Insights, discoveries, surprises : drawing from the model PDF
Preview Insights, discoveries, surprises : drawing from the model
INSIGHTS D I S C O V E R I ES S U R P R I S ES This page intentionally left blank insights discoveries surprises DRAWING FROM THE MODEL ghitta caiserman . roth & rhoda cohen M c G I L L - Q U E E N 'S UNIVERSITY PRESS M O N T R E AL & KINGSTON • LONDON • B U F F A LO This page intentionally left blank C O N T E N TS Joint Introduction 7 Introduction by Ghitta Caiserman-Roth 9 Introduction by Rhoda Cohen 13 Getting Started 19 Tentative Explorations 35 Gesture 41 Time for Reflection 63 Discovering our Intentions: Our Review of Our Work 83 Conclusion 111 Sources 117 5 This page intentionally left blank J O I NT I N T R O D U C T I ON This is not a "how to draw" book. It is a book based on a series of regular four-hour drawing sessions undertaken over a period of four years by an artist-teacher and a psychoanalyst-artist who come to drawing from different educational and philosophical backgrounds. At the end of each session we taped our observations and insights. Our discoveries were the basis of our dialogue. We were always aware of our desire to discuss our work at the end of each session. Sometimes it was not possible; as with the crea- tive process, we could not speak on demand. On certain days there were not the words to say it; other times we were too stimulated and excited, and we sounded garbled. Occasionally we felt too spent and there was nothing to say. We have learned to tolerate each other's in- tensity and respect each other's privacy. We discovered that there is a rhythm to communication. It takes quite a while to become comfort- able. The dialogue and pedagogical concepts in this book will per- haps help you to increase your sensitivity and deepen your percep- tions. This is an untraditional book, which does not pose concrete solutions. By presenting our ongoing concerns, surprises, struggles, and, occasionally, our discoveries, we aim to release the "artist's block," and we propose a voyage, not a destination. We hope that it will give you the freedom to throw away your cliches and become spontaneous yet insightful; to dare to be personal and at the same time learn to be self-critical. Our dialogue can help you establish di- alogues within yourself. There is no special order in which this book should be read. Start at the end, the beginning, or the middle. Draw- ings are used throughout to suggest various approaches. They are not intended to be illustrations of the ideas. For whom is this book? It is for you if you are open, ready to take a chance, willing to look and to see and to feel. It can help you if you've always yearned to draw, have drawn for years but need new input, are afraid to try to draw, or feel blocked. You will like this book if you enjoy looking at drawings, and enjoy listening to artists' dia- logue and identify with the struggle involved in producing art. If you are a teacher or a student or someone interested in drawing and the creative process, this book is for you. We encourage you to accept our thoughts in an open spirit, re- membering that we are not creating systems or laws. We urge you to set up your own dialogue on drawing from the model with a student, an artist, a friend, or within yourself. 7 I N T R O D U C T I ON by G h i 11 a Caiserman-Roth Like so many children, I was a gifted child. This art gift was nurtured in me by my parents. My father, Hanane, was in love with art and art- ists, and he "gave" me a teacher (Alexandre Bercovitch, a painter and set designer from Russia). Throughout his life he also gave me books on art, which I still have. Two I particularly treasure are the Penguin edition of the Henry Moore "shelter" sketch-books and one on Ben Shahn. My "papa" gave me paintboxes and beautiful coloured paper, and wrote about me (anonymously) in the local papers. My mother, Sarah, was a creative designer of children's clothes. She was a visual person who loved textures and patterns and colour. She was very proud of my youthful efforts. I seemed to be able to repeat these archetypal support relationships. (I often wonder if, without this buildup of my ego, the would-be artist might have had a lower crea- tive drive and perhaps not have been able to bring the work to full flowering.) I remember the excitement I felt when I sold my first real paint- ing to A.Y. Jackson, rather than to one of my mother's faithful friends. When I was twenty-seven, I sold a painting to the Vancouver Art Gal- lery. Despite this success, I came quickly to understand that rejection is right around the corner. I understood that fame, success, accessibil- ity, quality, and monetary value had no relationship to one another - or else the relationship was fortuitous. I would not be victimized by art fashions, world art systems, or ongoing trends. I had to learn to please myself. I began to teach early on, starting with children's after-school art classes and then at Sir George Williams College. I had developed the concept of "think-feel" within my painting and also in my teaching. Now we would call this approach the right and left sides of the brain. Teaching gave me the financial support that allowed me to paint for most of the week, and it taught me to be critical of my own work and of that of my students. I also learned to be articulate - at least about art-related subjects. Drawing has always been important to me: at first, to record my perceptions. I saw drawing as an extension of my hand and body, and I used it to help me identify with gesture and other mysterious hap- penings in nature and within the human body, and sometimes within my mind. Eventually, it became an end in itself, rather than primarily a preparation for painting. Drawing seems to come from the uncon- scious, perhaps because there are fewer choices to be considered, 9
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