Telephonic alterations

This project explored the unique qualities of an artist’s hand (personal gesture) and was a study of mark making. Three compositions were created through automatic drawing. Completed drawings were presented to three groups: those who considered themselves non-artistic, advanced level art students and beginning level art students. The first individual from each group was asked to recreate an initial drawing. The first recreated drawing was then passed to the next participant for personal interpretation. The process was repeated for each subsequent member of a particular group. Results were similar to the outcome of the classic children’s game “Telephone” with noticeable variations associated with the artistic skill level of each group. Despite the differences it was observed that, in general, participants strove to preserve the essential form of the source sketch. Using the original drawing and the final interpretation of the same drawing, I then created paintings incorporating formal properties of line, composition and color.Department of ArtThesis (M.A.

Psychiatry in pictures: Mania of Vanity

This short article illustrates a pen and ink drawing of a fellow patient suffering from 'mania of vanity' by William Bartholomew,(1819-1881), a patient at Crichton Royal Institution in 1850s to 1870. The drawing was commissioned by Dr W A F Browne for his series on lectures on different types of mental disease. It is one of more than 60 works of art included in the exhibition 'A Hidden Gem' at Gracefield Art Centre, Dumfries, 18 July-22 August 2015

Dual Character Art Concepts

Our goal in this paper is to articulate a novel account of the ordinary concept ART. At the core of our account is the idea that a puzzle surrounding our thought and talk about art is best understood as just one instance of a far broader phenomenon. In particular, we claim that one can make progress on this puzzle by drawing on research from cognitive science on dual character concepts. Thus, we suggest that the very same sort of phenomenon that is associated with ART can also be found in a broad class of other dual character concepts, including SCIENTIST, CHRISTIAN, GANGSTER, and many others. Instead of focusing narrowly on the case of ART, we try to offer a more general account of these concepts and the puzzles to which they give rise. Then, drawing on the general theory, we introduce a series of hypotheses about art concepts, and put those hypotheses to the test in three experimental studies

Out of the wilderness : a fourteenth-century English drawing of John the Baptist

London, British Library, MS Royal 10 B XIV contains a large drawing of St. John the Baptist that is both exceptional for its quality and iconographically unique. Not previously noticed by art historians, it constitutes an important addition to English art of the early to mid-fourteenth century. This paper explores the physical nature of the drawing, its bibliographical context (in a book of natural philosophy), the nature and meaning of its imagery, and its artistic context and associations, within the broader framework of its ownership and use by Benedictine monks of Saint Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. The drawing is considered a symptom of a wider interest in the acquisition of manuscript illumination at the abbey during the first half of the fourteenth century. It can be dated to about 1335-40 and is thought to have been executed in southeast England or East Anglia, where the works of art to which it is closest in stylistic and iconographic terms were produced. The iconography includes a number of motifs rare or unparalleled in images of John the Baptist, including a figure of Salome beneath the saint's feet and, most remarkably, a monumental Gothic arch composed of living oak trees, which frames the saint. The detail and semantic richness of this imagery make it practically certain that the drawing was made as a focus of devotion, probably for the manuscript's first recorded owner, the Oxford scholar-monk John of Lingfield.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Drawing Book. A survey of drawing: the primary means of expression

‘The Drawing Book’ was conceived and edited by Kovats. Other invited authors included Kate Macfarlane and Katherine Stout (The Drawing Room, London), and Charles Darwent (art historian and writer). The publication sought to survey drawing as the primary means of expression. The book explored whether it was possible to employ a renaissance model, the commonplace book, which is primarily a text-based model, visually. Drawings were gathered together to explore certain themes that then form a visual narrative rather than a text-based one. The book was also an exploration of the subjective nature of visual memory, a journey into the imagination of an individual, in itself a model of the form of drawing, as a personal and subjective cosmology of drawing. The vast collection of drawings span the history of art and design, including the rich dynamic state of contemporary drawing today. This book examines the relationship between drawing and thinking, and looks at what drawings do, as well as how they look. It is organized into thematic chapters based on the form of a commonplace book. The selected drawings trace the continuous line flowing through detailing how artists, scientists, architects, designers, philosophers understand our world and our experience in it. Originally printed as a hardback copy (January 2006), the book has subsequently been reprinted in paperback (June 2007). The book has been reviewed in Blueprint (Andrew Ross, No. 242, May 2006) and Varoom Magazine - The Journal of Illustration and Made Images (Ian Massey, Issue 2, November 2006)

Assessing Creativity: A Test for Drawing Production using Digital Art Tools The concept, application and assessment of digital art teaching as a means of enhancing creative proficiency

This paper describes the Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production (TCT-DP), including its design, concept and mode of assessment, and the practical consequences of its application in a specific context. The test was used to evaluate the performance of groups of students as part of a case study exploring the use of digital art tools for drawing in a junior school. The students used specific digital art software via both computers and tablets, and also drew manually using a variety of devices. TCP-DP evaluates drawing production by means of a set of 14 criteria. At the same time, this study used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory to assess the ease of use and usefulness of the digital tools. The test was trialled with students aged 9-10 years in different ability groups. There were no significant differences in performance between male and female participants. Details of various related studies, together with data concerning the reliability and validity of the TCT-DP test, are also provided. The study finds that motivation is an important factor in improving young people’s artistic ability

Pre-service Possibilities: Reconsidering \u27\u27Art for the Elementary Educator

Art for the Elementary Educator courses are sites of possibility in the field of art education, particularly art education oriented toward curriculum integration and meaningful art experiences. Drawing on literature about Art for the Elementary Educator courses and our own teaching experiences we make recommendations for reconsidering possible futures for this course as related to the future of art education. We believe that this course, its students, instructors, and course materials are worthy of sustained attention by the art education community. Ultimately, we argue that art education appreciation and advocacy, concepts we define in our concluding remarks, should be primary objectives for such classes. Reconsidering Art for the Elementary Educator in light of these ideas requires renewed examination of course content, student dispositions, instructor preparation, and teaching and learning resources

A drawing book for digital eyes

Looking at book covers may not tell you everything, but they do tell you something. A collection of leather-bound ‘how to draw’ books of the nineteen twenties exudes confidence, the expertise of the masters handed down. The titles indicate attention to technique, referring to ‘pencil drawing’, ‘lead pencil drawing’, or ‘pen and ink’, and speak of the ‘art’ of drawing. Some of these had been in print for fifty years. There are idealised classical figures, nature studies, but also stirrings of a more liberal approach. By the nineteen forties and fifties the books are less formal, less symmetrical, and more Do-It-Yourself: ‘I wish I could draw’, ‘Drawing at Home’, ’The Natural Way to Draw’, ‘Drawing Without a Master’. Some are slim volumes running in series devoted to subjects such as ships, cats, trees, even tanks. You draw the world around you

An Introduction To The Philosophy Of Art

In this book Richard Eldridge presents a clear and compact survey of philosophical theories of the nature and significance of art. Drawing on materials from classical and contemporary philosophy as well as from literary theory and art criticism, he explores the representational, expressive, and formal dimensions of art, and he argues that works of art present their subject matter in ways that are of enduring cognitive, moral, and social interest. His discussion, illustrated with a wealth of examples, ranges over topics such as beauty, originality, imagination, imitation, the ways in which we respond emotionally to art, and why we argue about which works are good, His accessible study will be invaluable to students and to all readers who are interested in the relation between thought and art