In-class drawing by Brenden Nelson
My drawing students have been focusing on still life drawing for the past couple weeks. We have spent quite a bit of time talking about symbolism, narrative, and meaning that is wrapped up in the selection and placement of objects.
Paul Cezanne’s Still Life with Skull
I showed them examples of still life art (both painting and sculpture) that gave me pause, then asked them to find their own examples to analyze. I never really appreciated still life art until I began to research it for this class/assignment. I felt that the work was usually a bit static... But when I looked closer I was able to see beauty in the layers of meaning, the open-ended storytelling, and the moral themes that are often conveyed.
Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Christine Wertheim & Margaret Wertheim
