(Collaboration between Simone Muscolino and Jesse Payne)

Plan: 

Encompassing many technical challenges previously encountered throughout the semester, students will be faced with demonstrating what they have learned in this endeavor. Inspired by an image of Charles Eames looking through the eyes of Pablo Picasso, students will be invited to examine and understand the process of viewing the world via another person’s eyes in both art and design.   Placing particular importance and interest on examining the context of our school, as well as the mission and vision of the foundation program itself, students will consider the mindset of an architect and designer while operating as an artist.  Students will translate their previously acquired skills as well as knowledge of light, shadow, and rendering and mark-making techniques, and grasp how to translate traditional drawings into other mediums, including digital platforms.

(Collaboration between Nathan Davis and Jesse Payne)

Plan: 

Presented as a collaboration between Surface Research and Drawing Studio, students will be asked to make a collection of objects that are representative of their own individual idea of “home.”  One object will then be selected and wrapped in opaque material so that its form is partially obscured—and then it will be photographed.  Moving into drawing studio, students will be tasked with drawing a life-like depiction of the object based on what they see in the photograph. Subsequently, in surface, students will be charged with composing a short poem or poetic verse that articulates what home means to them in ideation.  The drawings will then be scanned, and the poem will be superimposed over the image.  Finally, a poster will be printed of the image and the words—and result in a compelling display steeped in personal meaning.  Focusing on composition, contour, cross-contour, the properties of light and shadow, as well as various rendering techniques to create 3D illusions, students will pursue a rich history within the world of art in this project.  By wrapping or concealing an item’s identity, students will have the chance to truly explore their perception and interpretation—not only of the object, but also the space around it.  For instance, some artists may wrap an object to draw attention to the space around it, while others still may work to accentuate the object’s true form. A third group may pursue the mystery and ambiguity of identity concealment—and work to translate that to paper. This project relates deeply to the school’s region, and this type of art has been displayed publicly in front of the Sidra Medical and Research Center—“The Miraculous Journey” by Damien Hirst.  At the project’s end, students will dive deeper into exploring the meaning of pertinent objects in their life and truly explore what “home” means to them—visually and in written form.

With a focus on challenging students to consider infinite planes surrounding 3D Objects, the class will construct a functional lamp based on a contemporary artist of the student’s choice. Utilizing various tools and mark-making techniques students will design a lamp that takes on the “essence” of the chosen artists work. It is important that the drawing/design is NOT an accurate representation of their works but rather an interpretation of the artists work/personal style. Line-weight, value, and positive/negative shapes and overall attention to the three-dimensional object will be considered as students work toward achieving visual interest. Perhaps the most critical aspect of the project is the student’s deliberate attention and manipulation of light and shadow in the form. Students will gain an awareness of the 3D form as a continuous plane and be able to better consider composition as it relates to an entire object.

(Project inspired by Ed Ruscha’s “word” works.

Plan: 

This project will ask students to identify one of their favorite phrases and keep it in mind.  Then, that phrase will be used in class and converted into Diwani style calligraphy.  Once completed, students will be asked to then build the calligraphic phrase into a 3D object using paper and/or ribbon.  The final part of this project will require the student to draw the 3D translation as a complex trompe l’oeil still-life.  With a focus on executing 2-point perspective, students will be offered the chance to understand value and rendering techniques while gaining exposure to perspective drawing through interior spaces.  The student’s knowledge and understanding of value in creating volume and spatial depth will be enhanced and black and white charcoal on toned paper will be utilized.  Students will engage not only their imagination and passion for the written word, but also translate these words into an art form.

Combining both traditional and digital approaches to thinking and making, the student’s primary focus in this project is figure drawing. Students will be tasked with studying human form movements and applying this new knowledge to walk cycles. Then, each walk cycle will be translated through 12 drawings where experimentation, media exploration, and risk taking will be present. The final 24 drawings will be sequenced into two looping animations.

This project will offer a basic understanding of the proportions of the human figure to be generated alongside knowledge about figure/ground relationships through value. Upon project completion, students will realize a greater ability to achieve spatial depth through an exploration of mixed media. Furthermore, they will have implemented “play” into the process of making and start their journey of discovering the use of color media within color drawing applications while gaining greater knowledge about human form variation through movement, foundations of animation, and other creative processes key to their self-understanding as an artist.

