We'll be watching the documentary film about artist Ray Johnson, How To Draw a Bunny, this week in the classroom. In the coming weeks, I'd like for you create your own artwork using materials you'd find around the house in a way that's similar to Johnson's work. Here are a few ideas that you can use as inspiration, based on things we'll see in the movie.
• Start with a tracing of your foot to create what Johnson called a "feeting". You could also trace the shape of your hand, or if you have some help try projecting your silhouette (or someone else's) and trace that. Then, draw, paint, collage on top.
• Use plain old cardboard as a surface on which to work – again, any type of drawing, painting, collage, etc. Pencils, ballpoint pens, Sharpie markers, chalk (you can fix it with hairspray so that it won't rub off!), etc.
• Think about not only image as art, but also text. We've seen many examples this semester of successful integration of words in art, and sometimes the words ARE the art.
• Mail art. Create a piece using any method and send the original in the mail to me (or even yourself!). Or, make the art and photocopy it, then send. Get creative with the envelope, or send it without an envelope! Remember how Amos Kennedy used 1 cent stamps to cover something he mailed? That becomes art, too.
• Remember, art doesn't have to be understood to be appreciated. The artist him or herself doesn't even have to understand it, if that makes any sense.
Examples of Johnson's art:
Collage/drawing using foot tracing
Collage/drawing using hand tracing
Collage/drawing using profile tracing
Drawing using newspaper clipping as inspiration
Please plan to make at least one artwork to share with the class during our classroom meeting on May 3rd. If you want to send me some mail art, email me privately and I will tell you my address. I will send you some in return!
You should also post a photograph of your artwork on your blog, with a narrative about how you created it, what the process felt like, what you think of the results, etc.
I'll look forward to seeing you on campus at our regular time and place!
elliotdossett123.blogger.com
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THis documentary was about Ray Johnson an artist in the video called "How to draw a bunny". Many other artists of critiques in the film said they really didn't know the real him but they all had a story to tell. One of Ray's ways of going about doing things was teasing the audience by doing something they called "nothing". It gave him a edge of being ahead of his audience sending them to contemplate weather of not he was actually doing nothing or preforming the act of nothing. Ray johnson many times had unpredictable behavior during his artwork and also in his life. For instance he would deny offers with countered offers with added material. One of the most beneficial decisions i would say that Ray made was not going to high school and waisting no time and jumping straight into art. His school was know to be "very free spirited". Some people described him to be an isolated introvert. Since Ray kept to himself much of the time it symbolize into much of his work.... just like a game. Rays imaginational flow would at times get carried away into to much fantasy. Ray was unable to keep focused on one particular thing jumping from task to unplanned task. "Sporadic behavior often became Ray's style". Ray's attitude at times consisted of one that would think people where out to get him. Ray did seem to have some mental health issues, ray was refereed to be known as manic.
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