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