Sunday, March 15, 2009

Surprises

Making art is always full of wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) surprises. In my dual roles of student (in the MFA program at CSUF) and teacher (of Beginning Drawing, also at CSUF) I find that the surprises are very different.

I really, really love to look at the solutions my students come up with when given an assignment. Despite the fact that it is called a beginning class, they bring incredibly sophisticated, fresh, innovative, and exciting ideas to the page. I am always inspired and get excited all over again about the limitless possibilities and emotional connections with drawing.

And then there is my other perspective: student (me!) learning to master a new skill. This time it was to create a pop-up (my attempt above). Surprise: simple name, deceivingly complex construct. Challenging hardly describes the learning process for this project. Hats off to pros Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart, and David Carter. I will continue to drool over your creations but no longer feel I have to try it myself!