Reconfiguring the Figure: art from Fran O’Neill’s class

Changing a figure’s surrounding transforms its mood and meaning. In “Drawing into Painting: Reconfiguring the Figure,” an online class at Seattle Artist League, Fran O’Neill led students in rethinking figure placement through drawing, collage, and painting. Using historical artworks, Zoom models, and personal photos, students reworked compositions, developed drawings into paintings, and examined how shifts in context alter narrative and form. The artworks in this post reflect their process and discoveries.

Space as a Dynamic Element – Space is not a passive background but an active force that interacts with the figure. Negative space, overlapping forms, and shifting perspectives create tension and depth.

Layering and Revision – Artists erase, redraw, and reposition elements, allowing compositions to evolve organically.

Figures and Environment – Figures are integrated into their surroundings, responding to objects, other figures, and spatial changes.

Scale and Perspective – Forms stretch, compress, and shift in viewpoint, creating emphasis, movement, and layered compositions.

Material Experimentation – Charcoal, collage, and paint encourage spatial exploration, with cutting and layering leading to unconventional choices.

Change and Discovery – An open-ended process keeps compositions fluid and adaptable.

Cut-out figures on movable cups create shifting compositions—an exploration of space, movement, and perspective. The figures shift, but the cat remains still.

Personal Visual Language – Through repeated revisions, students develop compositions that move beyond imitation.

Sense of Presence – Figures feel immersed in their environments, making compositions more connected and alive.

All of this happened in a Zoom class—hard to believe! Fran is in Australia, our school is in Seattle, and the students joined from everywhere.

These artworks feel spontaneous, responsive, and deeply engaged with space and movement within the composition, setting them apart from other more common methods.