Working from the Work

May 10: Form & Shading – Drawing Without Line

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Instructors: Madeleine FIA Matsson & Molly McIntyre

Hosted by Gallery 198

In this class, we’ll delve into the poetic possibilities of line—using it not just to define, but to dissolve. Through techniques like cross-hatching and shading, we’ll explore negative space as a tool for reimagining composition, allowing the subject to emerge in new and unexpected ways.

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Artists are encouraged to consider the entire page—its balance, structure, and the interplay between background and focal point. Together, we’ll uncover how the flat line can transform into something more: suggesting volume, evoking atmosphere, and ultimately disappearing into form and shadow.

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Part I: warm-up sketches

• Working from life
• Thinking about negative space
• Thinking about contrasts: light & dark
• Following forms rather than depicting an “item”

Part II: Longer Drawing

• Working from observation but creating your own combination landscape onto the page
• Continue to think about negative space even within a 2 D painting or drawing
• Continue to think about contrasts: light & dark
• Following forms rather than depicting an “item” because….

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OPTIONS FOR EXERCISE:

• Draw from one piece of artwork for 1 hr but focus on the points above
• Draw from 3 or more pieces combining into one new piece
• Incorporate the physical interior building into the transcripts of the artworks

William Kentridge,

Hyacinths (Wait Once Again for Better People)

2020, six color lithograph

William Kentridge,

Oh to Believe in Another World

2022, Indian ink and pencil on found paper

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

Gertrude Kingston ca. 1909

Charcoal

Giorgio Morandi

Still Life with Five Objects, 1956

Giorgio Morandi

Still Life of Vases on a Table, 1931

Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Vincent van Gogh, summer of 1888, at the MET