Week 1: TOUCH

Drawing by Hans Holbein

Hans Holbein made this drawings in England in the 1530's. Yet his figures look as if they come from today. Let's consider why--and how this shows (is seen) in the drawing itself.

A poem in parallel--

The Journey
James Wright

Anghiari is medieval, a sleeve sloping down
A steep hill, suddenly sweeping out
To the edge of a cliff, and dwindling.
But far up the mountain, behind the town,
We too were swept out, out by the wind,
Alone with the Tuscan grass.

Wind had been blowing across the hills
For days, and everything now was graying gold
With dust, everything we saw, even
Some small children scampering along a road,
Twittering Italian to a small caged bird.

We sat beside them to rest in some brushwood,
And I leaned down to rinse the dust from my face.

I found the spider web there, whose hinges
Reeled heavily and crazily with the dust,
Whole mounds and cemeteries of it, sagging
And scattering shadows among shells and wings.
And then she stepped into the center of air
Slender and fastidious, the golden hair
Of daylight along her shoulders, she poised there,
While ruins crumbled on every side of her.
Free of the dust, as though a moment before
She had stepped inside the earth, to bathe herself.

I gazed, close to her, till at last she stepped
Away in her own good time.

Many men
Have searched all over Tuscany and never found
What I found there, the heart of the light
Itself shelled and leaved, balancing
On filaments themselves falling. The secret
Of this journey is to let the wind
Blow its dust all over your body,
To let it go on blowing, to step lightly, lightly
All the way through your ruins, and not to lose
Any sleep over the dead, who surely
Will bury their own, don't worry.

Course Description

Visual Studies 280: Graduate Seminar
Fall 2015 / 1-3 units (CCN 04283)
Tuesday Evenings / 6-9:30pm / Room 170 Wurster
Anthony Dubovsky
 
This is a class about imagination and ideas. A road trip, perhaps—or a voyage. We begin each week with a theme—often a single word---as point of departure. Each person in the group does a project in response—a drawing, a painting, a collage—the medium is open. In the following class we look at the work, and a conversation ensues. And then, a new word.
 
Note that the hand is important throughout--how the sense of touch becomes a guide.
 
Following this format, the class develops a certain rhythm--a kind of opening. Not just in terms of skill (although skill can play a part), but more in finding the right visual language to give form to one’s feelings about and understanding of the surrounding world. A challenge that carries over into any of the design fields—and beyond….
 
Important: Since discussion is central to each class, students need to be fully confident in spoken English—both comprehension and conversation.
 
Required: One project each week, made with energy and commitment... Attendance at all class meetings, and a wellcrafted book with reproductions of your work, including a short essay about your journey, due at the end of the term. Open to grad students and some seniors from all departments, but limited in enrollment to 12 students. This can be a good place to explore your initial thesis ideas.
 
If you're interested, send Anthony Dubovsky an e-mail with a paragraph or two about yourself and your backgound in the arts, along with 2-3 jpegs of your work. Make sure your name is on each jpeg. Send before August 20 to the following email address: chambersstreet[at]hotmail.com. Earlier applications will receive priority.
 
Painting: Anthony Dubovsky, Anhelo, acrylic on cardboard, 2013