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TITLE: Luiz Jimenez and Drawing |
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ART: Drawing - Gesture Drawing GRADE LEVEL: Art Level I TEKS:
Students will view and discuss the work of Luis Jimenez and then complete several gesture drawings using a variety of media. MATERIALS:
Time Required: 1/2 to 1 weeks (3 to 5 class periods) |
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OVERVIEW: Luis Jimenez was born in 1940 in El Paso, Texas. His fiberglass sculptures and mixed media drawings depict boarder land people and the struggles of their lives. As the son of an illegal immigrant, the artist has first hand experience with much of the subject matter he depicts. His work has been described as stereotypical. However, the artist uses Chicano stereotypes to redeem aspects of boarder lands' history that have been overlooked or ignored by more traditional sources. Jimenez was exposed to art and design in the sign painting and neon-crafting workshop of his father. In this setting, Jimenez received experience with diverse art media and popular imagery. He first studied architecture before turning to two and three dimension works of art. His early training is evident in the dynamic use of line in is drawings. Jimenez earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas in 1964. For more than thirty years, he has been an active contributor to the contemporary art movement, as well as champion of the Chicano way of life. DISCUSSION: Play some charades with the students. Make some gestures and ask the students to tell you what they mean. Examples: Wave goodbye, shake your head no, signal baseball's out and safe, shake your finger like you are angry, shrug your shoulders like you don't know and then like you give up. Tell the students that just like there are quick expressive movements that communicate an idea or feeling, there are also quick expressive drawings that communicate the essence of an object or feelings at a moment in time. View the examples of Luis Jimenez's work and discuss the gestural qualities of his pieces.
ASSIGNMENT: Create several gesture drawings in class. Use a variety of subjects and media. Try working on some different textured paper. Work from life, drawing student or teacher models, and still-lives. Work from photographs of animals and other images that interest you. Use large paper and draw with large arm movements. Try turning the media and applying different pressure to achieve a variation in line. After viewing Luis Jimenez's work, tell the students they will now go through a lesson on gesture drawing to help teach them the quick expressive line quality artists like Jimenez use. Objectives of the
Drawing Lesson:
DEFINITIONS: Gesture: A motion or action intended to express an idea or a feeling. An expressive movement. Gesture Drawing: A quick sketch used to capture the movement or position of a subject. In gesture drawing you are drawing lines quickly and loosely to show movement in a subject. TECHNIQUES:
Demonstrate gesture drawing before the students begin. After the students have completed several gesture drawings, have them choose their best one. They can try the following methods to improve this drawing: The best drawing can be recreated in a studied fashion by lying a sheet of transparent paper over it and retracing the best lines of the drawing, controlling the placement and line quality. You can also finish this drawing in mixed media, adding color in washes of ink or watercolor and black or gray lines in washes and/or marker that shade and delineate the subject. (This is similar to the look of Jimenez's Denver Mustang and Alligator Study.) SUGGESTIONS:
RESOURCES: Printable Student Handout on gesture drawing Publications: Internet Links: |
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