The Abstract in Representation

At Tacoma Academy of Fine Art, the goal of our studies is to produce competent and beautiful color figurative paintings. Each quarter students focus on a different step toward this goal, starting with drawing and culminating in painting. During the first quarter, entitled 'Beginning Drawing', students focus on the practical elements of drawing, with a focus on materials, methods of blocking-in and rendering a drawing, and an emphasis on proportion and measuring.

During the second quarter, in our 'Design Drawing' class, elements of design are introduced, and the student moves from a copying mindset to one of composing. A constructive 3-D apporach is taken and the visual world is broken down into it's most basic elements of shape, and then into volume.

During previous quarters, value (light and dark) was considered for it's role of representing light and form. But now, in the third quarter, another aspect of value is considered, that is: abstract 2-D design, also called graphic pattern. Here the work of Caravaggio, Vermeer and Sargent are emphasized for their ability to place a beautifully rendered form into a pleasing pattern, able to draw in the viewer from a distance. This is the final step of the drawing course, and the one that transitions the student into the medium of oil painting. (For a great analysis on a constructive vs. an abstract approach design-based drawing, read Harold Speed's great book entitled 'The Practice and Science of Drawing'.)