FIGURE DRAWING AS LEIT-MOTIF
As a trained zoologist, educator and figurative artist the author has long recognized family resemblances between the scientific method, the creative process and embodied learning. The problems encountered in attempting to draw the human figure are a leit-motif of the Homo discens project. A figure drawing boils down to sequential marks on a page that trace an individual artist’s encounter and connection with a fellow human being. Rendering the model is a vehicle for something more profound than merely copying pastterns of light and shade. Problems of Figure drawing mirror problems of perception, understanding and identity; in this sense we can recognize that the artist is, quite literally, attempting to draw the human condition.
The Homo discens project was created by Andrew Brown, a teacher of Theory of Knowledge and IB biology at the French American International School in San Francisco and figurative artist.
The site is peppered with figure drawings and oil paintings by the author. Selected works from the art history canon also have been pressed into service.
Homo discens and its companion site TOKresource.org are works in progress. Critique and suggestions for improvement are encouraged.
Andrew Brown (1996) Sanguine Figure. Pastel and charcoal on paper.
Andrew Brown (2006) Figure. Ink, oil pastel and charcoal on paper..
Contact e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org