"To be an artist is to be in a state of perpetual evolutionary growth."
Bert Dodson

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with a famous artist? What better way to get acquainted than to study the handwriting of an artist you admire. This week student's had the opportunity to get to know Picasso and Kathe Kollwitz. In class we looked at one drawing from each artist, and discussed the type of line, what drawing tools were used and how marks were made to build volume.

Working from a similar subject, a bust under direct light, student's were asked to emulate the stroke and character of another artist's handwriting to record their own observations of the subject. Student's sacrificed accurate proportions for the quality of the mark making.

Directly below is an example of how each student began this project; first they drew a styrofoam head under direct light, observing light and shadow shapes and thinking about their own mark making. After discussing the drawings (below) of Picasso or Kollwitz, student's did a new drawing of the same subject. In these drawings they incorporated what they understood about the artist's mark-making. This exercise brings meaning to ever mark, and you become aware of your own abilities to show purpose in mark-making. Where have habits formed?