Drawing I & II: Introduction and Advanced Brown University/ Comillas, June 2014

Instructor: Jerry Mischak Senior Critic, Rhode Island School of Design [email protected]

Four-week session Saturday, May 31 – Tuesday, July 1, 2014 Orientation Monday AM June 2nd, Language and culture required the first week and throughout the session.

Drawing class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30am – 1:30pm in the studio. In addition Friday individual and group critiques are scheduled from 9:30- 1:30 with the faculty team. Weekend field trips are also required.

SYLLABUS

Working on site and in the studio with traditional drawing media – charcoal, graphite, ink wash, markers and ball point pen students will study the experimental and innovative potential of drawing. Weekly assignments will challenge students to encounter aspects of Drawing that are fundamental to visual thinking. Projects are aimed to develop drawings that stand independently as finished works on paper. Working from direct observation beginning students can expect individual one-on-one support daily and experienced students develop means of visual research that build advanced-leveled projects. Students will be required to keep a journal/sketchbook for drawings and personal notations collected during field trips as well as documenting studio developments and on-site observations.

Grades will be based on the following: Attendance in all classes, critiques and related lectures Completion of all assignments Participation in group and individual critiques Ability to develop and transcribe visual information Technical proficiency Extended work outside of class time, days evenings and weekends

Week 1: Thursday June 5th Introduction, syllabus, polices, material list. Discuss shape/line and volume/plane. In studio short exercise, make a drawing. Assignment 1: Working on site (location to be announced) select an area that invites you to settle in and begin drawing. For your drawing include what you see at your feet and at arms length, attention to be focused on detail. Each drawing will be made using pencil and erasers. Return to the studio with two completed drawings a small rock, a leaf and a twig. Homework: Set up a composition using the three objects brought back from the beach, complete a drawing using pencils and erasers.

Saturday June 7th – Field Trip to Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, Goya art supply store and lunch (Pintxos) in old town, afterwards a visit to the Bellas Artes Museum. Stop in Santander if the Botin Arts Center if open.

Week 2: Monday June 9th Assignment 2: Working on site. Visit Gaudi’s in town and select three separate areas on the exterior of the building and begin work on a detailed drawing of each.

Wednesday June 11th Assignment 3: Using pen and ink or pencils and erasers complete four drawings from your sketchbook (size). Each drawing will come from four on site locations. 1. Path of flowers 2.Water at low tide 3.The port 4.Interior of Bar Filipinas. 50 minutes for each. Homework: Working from your rock, leaf, and twig drawing make three new drawings that progress toward abstraction. Use Theo van Dorsburg’s illustration of the process of abstraction as reference.

Friday June 13th 9:30am-1:30pm – Faculty team, group and individual critiques.

Saturday June 14th - Excursion to the Altamira Neocaves Museum, tour medieval town of and visit the Regina Coeli Museum of Religious Art. Group picnic lunch prepared by Beatrice and visit to Cueva de El Castillo.

Week 3: Monday June 16th Assignment 4: Power point presentation. Introduce charcoal and eraser and work on two drawings on the grounds of the Fundacion. The first drawing will be gestural using the alley of trees as subjects in various sizes. Finish drawing by creating a foreground, middle ground and background. The second drawing will be of the amazing landscape over looking all of Comillas from the Fundacion. Homework: Subtractive drawing: portrait with candle using only an eraser on blackened paper.

Wednesday June 18th Assignment 5: On site drawing in and around the jetty in San Vicente. Three drawings to be completed using materials of choice.

Friday June 20st 9:30am-1:30pm – Faculty team, group and individual critiques.

Saturday June 21st - Excursion to , beautiful mountains!!! Fuente de: cable car and route, Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana. Group lunch in .

Week 4: Monday June 23rd Assignment 6: Extreme Collage drawing. Develop a textured surface on four large pieces of drawing paper that have been combined to create a large drawing surface. On this surface develop an extreme narrative using images from previous drawings. Direct drawing as well as collage will be used to interact with this surface, you need to develop an engaging composition.

Wednesday June 25th Assignment 7: Sketches on large paper of the landscape around studio using only a large brush and black paint. Complete at least two. Discuss final two drawings. Introduce Individual project

Friday June 27th (8:30 am) Faculty team, group and individual critiques. Select work and prepare selection of work for student exhibition in the Fundacion gallery. Transport work and hang the exhibition.

Saturday June 28th – Open studio work day and catch up with all projects. Possible excursion to Santander in the morning.

Sunday June 29th – Reception for student exhibition 12:00-1:30 in the Fundacion gallery. Transport work back to the studio at the end of the reception. Studio Work Day – Catch up with all projects for Mondays final critique.

Week 5: Monday June 30th – 8AM –all day final individual critiques on all the work produced. Studios should be well organized for viewing work and hung in chronological order.

PACK AND CLEAN UP Due to the San Pedro holiday in Comillas the correos is closed but is open in San Vincente so if you are sending anything home, purchase packing boxes in advance and arrange with your host family for a quick trip to San Vincente correos, a town close to Comillas. Large paintings can be rolled up and placed in PVC tubes, which will be provided for each student. The tubes can be sent through as luggage on the plane. Note that an oversize fee may apply at the airport in Santander. We encourage you to take your work home with you on the plane due to both shipping costs and delivery time.

Tuesday July 2nd- Depart Comillas early AM for Santander airport.