An article by Communication Arts professor Stephen Alcorn was recently published in VOICES, a magazine published by the New York Folklore Society. In it, Alcorn talks about how he attempts to bring humanity back to his figure drawing classes.
Cultivating A Garden Of Experiential Learning
The courses I teach require students to draw and build their sketchbooks on a daily basis. My participation in this daily assignment serves to present the professor not as a “fount of all knowledge,” but as a facilitator and participant in the humble activity of learning. Thus, teaching becomes learning. The result of this pedagogical strategy is twofold. First, students come to respect professors who adhere to daily standards of behavior fundamental to their field. Second, the professor comes to have a great deal more respect for the challenges that students face as they complete their rigorous assignments. The drawings featured in this article are emblematic of the variety of techniques and approaches I have developed as an instructor, and of my participation in the daily drawing lessons I have had the privilege to conduct within the Department of Communication Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University: a corner of the world in which the practice of figure drawing continues to play a defining role in the development of aspiring artists.
Read the full article in VOICES.
Image: Twenty figure studies; Drawn from life. In-class demos; Department of Communication Arts, VCU/SOTA. Mixed media on paper; 11 in. x 14 in. sketchbook. Full color and grayscale. © Stephen Alcorn 2018.
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