FORT KENT, Maine – The University of Maine at Fort Kent Blake Library Gallery is featuring the works of students in Doug Clapp’s ART 200 Fundamentals of Art – Drawing class. The exhibit will be on display during the month of March.
The course introduces students to the basic concepts of drawing. The class also encourages students to think about and come to understand two major things; first, there are so many different drawing styles when you consider the thousands of famous artists who created drawings that there has to be at least one style that you could successfully use, and second, that drawing is a form of creating, expressing, and communicating where form follows function; what are you trying to do when you draw? Are you trying to capture visually something that interests you? Are you making a plan for more elaborate artwork? Are you trying to create a finished, stand alone, work of art using some drawing medium?
With those ideas in place the class work consisted of learning something about a specific artist or group of artists and how, what, and why they drew, exploring different drawing mediums and their strengths and weaknesses.
“Students that chose to take the course were reminded that, as an intro course, no prior skill at drawing was necessary and that success would depend on their individual growth, not on some perceived standard of drawing skill,” said Clapp. “When Sophia Birden approached me about an exhibition of student work in Blake Library I enthusiastically agreed that it was a great idea. I planned for it to represent a sampling of work from all of them, and from across the semester’s work.”
The exhibition can be viewed during library hours. For further information, please contact Gallery Curator Sofia Birden at 207-834-7527.
