I asked Shruti Ghatak, one of our instructors at the League, if there were any interesting books she was reading.
Shruti: “Currently I am reading ‘The Shape of Content’ by Ben Shahn.”
“Love the first paragraph! Shahn wrote about the practice and purpose of art with such clarity!”
“This reminds me of my mentor Graham Nickson. He once told me to always think of the role of a mark. He used to say ‘If you are putting a new mark on your drawing and if there is already a mark on that page, think of their relationship, think of the role of the new mark. Think of its purpose.’ I think it was quite a life lesson for me. So true for life itself!” – Shruti Ghatak, Teaching Artist at the League
Shruti Ghatak is a teacher who fosters intuitive creativity, and personal voice. I watched her lead her day one beginning drawing class in a series of exercises for form, mark-making, creative expression, and perspective. She didn’t tell her students how to draw. Instead, she created an environment that encouraged them to look, and to trust themselves. She gently fosters intuition and discovery, quietly growing the artist from inside out.
Yesterday’s headlines announced the first federal execution in 17 years. Because we needed some good news from our leadership, right? Right?!? The execution was by lethal injection, but the artistic resources in my mind recalled Warhol’s Electric Chair. Electric Chair is part of Warhol’s Death and Disaster series started in 1962. This series included car crashes, atom bombs, …
A selection from Keith Pfeiffer’s Tiny Paintings Class Another word for Tiny Paintings is Thumbnails. Thumbnail sketches are often used to test out ideas, and making adjustments before launching into a big project. These itty bitty paintings are a series of low pressure color and composition experiments. This is one in a series of posts …
Figure drawing offers artists a never ending series of challenges and inspirations for the artist. In my figure drawing classes we try a different approach every week, so students strengthen many different aspects of drawing, all in a single class. In drawing sessions, we have focused on how to measure proportions and useful landmarks in …
Today is the 26th day of our 30 day creative challenge. Wednesday is specifically a word challenge. Today’s word is an art vocabulary word, great for drawings and paintings. Sometimes when you draw with soft graphite and then erase your drawing, you can still see a some of the previous lines on the paper. Those …
Shruti’s Book: The Shape of Content
I asked Shruti Ghatak, one of our instructors at the League, if there were any interesting books she was reading.
Shruti: “Currently I am reading ‘The Shape of Content’ by Ben Shahn.”
“Love the first paragraph! Shahn wrote about the practice and purpose of art with such clarity!”
“This reminds me of my mentor Graham Nickson. He once told me to always think of the role of a mark. He used to say ‘If you are putting a new mark on your drawing and if there is already a mark on that page, think of their relationship, think of the role of the new mark. Think of its purpose.’ I think it was quite a life lesson for me. So true for life itself!” – Shruti Ghatak, Teaching Artist at the League
Shruti Ghatak is a teacher who fosters intuitive creativity, and personal voice. I watched her lead her day one beginning drawing class in a series of exercises for form, mark-making, creative expression, and perspective. She didn’t tell her students how to draw. Instead, she created an environment that encouraged them to look, and to trust themselves. She gently fosters intuition and discovery, quietly growing the artist from inside out.
If this sounds like an approach you’d enjoy, take a class with her. Shruti teaches beginning drawing, and watercolor painting. We have broken the classes down to 2, 4, and 8 week sessions so you don’t have to plan too far ahead. You can just take it a couple of weeks at a time. Classes start next week, so now is the perfect time to sign up. Click here to find your online art class.
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Yesterday’s headlines announced the first federal execution in 17 years. Because we needed some good news from our leadership, right? Right?!? The execution was by lethal injection, but the artistic resources in my mind recalled Warhol’s Electric Chair. Electric Chair is part of Warhol’s Death and Disaster series started in 1962. This series included car crashes, atom bombs, …
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