Performative Drawing Week

During the first week in October, we learnt to use our bodies and minds as mediums for drawing. We also explored how we defined drawing and what it involves. We looked at the work of other performance artists such as Mathew Barney, Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic for inspiration and then were asked to sip a glass of water for five minutes- this exercise helped us to become more aware and attuned to our surroundings and emotions. From sipping the water for this length of time it became apparent that others in the class were beginning to feel paranoid and then you too would begin to feel the same way. Questions would start circling your mind such as, 'am I sipping too loudly?' and 'am I gulping this water too fast?' This exercise really helped us to become more sensitive to ourselves and the environment.


The second exercise we did involved sitting opposite a partner; each of us then took it turns to look at each other for five minutes, one person would be the looker and the other person would be looked at- I found that it was much harder to be looked at than it was to look at my partner. You would start worrying about your flaws and then fidget from the anxiety. In some cases it just became awkward and one or both of us would end up laughing- this is only natural though and then we'd refrain and concentrate again. This exercise really helped me to understand how we observe people and objects around us and also highlighted that we all notice and pick up on different things- we are individuals who have a unique train of thought and it is important to stay true to that in this subject.


After these two exercises, we each collected some A1 paper and charcoal and experimented with all the different lines you could create with that one piece. We created angry and aggressive lines, soft lines, broken lines, dotted lines, fast lines, slow lines and a whole range of others. By fuelling our emotions we created a menu of lines and realised that you really could exhaust this one simple medium in a range of ways.


A photograph of my 'Menu of lines sheet'

We then experimented with all the different ways of drawing, drawing with our hands, (not the usual hand we would write with and also attaching a piece of charcoal to each of our fingers via masking tape and then using that technique to draw with). In some cases we attached a piece of charcoal to a withy stick and then drew with our mouths, or feet, our elbows our noses- anything we could think of really! We tried to achieve as many different lines and marks as we could. We tried covering our hands and feet in charcoal and then making prints onto the paper with that also.

Below are some photographs of my work:

We also drew our faces, but with our eyes closed, using our sense of touch to be the determiner of what lines and marks should look like; this exercise really helped me to become more aware of our minds and senses.