Volumetric Drawing and the Human Figure

The class: Volumetric Drawing and the Human Figure  , an ongoing class at theWoodstock School of Art, is a drawing course which uses spatial visualization to interpret volumetric form and applies it to drawing the human figure. Although the figure is its emphasis, the course is less a survey of anatomy and more about the psychology of seeing; what Da Vinci refers to as saper vedere : knowing how to see. It is about data transfer and communication, and how the artist can transcribe his or her own expression into a visual reality with which others can engage. These strategies all contribute to the creation of a cognitive model that is then refined with anatomical as well as mechanical data. This cognitive model in its most developed form is a volumetric manikin figure, similar to a holograph, which is quite literally projected from the artist’s mind onto the paper via his or her visualization skills. Equipped with this spatial visualization tool, the student can apply anatomical information as it is learned; the manikin visualization updating itself every time one draws. In this sense, the artist is not copying or measuring the image that is projected on the retina of the eye, but rather is visualizing a cognitive manikin that is a kind of template the artist uses to draw on top.

The learning objectives of this course are focused on providing the student with tools of visualization and ways to then code this information into a cogent and expressive workflow. I find the categorization of this process as a workflow to be particularly appropriate as it implies that a workflow can often adapt itself to a changing environment. Likewise, the artist can learn to adapt their own cognitive approach to their practice to reflect changing parameters as well as evolving goals.. Within the course syllabus are exercises designed to increase capacity for spatial visualization of three dimensional space. As is apparent to most people once they pause to reflect, they can reach for a coffee cup outside of their field of vision and cup their hand to perfectly conform to the geometry of the cup. This is spatial visualization at work- the mind casting a wider net based on small bits of information and projecting a matrix on the field beyond its periphery.