Earlier today I posted this picture. Several people have asked for instructions on how to make it. It’s not too complicated, and can also work well without the earth appearing to be in the hole.
It does need a large piece of paper, or several pieces joined together. I did the bulk of the practical work together with a class of fifteen year olds.
Click here, Hole in the ground instructions for full instructions.
A year ago I posted about a reverse perspective project that I had done with the twelve year olds that I teach. It is fair to say that the results of the three dimensional drawing assignment (based on the work of the British artist Patrick Hughes) seemed to trigger considerable interest, and I continue to experiment with other ideas in a conmparable direction.
I have always been interested in the geometric in art and the tensions between two dimensions and three dimensions, illusionism and perspective. These interests have regularly found their way into my own artistic practice.
The reverse perspective project of last year certainly played into this area, and other recent art projects have done so as well. The two examples here are certainly not approaches that are unique. One relies on a form of perspective correction that is often used in street art drawings, and the other has some small scale similarities that makes use of how we view photographic images.
The larger ‘hole in the ground’ work that I made together with one of the class of 14 and 15 year olds that I teach. I used it last week at our school open day to draw people into an exhibition space of other artworks made by the pupils.
I hadn’t anticipated the success of the idea, and had people queuing out the door, waiting to be able to come in and take their turn at being photographed on the edge of the artwork. A PR success for the school and hopefully the art department too.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about wanting to tempt my pupils to think outside of the box a little when working on their fashion design project during the forthcoming weeks (click here for post).
I mentioned the work of Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. I’m familiar with her work from films and interviews, but had never seen any examples first-hand.
Last week I visited the Textile museum in Tilburg (in the southern Netherlands) for the first time. There was an exhibition of designs that made use of lace and related them to the history of lace in the fashion industry.
For me it was an Iris van Herpen design that stole the show, and if we are to be picky, it didn’t even make use of traditional lace. But it did make use of a digital, geometric latticework made on a laser cutter, using extremely thin skin plywood to create an amazing result.
As someone who has always liked a bit of geometry in their art and has an interest in digitalization in creative areas, there really was nothing not to like! Added to this was the way natural materials had been used in such a delicate combinations.
I left with a few ideas that potentially may one day find their way into my own drawings and paintings. I’ve been working a lot with web like masses of lines recently, van Herpen’s work has some interesting parallels to draw on.
The first of January, and a first drawing for a new year. Most years I start the year with the intention of drawing more. A kind of unofficial resolution to myself. Some years it is more successful than others. This year I can post the first drawing of the year on the first day…although to be honest it was started earlier and just finished today. However, a second variation is well underway.
It’s quite a somber image, quite fitting for the grey, misty chill outside this particular 1 January. Although it also has to be said that the bush fires that are burning in Australia at the moment and filling the news the silhouette tree motif that I have been using for a while now seems to be taking on an increasingly environmental charge.
Peter Sansom 