyptians used grids to scale their drawings to carve into stone.
The artist Chuck Close uses grids to make his large scale paintings, utilizing shapes and colors to make realistic portraits from a distant and abstract forms up close. He originally created work in a photorealism style however after an accident he was confined to a wheelchair. In order to continue working he adapted and created a new style for himself! |
Chuck Close was born on July 5, 1940, in Monroe, Washington. Suffering from severe dyslexia, Close did poorly in school but found solace in making art. After earning his MFA from Yale in 1964, Close took his place atop the American art world by creating large-scale, photo-realist portraits that have creatively blurred the distinction between photography and painting. -Biography