Sculpting & Drawing the Head II

Workshop Description:

Whether you draw or sculpt, sculpting informs and improves the way you work in any 2D media.

 

Sculptors from ancient Egypt, the Greco-Roman and Renaissance eras, and those working right up to the present time have all had the foundational understanding of the bony structures and surface forms universal to the human head. This knowledge allowed them to quickly construct those elements and move on to the level of likeness, expression and finish that fit the cultures and eras in which they worked. The same can be said of great artists who worked primarily in 2D media.

These artistic fundamentals will be the foundations on which you build your sculpture or render your drawings of the head. 

Mark Lineweaver will demonstrate the stages of sculpting the head from our live model throughout the program.

Nettie Spiwack will teach implicit principles and structures seen by sculptors, painters and draughtsmen that are all represented in the mastery of drawing and are essential to advancing your drawing skills.

 

You can choose your area of concentration:

• If you want to concentrate on DRAWING the head, then observing the process of building a sculpted head will serve your ability to draw better. 

• If you want to concentrate on SCULPTING the head, then moving between drawing and sculpting will improve your observation and understanding. There is a materials fee for anyone who wants to sculpt. Details below.

 

We work from a live model and reinforce the fundamentals through examples from historical masters. Sculptors will also participate in periodic exercises in drawing.

 

In this session the model will be a young male.

 

• Instruction will be through demonstration, study of historical examples, group and personal feedback.

• Beginners, intermediate and advanced students are all welcome; the principles are relevant to all levels and are constantly revisited by working artists.

• Feedback will be customized to your level to the extent possible in a group setting.

• If you took Sculpting and Drawing the Head in January, this is the opportunity to build your skills and leap forward in your ability.

 

At the end of the workshop, if you are interested, Mark can:

• Guide you in preparing your sculpture for firing and instruct where you can have it fired locally if you so desire. (Firing fees not included)

• Arrange future sessions to learn to cast your sculpture in plaster and finish it with a patina.

 

DRAWING SUPPLIES

Everyone should bring their own basic drawing supplies:

Any of the following drawing media are recommended:

• Traditional graphite pencils

   (Sets available from many brands such as General’s, Derwent, Faber Castell. Make sure your set includes softer

   pencils from HB up to 6B, 9B or higher.)

• Blackwing soft matte pencils

• Wolff charcoal/carbon pencils

• Charcoal pencils

• Soft and hard charcoal are recommended only if you have prior experience

• A kneaded eraser

• Sketchbook: at least 9 x12 or larger. No newsprint.

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SCULPTURE MATERIALS FEE

The fee is mandatory for anyone wanting to sculpt

$60 supplies fee includes a pre-made armature and 20# of clay.

 

About the Instructors:

Mark Lineweaver is a professional sculptor, and has taught the human head and figure in art for 43 years. Mark taught sculpture, drawing and design for over 25 years at Altos de Chavon, a premiere art school in the Caribbean.

After a formative period in Italy and France, he received his MFA at the New York Academy of Art, where he also taught Sculpting the Head.

Known for his larger-than-life representational work, Mark has installations in the US and the Dominican Republic. His works have been commissioned by Michael Graves, Malcolm Forbes, the Mirabal Sisters Museum, and prominent leaders of the DR. He divides his time between Port St. Lucie and his Blue Mountain Forest Vanilla farm on 50 mountaintop acres in the Dominican Republic. 

 

Nettie Spiwack is a graduate of NY’s famed High School of Music & Art, and was awarded the St. Gaudens Medal for Outstanding Draughtsmanship, presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

She studied figure under Théo Stavropoulos, becoming his teaching assistant at Herbert H. Lehman college after receiving her BFA. Advanced anatomy and figure studies followed with Robert Beverly Hale at NY’s Art Students League, and with Eliot Goldfinger and Randy Melick at the New York Academy of Art. She met sculptor Mark Lineweaver in his course at NYAA and later attended sculpture intensives at his Hoboken, NJ studio.

Nettie concentrates on drawing and mixed media for figure and portrait. She has taught life drawing in the Chicago area and Florida.