Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

Drawing for Socialists defends the act of drawing in 2018 as a potential act of social liberation, via personal empowerment. Through drawing, an artist seizes a moment of experience in the world, a person, place or object in a unique balance of objectivity and subjectivity. Its gestalt communication can then further progressive collective action. The talk will examine public barriers to drawing. Beginning students are often frozen with perfectionism. Yet there is the 800-pound gorilla of photography, and its impact (depicting capitalist commodities, inspiring statist sentimentalities) upon a century-and-a-half of representation. I offer a classroom-tested step-by-step Beginning Drawing semester syllabus, each exercise building new skills upon its predecessor (at its end, the gorilla is addressed). This is followed with an Intermediate/Advanced program to broaden skills and perception. Drawing also nourishes the critical, sometimes collective media of the comics, of community murals, and even fine-art installations.