Some weeks ago, artist, Kelsey Fraser, led a workshop at the Esker Foundation on collaborative art making in both drawing and painting. A key feature of the present exhibit, Earthlings, collaboration creates a wonderful bridge between northern and southern artistic culture.
By happenstance, the week prior to Kelsey’s workshop, I had explored collaboration with a high school learning strategies class. Often saddled with group projects, older students often struggle with their part of a piece of work (poster, presentation, power point, report) when they are assigned to work with a mixed group of individuals. I thought that it might be fun to explore a small non-threatening Exquisite Corpse activity in order to enjoy the experience of individual contributions for a common goal and completed work. To begin with, we looked at the process of collaboration.
I forgot to grab some photos of the resulting drawings. (may post later) I had the students complete the first section on a paper folded into three (a character’s head – fantastical to representational) and then walk to someone in the room that they might not know and to trust them with the second section (the torso) and then, finally, that person would get up and pass it on to a third person for completion (the legs). I enjoyed this exercise with a former student of mine, Tim Belliveau, when he led a session of life drawing at the Glenbow Museum. It is a great activity for warm up and for ice breaking. If you want to loosen up the crowd, this is a great method or if you have a fear of not ‘knowing’ how to draw, this activity removes that responsibility.
So, it was no surprise when Kelsey used some similar techniques to begin with the workshop attendees. She began with blind contour drawings and had us circulate, working with different people on three rounds of portraiture. The HOW TOs can be found here.
These were the three blind contours completed, where I was the subject. It was so good to meet up with Jocelyn again!
Next (and I’ll use this with a class some time or maybe during a pot luck party) we began a telephone game activity…page one write something, pass the booklet on…page two draw something related to page one’s writing….pass the booklet on…page three, write something related to the drawing on page two….pass the booklet on…page four, draw something related to the writing on page three….and so on through ten or so pages.
One needs to completely let go of any notions…expectations…of where this booklet goes in terms on content. They can become pretty hilarious!
Here are a few pages from my booklet…
Finally, the participants visited four different tables, to hook up with pencil nicks left on the edges of previous artist’s compositions and to create their own line drawings in charcoal pencil. Esker, the paper was of beautiful quality….thank you! After drawing on three compositions, without looking at any of the other related drawings, we were asked to return to our original places, lay out the four compositions in sequence and to add paint. Both challenging and thought provoking. At this stage, the main goal would be to add harmony and unity to four somewhat disjointed pieces. The colour added a very exciting dimension.
Thanks to Kelsey Fraser and to Esker Foundation for a wonderful afternoon of exploring line, colour and collaboration!
“Collaboration requires focusing on everything from vision and values to how individuals can feel they are making a real contribution.”
― Jane Ripley, Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster
While I don’t think my contributions made sense sometimes, or that I had anything ‘intelligent’ to say, I also really appreciated the conversation PLACEHOLDER: An Unconventional Book Club Discussion with d.talks. I was low on energy and very distracted and yet I had the true sense that the circle of people attending the event were listening. Watch for future programs/events on the Esker site.
