Monday, March 2, 2015
Art Academy of Latvia Academic Drawing
Last week I visited my friends and teachers at the Art Academy of Latvia. I saw some incredible drawings and met very talented people. Academy allowed me to publish the selection of the academic drawings of past 10 years. I am really proud of my academy preserving the classical traditions and nurturing the craft and mastery of drawing.
In 16 year period of my art education, I studied drawing only from teachers by the classical method. For example, professor Edvīns Kalnenieks hasnt written any book on drawing. He was taught by the old masters and he keep on teaching the same way students. Normally, we used books to study anatomy, painting, sculpture or art in general. Drawing was all about practice and following the instructions and tasks given by the teacher.
As a professor Edvīns Kalnenieks, the head of the Drawing Department, told me:
Drawing holds a significant place in art education both as independant form of art as well as an aid in different artistic practices.
The classic drawing or the nature drawing is a necessary stage in the study of drawing.
The primary goal of drawing is to learn to see, analyze, and create a graphic represenation of form on a flat surface in its diversity of movement and character. To achieve this, a number of drawing techniques must be learned.
Firstly, the construction of forms - cube, sphere, cylinder, etc is taught. Afterwards the student must work on drawings in wish the basic forms vary in rich diversity. There could be constructions of different planes and ellipses that require knowledge of perspective, proportions and size relations, which determine the character or peculiarity of the form. The human head possesses the richest amount of forms and nuanced movement possibilities. As the line of the profile and eyebrow change direction, different angles emerge that, together with the individual character of the head, can create unusually interesting forms.
Already during the Renaissance it was advised to draw and egg with two crossed axes from two different points of view to better understand and analyze the construction of the head from different angles. Therefore it is recommended to draw nude exercises during bachelor studies, instead of just "heads with collars".
Figures in motion, such as the nude, change the axes (or balance points) shift in the slightest degree in relation to the setting. This urges the student to grasp the wholeness of the form, which requiers subduing details to the movement of the entire form, selecting the most characteristic and expresive features which would bring out the artistic quality of the shape. Knowledge of human anatomy is worth mentioning as well.
Tonality is the evaluation of tonal relations in light and shadow according to the form and lighting. Materiality can come about as a side product of well assessed tonal relations.
It is advisable to use still forms and static lighting when studying the laws of tonality. The realization of tonal relations is possibly the most difficult task to accomplish if a student lacks the feel for it. This becomes a serious handicap in the practice of drawing, for each touch on the paper creates tonality problems. On the other hand, the ability to judge tonality enriches the drawing with a special kind of "colorfulness".
Tonal spatial relations come into play if the background and the space are involved.
Even a distinct light-and-shadow drawing is based on a careful assessment of tonal relations along with the relations of light and dark in nature.
The line becomes an asset if a student is particularly interested and gifted in the skill.
There can be a marker line of even density, a line made by a delicate, masterful stroke of a paintbrush, or an analytically devised line made by a pencil or any other material. The line can belong to the space or volume. Lines create rhythms. There are wonderful examples of line drawings in the world of art. It is possible to create an art image with just a couple of lines. Such laconism would be beneficial in sketching programs.
The students who come to the AAL differ greatly according to their talent disposition, preliminary preparation, skills and influences. It would be wrong to try and change everything immediately, instead it would be best to attempt to find and develop that which is closest to each student.
We should avoid and exaggerated categorization of drawing types. They may be classified; however, they cannot be found in pure form even in our drawing archives.
A good volume drawing is impossible without tonality or the use of the lin, and good tonal drawing cannot be accomplished without a proper understanding of form.
Traditionally, the AAL students almost every year study under a different teacher to get acquainted with different perspectives on drawing values. This is more important at the early stages of bachelor studio, while masters program me students should walk their own, independent path towards creating an excellent drawing.
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