the country teacher

thought you might enjoy this movie trailer--for the movie itself, but also for the scene where he shows the shell to the students, especially as you work on your first shell drawing.

the country teacher

amelie clavier

amelie clavier

check out this artist's flickr photostream for more gorgeous drawings.

ACHTUNG: Presentation on Germany Exchange Program

"Achtung" (Attention)
HAWK Exchange Program Exhibition
Sept. 21-25
Opening and Presentation about HAWK, Hildesheim Germany
Wed. Sept. 23, 6:00pm
Gallery 209 Applied Arts Building

uw-stout link on hildesheim 

first assignment, fall 2009

1. if you do not have a life drawing blog set up yet, do so.  for those of you who do have blogs, inform me of any changes to titles, url's, etc.
2. create an introductory post: why are you taking life drawing two, what do you hope to learn this semester, what would you like to improve upon, etc. Include a few images of your other art work to give us an idea of what you do outside this course.
3. once you have your blog information ready, send an email to fichtera@uwstout.edu with your name, your blog's title, and your blog's url.
4. have supplies ready to go for next tuesday, sep. 15.

weekly reflections

Your ongoing assignment this semester will be to use your life drawing blog as a tool for reflection. You will be expected to post one reflection per week. This reflection should consist of at least one image and one paragraph of writing which addresses the past week of Life Drawing II, III, or IV—in class or with homework.

Reflections should be meaningful to you personally and also be appropriate for sharing with other class members and other art & design professionals.

Reflections should consist of thoughts about your progress, what you are learning, what you are struggling with, what you notice in your work or other students' work, questions you have, links to books/websites/any other information that you have found useful or interesting in relation to that week's work in Life Drawing II, III, or IV.

Feel free to post more than once a week. Once a week is the minimum requirement and expectation for Life Drawing II.

For those in Life Drawing III and IV, the expectation is to post one reflection per week plus one post on a contemporary art issue (artist, art critic, museum show, gallery, etc.).

We will take time during class each day to present these reflections/blog posts.  Each of you will be asked to do this twice during the semester. I will choose students to present each day, not in any particular order (to keep you on your toes!).

Quality and thoughtfulness of reflections and other blog posts will be reflected in your midterm and final grades, as will the quality of your presentations.

syllabus, fall 2009

Life Drawing I
Applied Arts 303

ART 301-002
Tuesday/Thursday • 11:15 – 2:20 pm

ART 301-001

Tuesday/Thursday • 2:30 – 5:35 pm

Amy Fichter
Associate Professor
Applied Arts 306B

Office hours:
Fridays, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
& by appointment
ext. 5335
fichtera@uwstout.edu

PreRequisites
Students must have completed Drawing I (ART 100) and Drawing II (ART 200) before participating in Life Drawing I (ART 301).

Course Objectives
Through participation in Life Drawing I, you will:
• Understand and use a structural approach to drawing

➢ Perceive three-dimensional form and translate this form to the two-dimensional picture plane
➢ Comprehend a subject’s planar make-up and correctly prioritize primary and secondary planes
➢ Use a linear, as opposed to painterly, approach to drawing the figure, including value

• Develop a working knowledge of artistic anatomy through lectures, drawings, and clay modeling

➢ Draw a structural representation of the human figure utilizing long axis, cross contour, and muscle attachment lines

• Practice gesture drawing and contour drawing separately, in order to, ultimately, achieve a synthesis of the two
• Become aware of your own kinesthetic sense and its ability to teach yourself about the body and about drawing
• Build on line quality and mark-making skills
• Be responsible to yourself and the other students in the class for having meaningful class discussions and becoming better artists through those discussions
• Keep a class blog that will serve as space for posting images, text, responding to other students, and reflecting upon your learning in the course

Evaluations & Expectations
• I expect you to complete:

➢ In-class drawings.
➢ Assigned clay building on your Maniken, both in-class and for homework. Maniken assignments will be graded on the quality of clay building, accuracy of form and attachments, and completeness of work.
➢ Homework drawings. Homework will be graded on the quality of the drawing and the demonstrated understanding of the topics covered in that particular assignment.
➢ Blog assignments/weekly reflections.
➢ Final exam drawing(s).

We will meet during the following final exam times:
ART 301-002 (T/TH 11:15 – 2:20 class): Thursday, December 17, 2:00 - 3:50 p.m.
ART 301-001 (T/TH 2:30 – 5:35 class): Monday, December 21, 2:00 - 3:50 p.m.

Field Trip

There is a mandatory field trip for this class. You must make arrangements with other professors and/or work obligations to be gone from 8:30 am - 5:30 pm on the field trip day. I am planning a trip for us to visit the Bell Museum of National History on the University of Minnesota campus and the Minnesota Institute of Arts. This will fall on a Tuesday or Thursday in mid-November. I will give you a definite date as soon as I have confirmed reservations with the museums and with bus transportation. The only cost of the field trip for you will be food.

Attendance
It’s important that you are in class—for access to the model, to hear comments I make, and to experience drawing in a studio setting. The class happens because all of you are here working together.
Let me know via e-mail if you can’t make it to class.
Rely on your classmates to show you drawings and notes you may have missed.
After 3 absences, your grade may be lowered.
After 7 absences, you may fail the class.

Grading Policy
• Your grade will be based primarily on your final e-portfolio in which you showcase your learning over the semester and best examples from the class. This e-portfolio will include gesture drawings, long-pose drawings, maniken work, and blog summaries.

