Hi Yvonne

I think people can become too negative about the whole
idea of originality and copying and I think it's
perfectly possible to use exercises like this (working
from Mattise) without students losing their
individuality or hampering the development of their
own drawing style. After all you're only talking about
a short number of exercises, not years of slavish
imitation. I think these exercises can be useful in
broadening a students awareness of techniques and
visual languages.

As a suggestion perhaps it would be good to put the
lesson in the context of other artists approaches. ie
create a series of sessions where you look at the
approach taken by a different artist such as Matisse,
Giacometti, Seurat, Bratby etc allowing you to
contrast their use of materials, line, tone etc. 

You might also use an exercise where you direct the
subject matter away from what would be stereotypical
for the artist involved ie If you use a reclining
female model for a "Matisse" workshop it is easy to
imagine the kind of "odalisque" drawings the students
may produce, but if you use a bulky male model (or a
motorbike, or..) then the students have to adapt the
technique themselves to a slightly different set of
problems.

Alan McGowan
(part time lecturer in drawing, 
Edinburgh College of Art)


--- "Y.A.Raw" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thank you Karen. That's really helpful. What a great
> idea. I had
> actually taken objects to arrange a still-life. It
> might have been a
> good exercise to get students to arrange the still
> life in a way which
> reflected Matisse's arrangement of objects;
> certainly as part of the
> session anyway. (Though I might have had a problem
> recreating a vertical
> table.)
>  
> I started the day with a game in which we wrote the
> first item from the
> following list down on a piece of paper, and then
> folded the paper down
> and passed it onto the next person to add the next
> item etc. I asked the
> students to write down:
> 
> *	
> 	An object
> *	
> 	A characteristic or emotion to describe an object
> *	
> 	An environment
> *	
> 	Four colours
> *	
> 	A pattern
> *	
> 	a shape
> *	
> 	a time of day, or season
> 
> Some of the results were quite amusing (and bonded
> the group quite
> well). I then asked the students to compose a simple
> picture (in pencil,
> paint, and/or paper collage) using/interpreting the
> items on the list
> they had ended up with, in whatever way they wanted.
> This method of
> composing pictures prevented the students from being
> too certain about
> what they wanted to draw or paint. It also made them
> draw from their
> imagination as opposed to what was in front of them.
> The exercise was
> very difficult for the students but it did make them
> think. We all had a
> very interesting discussion afterwards about how the
> students had
> interpreted the items on the list, (i.e. to see
> whether they had used
> the colours and/or the pattern to convey mood/time
> etc.)
>  
> I did this before I went on to talk about Matisse
> because I wanted to
> draw out the students' response to the exercise
> before using Matisse as
> an example.
>  
> I also talked a bit about Matisse's portrayal of the
> nude, and his
> statement about the 'Ugly Woman' painting i.e. that
> 'I do not paint a
> woman. I paint a whole picture', (or something along
> those lines
> anyway). 
> Very interesting.
> Thanks again.
> Yvonne
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: The UK drawing research network mailing list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Karen Wallis
> Sent: 16 June 2008 10:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Painting/Drawing like other artists
> 
> 
> Dear Yvonne
> 
> Perhaps a workshop that looks at what Matisse was
> trying to say rather
> than how he said it?  For instance using a dancing
> model - and mixed
> ability classes in my experience are usually game to
> try most things, no
> matter how apparently difficult the idea.
> 
> I once ran a workshop within a first year BA drawing
> module with a broad
> age range, which 'unpacked' Manet's Olympia, in the
> context of the life
> drawing studio.  Referencing Manet's iconoclastic
> approach to the theme
> of Venus attended by her maid, my aim was for the
> students to examine
> the relationship between the artist, the models and
> the viewer.  We set
> up the scene copying the composition of the
> painting, then did a series
> of poses looking at variations on the theme.  First
> we did a straight
> copy with a nude model on the couch and a clothed
> model in attendance as
> her maid.  Following that I changed the models round
> including using a
> male model and variations on nude and clothed poses
> - e.g:  nude maid in
> attendance on clothed woman, male clothed attendant
> on nude female, nude
> male attending clothed female, and (the one that
> really upset one
> student) a clothed male on the couch attended by a
> nude female maid.
> The session worked well and help the students to
> take a fresh and
> critical look at painters they admired.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Karen
> 
> 
> -- 
> Karen Wallis
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> On 16/6/08 10:03, "Y.A.Raw" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
> > Dear all who have responded,
> > 
> > Many thanks. I have gained a great deal from your
> reactions, ideas,
> and
> > suggestions. Some really revealing stuff...
> > 
> > However, has anyone actually taught a practical
> class/workshop using
> > another artist as an example? If so, what did you
> do? We all have
> ideas
> > about copying and understanding the works of
> artists in relation our
> own
> > work, but I am particularly interested in what you
> do at grass-roots
> > level when you have adults of very mixed ability
> sitting in front of
> > you. How would you go about teaching students to
> use Mattisse's style
> in
> > their own work? What limits would you set, and how
> would you
> facilitate
> > freedom of expression at the same time. How
> (briefly) would/did you
> > organise a day-long lesson?
> > 
> > Michael Bray's suggestions (below) were
> particularly useful because he
> > was directly relating his response to a teaching
> environment, as well
> as
> > his own personal experience. I happen to agree
> with Michael
> completely.
> > I suppose I'm looking for ideas for practical
> exercises etc. I'm
> working
> > in the field of art in the community, which is a
> different forum to
> that
> > of art-school, or practicing artists.
> > 
> > Thanks again for any help.
> > Yvonne
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: The UK drawing research network mailing list
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Chhatralia,
> Sunil
> > Sent: 16 June 2008 08:59
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Painting/Drawing like other artists
> > 
> > I agree with Michael, in that many years ago at
> school I too used to
> > "copy" works that I admired to teach myself new
> techniques. It was
> > perhaps useful to develop a range of techniques.
> However, I don't
> 
=== message truncated ===