You will be required to complete one research blog post per week related to our theme Drawing Into Space. Feel free to do additional research on the artists listed on the Links page, but I encourage you to find other artists who inspire you.

The following is an example artist research blog post. Approximately 200 words (150-500 words are acceptable), and including images with captions and links to sources. Be sure not to plagiarize… summarize your research in your own words, and use quotes when appropriate (but include source links as citations).

—————————

In 2011 former Austin resident Eric Zimmerman exhibited a new body of work at the The Old Jail Art Center in Albany, TX called Sixteen Tons. This body of work explores histories and symbols of the American West and reflects on his interest in representing both fact and myth. Eric Zimmerman, originally born in Columbus, OH, lived in Austin during and after attaining his MFA at the University of Texas, Austin. In 2009 he moved to New York where he lives and works on his detailed drawings and text pieces. One such text publication, created for the Sixteen Tons exhibition, is an eight page, black and white newspaper, printed in an edition of 300, titled How The West Was Won. In this printed newspaper he explores the idea of the American West as a potential place for utopia through the juxtaposition of historical texts, images, his own photographs, research, and diagrams. Zimmerman states on his website that “The paper uses the myth of the American West as a jumping off point and seeks to blur the lines between truth and myth, source material, artwork, and gallery guide.”

Here are some other examples of Zimmerman’s work.Eric Zimmerman, Atlas #12 Monument to the Third International (Tatlin’s Dream), Graphite on paper, 2008.

Eric Zimmerman, The Velocity Of The End (From Here To There), 50 x 60in. Graphite on Paper. 2010.

Eric Zimmerman, There I Was (Nothing Is The Rule, Something The Exception) Production Still of Clint Eastwood as The Outlaw Josey Wales. |There I Was | Pieter Brueghel, Tower Of Babel, 1593. Albert Bierstadt, Yosemite, 1868| Starscape (Dispersion). 2010.

Welcome to Drawing Into Space, a blog for the UNCC/McColl Center AIR collaboration between artist Hollis Hammonds (that’s me) and the students at UNC Charlotte, who are enrolled in Drawing 2 with professor Susan Brenner. Wow… that’s a wordy sentence.

I’m pleased to be working with you this semester, and look forward to seeing how your work evolves in our short time together.

So, why Drawing Into Space? Susan thought it would be an ideal way to incorporate my own creative research interests into your Drawing II course, and I agree that it will give us a dynamic framework to work within as we develop concepts and sculptural drawing installations for our exhibition in the gallery in mid-March.

All I ask is that you keep an open mind, and contribute your own thoughts (all and any ideas are valid), skills and talents. I’ll also mention that this project will engage each of you as individuals, but everyone will have to collaborate and participate in group work throughout the semester.

Let’s use this blog to share our ideas, research, sketches, in progress photos, and so on…

Cheers,

Hollis