Leanne Cherry, a student completing the one-year Foundations in Art and Design certificate at Durham College, draws a classmate as part of a collaborative large-scale drawing project.
Students completing the one-year Foundations in Art and Design certificate at Durham College were in the spotlight November 30 as they unveiled a major drawing project on 225 feet of drawing space.
Three classes collaborated on a three different themes using 75 feet of space each. One class chose an Alice in Wonderland theme, another chose deities and the final saw students pull classmates' names out of a hat and draw each other.
"I've never done a big-scale drawing project. I usually draw small," said Tony Apostoli, who worked on the classmates project. "It worked out pretty well."
Each class was given three weeks to complete their work and their only limitation with the work was that it had to be black and white. The other requirement was to find a suitable location to display such a large piece of work. Last year, all three classes worked on an animal theme and displayed their project in the South Wing hallway of the Gordon Willey building.
"It's more than enough time to complete the project," said Chad Quanduk, who also worked on the classmates project. "I'm just not used to working on the floor. It's not making a big difference, though."
They began the project by sketching their subjects in pencil on a sketchpad. Next, they simplified the drawing. Finally, they applied the drawing to a large roll of paper on the floor, using grids or simply eyeballing it.
"It's great taking it into the public sphere to see peoples' reactions because it's so in your face," said Margaret Rodgers, a professor with the schools of Communication Arts and Design.