The Riso Selfie project introduces students to new methods of visual production and image making tools by applying similar techniques of blind contour drawing and pattern making, but this time in a digital context. Students will strengthen their hand-eye coordination while simultaneously gaining confidence in their mark-marking skills. Students will translate their handmade drawings into digital compositions which will then be printed on the Risograph. Create digital non-representational patterns and apply color in a process that will expose them to design in the digital world.

With a focus on challenging students to consider 3D Objects, the class will design and execute their design on a pair of white shoes of their choice. Utilizing various tools and mark-making techniques students will design shoes incorporate the essence of the shoe design itself. By extracting existing patterns from the shoe and closely observing the form itself, student will generate a glossary of patterns. Line-weight, value, and positive/negative shapes and overall attention to the three-dimensional object will be considered as students work toward achieving visual interest. Students will gain an awareness of the 3D form as a continuous plane and be able to better consider composition as it relates to an entire object.

Designed to assist a student as they gain a familiarity with the overlooked spaces most often inhabited, this project will focus on drawing otherwise forgotten, disregarded, or unobserved marks. A student will be asked to determine if a space is either most important to them or most often inhabited by them. Suggested spaces are one’s bedroom, living room, or even their father’s majlis or other area. The project will require them to take a seat and begin looking around, carefully observing the space. Looking for things that are often overlooked or discarded as not important, students will consider stains and cracks on the wall, interesting shapes on the floor, and other subtle information. Then, they will be asked to record these shapes and lines on transparent paper as a way to record the world around them. This project will introduce a student to composition and spatial illusion through line, shape, and color and convert observed information to a visual format. Students will be encouraged to use their imagination in their choice of color scheme and explore other facets of visual interest that make their otherwise overlooked space into a work of art.

(An in-depth exploration of a personal object)

Plan: 

With a goal of exploring an object in-depth, this project utilizes a variety of techniques and will be documented by drawing through intense observation.  Taking an investigative approach, a wide range of media and drawing approaches will be explored while focus is simultaneously given to composition, contour, and cross-contour—as well as the properties of light and shadow.  Multiple rendering techniques to create the illusion of three-dimensionality within the student’s drawing will allow for experimentation, and student artists will be offered the ability to experience the act of looking and seeing through observational drawing.   By choosing an object that brings with it deep personal meaning, students will have the chance to realize the true significance of an object on a greater level through observation and artistic assessment.

(An exploration of your urban environment)

Plan: 

Serving as an introduction to color drawing and color theory application, this project will allow students to explore older and more authentic areas of Doha in person.  They will document their experience and observations of stores and buildings through photography—focusing specifically on how the scene appears under night light.   Then, working on black paper, students will brainstorm and identify what is most pertinent to the scene and draw a vignette.  This project will heighten color mixing awareness and encourage students to utilize selective focus in their decision making—they must figure out what is relevant.  Ultimately, by engaging in this work, students will gain greater experience with photography, long exposure, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, gaining a desired effect that is based on experimentation and exploring perspective.

“Lost and Found is a body of work that deals with my own personal dialogue with painting as a way of "losing" myself in the process and thereby "finding" my own approach to making and seeing. In a literal comparison, these works also deal with "edge" in the portrayal of bridging abstraction and representation. I use the subject matter in my paintings as an excuse to paint, as it is for me all about the painting process itself. I find serenity and conflict in painting which keeps me infinitely intrigued and challenged. This work is a reflection of my personal story of discovery and experimentation through my initial painting experience.” -Hana Elleithy

Plan: 

Placing an emphasis on questioning and challenging what a drawing is, this project will consider what a drawing can be and push traditional boundaries.  The primary areas explored will be focused around creating a strong sense of the illusion of spatial depth through push and pull as well as various mark making techniques, achieving visual complexity, and finally, bringing the drawing into a physical, 3D space.  Through the utilization of the frottage technique—a process by which a drawing tool is used to make rubbings over an uneven surface—students will create drawings by introducing an element of chance to the starting point.  By embracing chance, as experienced in previous projects, students will search inside otherwise randomly-generated marks to discover imagery and better understand push and pull.  At the project’s completion, students will realize the ability to bring a 2D drawing into a 3D space by manipulating the drawing surface, create illusions of spatial depth, and produce a visually-complex composition.

