Recently I was invited by Mário Linhares of the University of Lisbon to contribute to an initiative from the School of Fine Arts called 5 Minutes of Drawing.
I was asked to submit a 5 minute video in which I spoke about the importance of drawing on location as it relates to our understanding of dimension, and how that relates to the working in a virtual environment. Following up, this past week I had the pleasure of chatting on Instagram live with fine arts faculty member Beatriz Manteigas about these ideas, not only in the artistic but also in the philosophical sense.
I used as my example the work I had done with Potion Design for the City Explorer game installation on-site at the NYU Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital: Specifically, the scene that allows users to ‘fly’ over the Brooklyn Bridge. I created the art in an app called Mental Canvas, that bridges the analog and digital divide; but first, of course, I made drawings on site such as the one above. (You can see the full process in a blog post I made last year, HERE, and the final video HERE.)
The learning philosophy of drawing on location – exploring the spaces, making critical decisions, working with and trusting our own observations as artists – all of this, to me, leads to better understanding of other points of view and, perhaps, a more empathetic view of the world. In short, I think everyone should draw! 🙂
You can see my 5 minute video and recorded interview, as well as many other artists discussing drawing, on Instagram @fbaul
Many thanks to Mário and Beatriz!
