Sketching in the Galleries @ the Dallas Museum Of Art: Evening 2

Tonight is the 2nd in the 4 nights that I will be hosting the Sketching in the Gallery program. Last week was a lot of fun. A few people even stayed after class to show me their other drawings and to ask my advise about drawing. Now if that sort of thing is not a big artty ego boost you must be dead.

Tonight we will be drawing from a few of the Degas pastels that are in the current show All the World is a Stage. The photo above is not in the exhibit, but it is the same style and subject mater that we will be working from. The focus will be on how Degas warped space to create drama.

After the sketching class

There were 22 people in the group last night. Some were the core group that comes to most of the sessions, some had attended a few times, and some were first timers. There were a few that were new to Dallas and were looking for ways to connect with the Dallas art scene.

As stated in the previous blog, the drawing skill level of the group varied a lot. But everyone seemed to really enjoy the slow looking that copying a painting offers. This act revels how beautifully complex the composition of the paint was. One person commented that he had never noticed there was a wagon sitting on the hill, and that without the wagon the sense of perspective falls apart.

Sketching in the Galleries @ the Dallas Museum of Art

Tonight is my first night to lead the Sketching in the Galleries program at the DMA. I will be leading the drawing group for the next 4 proceeding Thursdays from 7-8:30. The group is usually around 10-25 people, with a wide range of drawing skills.

This will be my 4th time in 4 years to lead this group. I always love doing it because I love being around people that are excited about drawing.

Tonight we are going to be focusing on shadows. I have selected 4 paintings in the European gallery to work from. Alfred Sisely - The Lesson, Daumier - The Print Seller's (very semular to the one shown here), Pissarro - Apple Picking, and Villon - Society. All use large areas of shadow in a graphic and dramatic style.

Substitute Life Drawing Teaching at Creative Art Center

Tonight I will be leading the life drawing class at CAC. I am very excited about this opportunity to talk about drawing the figure and about the way your mind often tells your eyes what they are seeing. To heighten that phenomenon we will be drawing a lot of posses that focus on foreshortening.

Substitute Drawing Teacher @ the Creative Art Center

My very good friend and a really great artist, Susan Giller has asked me to substitute for her while she dashes up the Boston for a bit of northern culture and eating.

The class tonight is called Quick Draw. It focuses on the exploration of all forms of drawing, but leans a bit more towards still life drawing. I'll be carting a few boxes of junk up there to have the class draw from, plus a stack of books too.

Speaking at the Texas Library Association Conference

I've been practicing on my portion for the presentation "You have a What? Preservation of the Unusual Objects in Your Collection." 

This is one of the programs for the Texas Library Association 2009 Conference. I am presenting with Carol Roark who is the Archivist at the Dallas Public Library.  The program is being hosted by Michelle Mears who is the Archivist at UNT.

I am speaking about the importance of knowing what your items are made from and on the effects of slow damage. That's a lot of info to cover in just 20 minutes. So lots of slides and quick talking. 

There are some slides posted on my web site as well as a list of resources.

High School Repeat Visit

In this program held at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, local artists and five high school AP art classes work together to investigate various art topics based on what is currently on display at the museum.

The museum will be exhibiting a retrospective of one of my favorite artists, Martin Puryear. I’ll be working with the students (100 teenagers in all) to to create paper sculptures that focus on the cross over of skilled labor and fine art that is inherent to the working process of Martin Puryear.