Reviewing Methods and Materials - Drawing…

Student discussions and assignments associated with excursions or field trips to art, design and craft exhibitions can be related to a variety of different aspects of each exhibition or focus on particular aspects of the exhibits. The following blog posts will initially focus attention on the methods and materials used to produce the exhibits.

Two-dimensional works of art and design:

Drawing.

Students can review the advantages of using drawings in order to provide observations, ideas and emotions through visual representations.

Supports:

Students could analyse the use of supports for the drawings on display.

Describe the size and shape of the supports used for the drawings, and the placement of the visual representations on the supports.

Have the exhibits been drawn on paper or fabric or other alternatives, such as dried plant material?

If the drawing has a paper support, has the paper been mass produced or has the paper been produced by craftspeople through the use of small-scale paper mills and presses?

Have the supports been finished with a matte or gloss surface?

Are the supports textured in some way?

Have the supports been enhanced through the use of collage techniques? Describe the materials added through the use of collage.

Are the supports white?

If the supports are not white, has a colour been integrated during the manufacturing process?

If colour been applied to the surface of the support, describe any use of primers or undercoats of paint, ink or dye.

Has the support influenced the type of marks created by the drawing media?

Drawing materials:

What materials have been used to create the drawings?

Are they dry or formed into a stick format? Are they graphite pencils, coloured pencils or chinograph pencils, charcoal, conte sticks, compressed chalk pastels, oil pastels or wax crayons?

Has the artist or designer used a solvent such as water, metholated or white spirits, or turpentine in order to dissolve sections of the dry media applied to the drawing support?

Has the artist or designer used wet media, such as inks, watercolour paints or gouche paints or dyes?

Drawing implements:

What types of implements have been used to apply the wet media?

Has the artist or designer used pen knibs, felt-tipped pens, sticks, brushes, pieces of fabric or foam, knives and scrapers, or equipment associated with spraying or splattering the wet media across the support surface?

If pens or brushes have been used, describe the type of pen knibs or brush widths selected.

Have stencils or resist techniques such as applications of gum or wax materials been used in order to direct or resist the application of wet media?

Line drawing:

Have the drawing media been used to produce line drawing techniques?

Has line drawing been used throughout the visual representation?

Have line drawing methods been restricted to the depiction of outlines or a specific area of an image?

Have continuous lines been used?

Have broken lines been used?

Have modulated lines been used?

Have drawn lines been used to indicate tonal changes?

Have lines been used for tonal rendering through the creation of areas of hatching or cross-hatching? If so, how do these sections relate to other lines, such as outlines?

Have lines been used to indicate different surface textures?

Tonal drawing:

Has the artist or designer has devoted attention to the depiction of tonal changes? How has this been achieved?

Has the artist or designer used a range of methods other than hatching or cross-hatching techniques or modulated line in order to render tonal sections?

Has the artist or designer used stippling techniques or small dots of media in order to render tonal sections?

Have tonal sections been rendered through the application of broad strokes of dry or wet media? Have these broad strokes of dry or wet media been applied in solid blocks, or have they been modulated?

Media use and integration:

Has the artist or designer combined the use of different dry or wet media together in single images?

Have hand-drawn sections or representations been combined or integrated with collage or digital imagery?

If collage elements have been incorporated into hand-drawn representations, describe the types of materials, imagery and textures incorporated through the use of collage elements.

Subject matter:

Has the artist or designer used drawing techniques in order to produce realistic representations? Describe the representations.

Has the artist or designer used drawing techniques in order to produce an abstracted representation? Describe the representations.

Students in the exhibition space…

Adults charged with supervising a group of students on a field trip or excursion are often confronted by the process of arranging student movements in the exhibition space so that viewing opportunities can be maximised.

If several adults accompany the student group during the field trip or excursion, then sub-groups could be organised and each subgroup would then be able to focus on a specific exhibit or section on display. If a clearly defined thematic approach has been used to present the exhibition then subgroups could be sent to different thematic sections, and these subgroups could swap places at strategic times during the exhibition visit.

If only one adult is able to accompany a large student group then the supervisor may need to focus on a very limited number of adjacent exhibits at one time during the exhibition visit. Analysis and discussion of specific aspects could then be completed with the entire group as it remains seated or standing. The entire group can then move to the next appropriate section of the exhibition.

If students are able to complete a worksheet or observation notes while they are in the exhibition area, then they need to organise a safe portable writing support such as a cardboard sheet or folder. The use of a pencil rather than a pen is usually requested by many museum or gallery administrations as a measure to ensure the safety of the exhibits as well as the wall and floor surfaces in the exhibition spaces.

Adults accompanying the student group also need to reinforce the need for students to behave in a manner that is caring and supportive, so that every visitor in the exhibition space is able to enjoy viewing the exhibits and the visit to the museum or gallery is very positive.