• A mid-term e-portfolio will be graded to give you an idea of your standing in the class at that point, but may be overridden by the quality of your final portfolio. In other words, the two grades will not be “averaged” for your final grade.

• Your grade will also be affected by such “subjective” qualities as these:
1. Are you present?
2. In mind as well as body?
3. Open to suggestions?
4. Helpful in class discussions?
5. Awake during lecture time?

It is part of my job—my responsibility—to give you a grade that lets you and other art “authorities” (other professors, employers, grad schools, gallery owners, etc.) know how your final portfolio and overall attitude during class measure up to given standards.

One useful way to think about grades is to consider them guides as to how other art professionals (besides me) would view your portfolio. How would a design firm see your work? A graduate school acceptance committee? Other professors in the Art & Design department? Gallery owners?

If I imagine I am an employer of designers, an A would mean you could start right away, a B would mean you might get hired if you get some more experience and refine your portfolio, a C would mean you are not ready for the job.

Likewise, if you are considering graduate school, an A would mean your work is of the quality that would get you accepted into a grad program, a B would indicate that you might get accepted if you worked on your portfolio some more, a C would mean you are not ready to apply for graduate studies (in Drawing/Life Drawing, anyway).

Save all your drawings from the semester.


Materials
Newsprint 18" x 24" or 24” x 36”
Canson "Biggie" white drawing paper (Biggie pad) 18” x 24” or larger
Strathmore drawing pad, 80 lb. (24 sheets, I think)
Drawing board
Clips
Charcoal
Charcoal pencils
Conte
Conte pencils
X-acto knife
Sandpaper
Pencil sharpener
White plastic eraser
Clic eraser (refillable)
Masking tape
Clay tools

Atlas of Human Musculature in Clay (volumes 1 – 5), Jon Zahourek, ed. Kenneth Morgareidge, Zahourek Systems, Inc., 1994.

In addition to the texts, each student will be checked out a half Maniken for his/her use during the semester. The Manikens are property of UW-Stout Instructional Resources Services. You are responsible for the Maniken checked out to you. If any part of the Maniken is missing, lost, damaged, etc., the student will be financially responsible to replace it through IRS.

Videos
World Famous Lectures on Artistic Anatomy & Figure Drawing
Robert Beverly Hale

Lecture 1 Rib Cage 78 Minutes
Lecture 2 Pelvis 81 minutes
Lecture 3 Leg 74 minutes
Lecture 4 Foot 72 minutes
Lecture 5 Shoulder Girdle I 77 minutes
Lecture 6 Shoulder Girdle ll 68 minutes
Lecture 7 Arm 76 minutes
Lecture 8 Hand 80 minutes
Lecture 9 Head/Skull 80 minutes
Lecture 10 Head and Features 97 minutes

These are available for checkout in the library.

Art Education Artifacts
The course objectives of this course meet:
• Wisconsin Standard 1: The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches.
• UW Stout School of Education Domain 1a: Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy.
• Wisconsin Standard 9: The teacher is a reflective practitioner.
Portfolio Artifact: best work as determined by student and professor
• Art education students will be required to reflect in writing on this artifact.
• Art education students will be required to upload papers and digital images of their studio works into their e-portfolios.

intercostales interni

Intercostales interni, originally uploaded by czarita.

nice image of muscle fiber direction:

intercostales interni

The Intercostales interni are also eleven in number on each side.

Their attachments:

• commence anteriorly at the sternum, in the interspaces between the cartilages of the true ribs;
  
• and at the anterior extremities of the cartilages of the false ribs,
  
• and extend backwards as far as the angles of the ribs, where each is replaced by an aponeurotic layer named the posterior intercostal membrane, which is continuous with the superior costotransverse ligament.
  

Each muscle arises from the floor of the costal groove and the corresponding costal cartilage, and is inserted into the upper border of the rib below.

Their fibers axe also directed obliquely, but at right angles to those of the External intercostal muscles.

PlaGMaDA

PlaGMaDA

show at
a clean poorly lighted space
applied arts, 1st floor
uw-stout

6 february 2009
7 - 9 pm

final assignment, final day for LD I (fall 2008)

the dates and times of our final meeting(s) are listed to the left on the sidebar.

what you need to do before your final meeting time:

• create a final blog post which will serve as your class portfolio. the idea is to present to me (and to any other interested art professional) what you learned in Life Drawing I--how successfully you were able to put Life Drawing I concepts into your drawings.
  
  

• this post should include: 1) 5-6 of your best drawings since your october class summary (self-portrait, at least one skull, and 1-2 other long poses and 2-3 gesture drawings); 2) one or two paragraphs summarizing your experience in Life Drawing I including what two-three most substantial things you learned or at which you improved, citing examples; 3) a description of your experience building muscles on the maniken (photos optional).

• you will have 5 minutes to present this post during your final exam time.

• finish building muscles on your maniken--the last set of muscles were the arm/forearm/hand.

• bring your finished maniken to the final meeting time. i will grade this from the real maniken, but if you'd like to add photos to your blog, you may.

• draw a self-portrait (18" x 24") using what you learned about the structure of the skull and facial features. draw yourself from a front 3/4 view, using a mirror. construct the drawing with line and line value only, not with shading. your focus should be on planar analysis, anatomical landmarks, cross-contours, and line quality--as well as acute observation of your own particular skull and face.

• bring your self-portrait to the final meeting time. we will hang these up in order to look at everyone's final drawing of the semester (even though these will be in your blog summary, too).