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What about sketchbooks?


EVERYTHING you do from now until spring break will be done in your sketchbook. That includes on site drawings and these sketchbook assignments. They will all be in there together. Don’t separate them. These sketchbooks will become part of you.
Your sketchbook should include:
1. Figure studies (from life and photos)
2. Object studies ( from life and photos)
3. Jottings (Ideas- artists’ names, lists of music, books read or to be read,films and plays seen or to be seen )
4. Xeroxes of other artist’s work
5. Thumbnail sketches that work out compositional ideas
6. Collages and mixed media experiments
7. Quotes (or snippets of movies-videos-tv shows that catch and inspire you)
8. Factual descriptions of subjects of interest found in reference books (which often give new shades of meaning and make surprising connections) new words; marketplace words and descriptions; words that are funny, intriguing, inspiring, mysterious, strange to speak, nonsense)
Truly, your sketchbook is one of the most valuable tools you possess-- This book should not be kept as a separate thing for just my class, or any other class, for that matter. It should be kept for you--for all your ideas for any class--for life--for reference--ideas and inspiration are fleeting--this is a net in which to capture them for that time in the future when you are stymied--stuck--empty of ideas. It is a place where you can find a little thread to pull--It is a place where you can record you deepest fears and dreams safely. It will be one of your most treasured possessions in the years to come and you will go back to it for ideas for longer than you can imagine. Hopefully you will see the interrelatedness of things and how specifics from one subject may apply to the next. In it you will keep descriptions of things seen, heard, or read. These descriptions may be in your own words, or if you find better ones said by someone else, use them. This is a vault in which you store words, ideas, images. Also remember that your sketchbook can be a valuable tool to help you recall what you were working on--the idea--the medium--your process. Make notes to yourself reflecting on your work--where your inspiration came from, what you were thinking about, what materials best expressed it, what you want to try--whose work inspired you--what books you were reading--How you felt. Years later, when you’re stuck, notes like these can spark something and take you back to that place of inspiration and vision. (TIP- Get a glue stick!)
In addition to any sketchbook assignments given you in class, you are required to work in your sketchbook 15 minutes EVERYDAY ( including weekends)- Date it!
Sketchbooks will be reviewed at the instructor’s discretion in class. Their contents count toward your grade. IMPRESS ME!!!