(Continuous Tone: After Seurat)

Plan: 

Placing a focus on soft and subtle transitions of value, the “Blurry Selfie” will be created by rendering shades of gray smoothly into neighboring values and through a process similar to that of the mass gesture made through a series of tight scribbles. Students will strive to achieve a volumetric illusion of form and dimension with the drawing, and utilizing Georges Seurat as the primary point of reference, consider the texture of the paper as a means to create his signature pointillism effect.  Through this work, which employs the use of graphite pencil on toned charcoal paper (ingres paper), students will obtain an understanding of value to create volume and spatial depth, demonstrate the relationship between value, color temperature, and form, and further their development in building negative space through the push of figure/ground. 

(A blind-contour exercise)

Plan: 

Focused on engaging a student in a repetitive process, students will be enabled to create a drawing of their face—a “selfie”—as well as results that would not be ordinarily possible.  With a level of unpredictability present in the final outcome or overall “look” of the drawing, students will explore the use of line weight and variation to suggest space and create visual emphasis while simultaneously suggesting movement through position, direction, and scale. Moreover, through the utilization of a variety of tools, the student artist will achieve visually interesting results while also learning more about deep illusion of spatial depth.  Through the completion of this project, students will further examine the interesting relationship between abstraction and representation.

Plan: 

The illusion of a 3D crinkled sheet of paper will be created through the utilization of basic sighting techniques. Students will be tasked with examining a sheet of crinkled paper’s basic shapes, angles, and depth changes. Then, using black and white media on a colored or toned piece of paper, students will be responsible for recording subtle value shifts in the light as it hits the actual crinkled paper.  Striving to create a trompe l’oeil illusion and “trick the eye,” students will gain experience using black and white media on toned paper in an effort to establish a sensitivity to a wide range of values while acquiring a sensibility to accuracy in lines, shapes, and values, subsequently recording them through media.  Successful students will grasp the idea of planar analysis as a basic approach of understanding spatial depth, form, and the illusion of 3D space as well as basic knowledge pertaining to “Sighting Techniques” related to Angling, Measuring, and Proportion.  Additionally, development of high key, contrast, and color relationships on a dark ground will be acquired as well as the capability of maintaining full value with local color and demonstration of unified composition using color harmonies.

Plan: 

In this endeavor, students will be asked to utilize a machine, in an inventive way, to create a drawing, embrace creativity, and implement higher levels of “chance” in artistic outcomes.   The project, ultimately, offers many options and students will be allowed to manipulate machines in any way to go beyond the scope of the ordinary and consider new approaches.   Machines can be used to make a mark on paper that could not be made by hand—the options, are truly infinite.  A strong focus will be placed, in this project, on process documentation, and students will also be required to capture their work on video.  Students will have the chance to explore their ingenuity and thirst for invention while they simultaneously sacrifice direct engagement with their drawing—but still gain appreciation of “the mark” that results.

Plan:

This project aims to train students to see form and shape regardless of color or material. The process raises awareness of how these formal elements work together to create recognizable, meaningful objects. Students will identify the various qualities of their objects and resurface them through a process of blind contour drawings and direct observations.

The first contemplation in this project will involve truly understanding the definition of “outlandish.” The word means something “very strange or unusual; extremely different from what is normal or expected.” Ultimately, taking that definition into account, students will be asked to elevate their basic understanding of perspective—and take it to the next level. After exploring how basic perspective operates and is accomplished, students will then be called to employ their imagination to create something increasingly complex and inventive. The project will begin with a cube, where students must subtract and then, add parts. What will result is an increasingly complex piece of work and a departure and transformation from the original cube itself. Something different will be formed through the student’s imagination and creativity—and it will be realized that in creating something that is indeed “outlandish”, there are few rules, and anything can happen. However, lessons will be learned, too. Students will acquire in-depth knowledge of the use of perspective in observational drawing and gain insight into exploring architectural applications of 1-point and 2-point perspectives. They will enhance their ability to use line weight to create the illusion of spatial depth and demonstrate connections between boxes and buildings while describing exterior and interior details by accurately using contour lines. At project completion, students will have a better understanding of how light operates as a 4th vanishing point and will feel fulfilled by this exploration of “thinking outside the box.”