VIII. Hiding in the cellar, waiting for the dust to settle and the body
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
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| VIII. Hiding in the cellar, waiting for the dust to settle and the body
count to begin. |
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From around 1989, pencil on paper; click for large view.
This drawing, like yesterday's, was done on 8 1/2 x 11" copy or printing paper. I would buy reams of this paper, or use recycled paper from the law firm where Ann used to work, and just do drawing after drawing. I often was very good about dating things, so I'm puzzled now why so many of these aren't dated. I used a 9 x 12 piece of Masonite, mechanical pencils and fountain pens, and sometimes a ruler. I love cheap fountain pens, and once you use one a few days and wear the nib down to your own touch they are a dream to draw and write with, though, of course, a little sloppy.
I would do these drawings all the time- on the couch, while watching TV. I could easily use 15-20 pages a day. Not every page would be full; some would be pretty skimpy, and so drawings would go very fast. These were pages to maintain fluency, flow, and feel, to keep my hand moving, to practice lots of different types of drawing and images. I would copy pictures out of books and the newspaper, cartoon, draw stuff around the house, plan other art, work out dimensions, etc. I would also write notes to myself, ideas, make fun of myself, moan and complain, play with words.
Once I did enough so that I felt like I'd gone through or worked out something, a phase, I would stack the pages as neatly as possible, clamp them down between a couple of pieces of wood, put the smallest drill bit in my drill and make five or six holes down the left side of the page. Then I'd sew the pages together with needle and thread and make a book of drawings with somewhere between 100 and 250 pages. On a few occasions when I didn't want to put holes in the actual drawings I would make photocopies of the pages and then sew those together.
I remember reading a quote in the late 70's as an undergrad by critic Peter Plagens in which he says something to the effect that when all is said and done the really good artists could make great art with a #2 pencil and typing paper. That quote has come back to me a lot over the years. The heart of this idea- value in content, not in material- is something I've tried to use, as well as the value of simplicity and directness; no amount of beautiful or high-quality or serious materials will ever in themselves make a meaningful art object. Of course, art supply stores don't want you to think that.
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I can use this: About LTTS (Learning to Teach with Technology Studio).
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