Photo gallery Creating art while surrounded by art
A group of art-loving community members learned how to sketch better at a “Drawing in the Galleries” class led by artist Philip Salamone in the Chazen Museum of Art on June 20. The participants, of all ages and skill levels, explored figure drawing with a model. Salamone offered tips, including to look at the subject 90% of the time and at their paper 10% of the time, and to view the model in a mirror to get a different perspective. “Drawing in the Galleries” is a series of four events made possible in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board, a state agency that promotes the arts. The next “Drawing in the Galleries” event will be on Thursday, June 27, at the Chazen.
At center, Luciana Borbley and at right Dianne Vollrath look closely at artist model Marcus Nickel. Borbley and Vollrath are friends who are part of a group of 12 that meets twice a week to “play art” and to share tips and encourage each other. In the background from left to right, Edward Reginald Frampton’s ‘The Voyage of St. Brandan’ painting, Nikolai Alexandrovich Ionin’s ‘Cable Factory (Sevkabel Factory)’ painting, Samuel Levi Jones’ ‘Joshua’ piece, and Truman Lowe’s ‘Feather Tree’ sculpture. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Linda Endlich sketches a during a 20-minute figure study. Endlich retired from UW after working for 36 years in the art department on graphic design. Since retiring, Endlich returned to watercolor painting and drawing. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
At center, Ten Juza, undergraduate student double majoring in graphic design and art history, gets advice on figure proportions and alignment from instructor Philip Salamone. Juza says, “I'm more used to ceramics, and I'm getting back into two-dimensional art like painting and drawing. I saw the Chazen offered this free class, and I was like, ‘Okay, gotta take advantage!’” Artist Truman Lowe’s 'Feather Tree' sculpture is seen in the foreground. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
At left, figure drawing model Marcus Nickel poses in a contrapposto position, which in Italian means "counterpoise." At right, drawing instructor Philip Salamone explains to the class how the model’s weight is shifted to the back foot, his shoulders are rotated from the hips and the pelvis is tilted at a diagonal. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Salamone demonstrates a technique of looking at a subject backwards by using a mirror to get a new perspective. Salamone said the mirror technique is like a friend that tells you about your weak points. He uses a mirror to find out what’s wrong when his sketch doesn’t look like the model. Other perspective-shifting techniques include squinting or blurring your vision. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Dianne Vollrath, Luciana Borbely and Ali Beyer, left to right, sketch model Marcus Nickel. In the background from left to right, artist El Anatsui’s piece ‘Danu’ and Xu Bing’s painting ‘Ten Thousand Trees’ hang in Chazen Gallery 17. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Dianne Vollrath gets advice on her sketch from Salamone. Salamone shared that the ‘shape’ of a figure is one element and that ‘placement’ and ‘size’ are separate considerations when drawing. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
