Telephone

    Acurate observing is a main focus of the Drawing From Life Course at the Alvarez Art School.  The process of drawing begins with seeing and ends with marks made by the hands. One of the biggest struggles is to learn to believe what we see and not see what we believe. Our fixed beliefs  influence information acquired by the eyes. The information is changed to conform to what we think we "know".
     A good analogy for this phenomenon is the game of telephone. The game starts when the first player whispers a message to the next player and the process continues to the end of the line.  Along the way, the message is misinterpeted so by the end of game it has been corrupted to the point that it means something different.
     The process of seeing and translating what was seen to paper is much like the game of telephone. The eyes gather the information which is relayed through the optic nerve and neural pathways to the visual cortex where it is processed. The infomation is reinterpreted to conform to our inacurate expectations. The drawing will be a misinterpretation of the initial message.
     In other words what we see and what is there are not the same thing. However; the good news is that this can be unlearned. The brain or the mind can be taught to "listen" better so the message recorded by the hand on the page will be more accurate. You can learn to become a better and more active observer.  With practice you'll see in new ways. You'll also draw more accurately, because you'll see more accurately.   www.alvarezschool.com

Process over Product

I teach drawing and painting at the Alvarez Art School. My favorite classes to teach are the figure drawing classes.  I like to call the classes, Drawing from Life class, because in addition to learning to draw and see, the students and I explore and contemplate the philosophies of being an artist and art making. These discussions often end up translating to the process of living. And the process is where we start in our classes.

The process is the focus of the class. The act of making art, the act of learning and practicing takes priority. It is the art. The painting or the drawing is a record of the practice. Although it would be considered to be art by everyone else, we understand that it is the "result of art" as the character Chris Stevens, from the show Northern Exposure, once said. Also we've found that good process results in good product, most of the time.

The product should give evidence of the artist at work. We should see a struggle that has either been won or lost. When I look at art, I imagine being in the studio with the artist and it's fun to be transported to the time of its making. I try to envision the construction of the piece from blank canvas to work I'm viewing. I get tingles looking at the work in four dimension, the fourth being time. It is my hope that my work could evoke similar experiences in at least one of the viewers of my art, my process. www.alvarezschool.com