Artist Ryan Huddersfields technician for contemporary art and illustration, ran today lecture on drawing, what we consider drawing and experimentation. When you think of drawing you think pencils right? Well Ryan uses nature for some of his drawing such as mud using these natural substances as his ink.
Ryan began a video by Amy Sillman 'Conversation with Amy Sillman- drawing in the continuous present' who is a painter, the video listens many elements of drawing such as to mark, to scribble, to stain, to record, to contracts and design. These are only a small number of ways of drawing Sillman presented. Sillman expresses how 99% of children draw and art artist yet when we begin to mature, we then stop drawing and state we cannot draw.
Ryan then showed a series of art that consisted of drawing, with a photograph by Richard Long 'a line made by walking' 1967. The photo was a black and white photograph I've seen many like this. but never referred to it as a documentation of drawing.

Figure 1
The lecture then led us into a drawing workshop, using just a piece of paper or whatever surface we had with any drawing tool we had. Ryan asked us to use two drawing tools with our eyes closed go from the middle of the page (what we though were the middle) to the edge using a line moment with the drawing tool. Yes, this is drawing, it was emphasises to me that any marking of any kind in our everyday life such a writing out shipping list is drawing.
Figure 2
From my drawing on this exercise, you can see I am right-handed from the accuracy of my line stokes on the right-hand side of the page to the left. This interested me as for my personal practice I am engaging with photographs especially family photographs and the truth and memories they show or tell us. Although this drawing isn't a photograph of family it still has finer details within the viewer can pick of.
A photographic task was set for us to spend 15 minutes walking around our home looking for drawing. Initially I was so confused on what was expected but then I remembered the photograph by Richard long picture in figure 1. So, using my phone camera as instructed I began photographic a few 'drawings' around my home.
Figure 3-7
Figure 3 shows the selection of images made around my home, using light and shadow, paint lines and cat prints as drawings. This workshop led me to thinking about my own practice and how I can use 'drawing' in my photography more and what element in photography such as pattern, symmetry and shadow I already used to create 'drawing'.
This idea of drawing within photography led me to develop me through around absence and presence within my photographs, the drawing of the line witch someone walked in Richard Longs Photograph had the sense of absence and presence. This led me to a photographs micro project around element in my photographs referring to drawing.
Below are a few examples from a recent photography shoot.
Figure 8-10
Reference List
Artimage. (2015). Image focus: Richard Long describes 'A Line Made by Walking'. Artimage. https://www.artimage.org.uk/news/2015/image-focus-richard-long-describes-a-line-made-by-walking/
Sillman , A. (2021). Amy Sillman . Amy Sillman . https://www.amysillman.com/
Figure List
Figure 1-Long, R. (1967). A Line Made by Walking. [Photograph]. https://www.artimage.org.uk/news/2015/image-focus-richard-long-describes-a-line-made-by-walking/.
Figure 2- Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 1. [Drawing]. Huddersfield.
Figure 3- Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 2. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 4- Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 3. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 5- Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 4. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 6- Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 5. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 7-Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 6. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 8-Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 7. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 9 -Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 8 . [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
Figure 10 -Boothroyd, H. (2021). Drawing 9. [Photograph]. Huddersfield.
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