Hi Eva - I can add a a little (taken from a paper I wrote recently and have
submitted to a journal for art education):
Purposes for drawing
In their selection of works for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition
(2004), Allen Jones and David Hockney mounted a special gallery of drawings
with contributions from 'people who are not artists, but who use drawings in
their work' (R.A. catalogue. 2004).
Exhibits selected included work from individuals who are eminent in their
field: designers; a poet; musicians; the coach of the England Rugby team; a
theatre designer; zoologist; film maker; surgeon; chemist; scientists - and
several mathematicians. Each exhibit was notable for the way in which the
sketch, notes, diagram, plan or drawing - or combination of these - conveyed
meaning in a distinct way. Some explained that they drew: 'to visualise
processes' ( Eno, musician and composer); in order to 'be more specific in a
different way to words' (Clark, dancer and choreographer); 'as working
documents' (Squire, former RAF pilot) for 'exploring ideas' (Hunt,
structural engineer) and as 'free responses' (Birtwhistle, composer), (R.A.
catalogue, 2004). And, as we shall see, the mathematicians who exhibited in
the show also described some important aspects of the role of drawing in the
work
Mathematical drawings
One of Britain's finest mathematicians and physicists of the past fifty
years, Roger Penrose explained that drawing is valuable in his work on a
number of levels: 'it can be used for expositional purposes, in the form of
diagrams. It helps thinking by allowing me to visualise what's going on. It
can be used as a form of notation, and, on a less abstract level, it can
work simply by representing exactly what it stands for.'(Penrose, in
Highfield, 2005). At the launch of the Campaign for Drawing, Penrose
revealed how 'doodles' helped him' to wrestle with highly abstract
calculations' (Highfield, 2005).
At the Royal Academy's 2004 exhibition, Penrose described his use of
drawings to represent complex aspects of the universe and for recording
thoughts whilst Cheng, another important mathematician who uses visual
representation in his work, explained that though this struggle, a beautiful
structure emerges (R.A. exhibition catalogue, 2004).
From: Worthington, M. & Carruthers, E. (2005) 'The Art of Children's
Mathematics'.
Maulfry
Maulfry Worthington & Elizabeth Carruthers
Children's Mathematics Network
Phone: 01392 682 643
Email: [log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
Web: www.e-magine.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "dep2" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 11:11 PM
Subject: Re: a definition of drawing
>> Hi Caroline
>> In my opinion, drawing is a multifaceted, multi disciplinary and totally
>> inclusive mental and/or physical activity. Whether thought , urge or
>> activity, curiosity or experimentation the definition of drawing is as
>> elusive as ever. Drawing could be described as an urge to hold, keep,
>> contain, remember; a wish to discover, describe, analyse, note down or
>> explain; the ability to classify, separate, choose, disregard, combine,
>> connect , interpret , create order out of chaos.
>>
>> Pliny the Elder wrote about the beginning of portrait drawing at the
>> moment when a young Greek girl in ancient Corinth drew the outline
>> around the cast shadow of her boyfriend's head. Has drawing to do with
>> memory, loss or love?
>>
>> Ruskin thought that drawing (referring to the Renaissance masters) was a
>> form of notation of thought or of observation while Herbert Read saw the
>> same drawings as a form of short-hand and made the observation that "we
>> do not regard shorthand as a useful preparation for the art of writing".
>>
>> Blake regarded drawing as a tool of the imagination. He argued that
>> "nature has no outlines but imagination has".
>>
>> Michael Kenny described drawing as a "conceptual thing" which could be
>> carried out in any medium. He regarded drawing as a "process of
>> ordering" (of thought or of observation) concerned with selection and
>> decision of what is significant and what can be dispensed with. He
>> argued that every kind of art activity is a form of drawing.
>>
>> For Alberto Giacommetti drawing was "a process of discovery".
>>
>> Michael Craig-Martin described the characteristics of drawing as
>> timeless including "spontaneity, creative speculation, experimentation,
>> immediacy, personal vision, technical diversity, modesty of means,
>> rawness, fragmentation, discontinuity, unfinishness and open-endness.
>>
>> Drawing's plurality and diversity mean that criteria for what makes a
>> drawing good or bad are equally elusive.
>> How do we define a good drawing?
>>
>> Eva
>
> On 10 Nov 2005, at 22:37, R. Whelan wrote:
>
>> Hello Caroline,
>> Try readingCreative Drawing by Howard J. Smagula. Laurence, king
>> publishing.
>> good introduction to drawing.
>> Richard Whelan
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Caroline Calascione" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 10:05 PM
>> Subject: a definition of drawing
>>
>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>> I am currently trying to make a definition of drawing.
>>> Are there any texts that you know of that you could recommend me to
>>> read?
>>> best wishes
>>> Caroline
>>> --
>>> Caroline Calascione
>>> 267 Kings Road
>>> Kingston
>>> Surrey KT2 5JJ
>>> t&f (w) 020 8404 4858
>>> m 07733 333027
>>>
>>>
>
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