Among my first college art teachers was Howard Brodie, known then for his military and courtroom art that filled the evening news for years before, and after, I was in his class. I had no idea who he was, though I knew his work (terrible at names!). However, I never forgot his name after the summer of 1969, not because of his reputation but because of a show, mounted on the school's walls, of his gesture drawings. I looked at those drawings daily, before going to other classes and his, but I never looked at the artist's name. During one session of drawing from the model, I drew in my frantic style, hoping that Mr. Brodie wouldn't come by and get on my case, as the other instructors did, for not finding and drawing the perfect line. Lost in the drawing, I didn't realize he was standing behind me until I heard him say "yes!". He called the others around and began saying "this is alive, this is not static, this is what excitement is about, this is drawing."
Gesture drawing is still my favorite beginning to every piece I do. Setting up a work through gesture helps me understand the energy of the form - even in a passive pose, the bends and folds, the diagonals and right angles - speak of potential, the next move. Gesture let's me feel that with my pencil.
A lot of the gesture drawings I'm posting on the Pages (right side menu) were done in the classroom, with student models. All to often, I forgot I was teaching and would just draw, moving around the room for different angles, while the students labored away on one drawing! I would come up for air long enough to say "there is no perfect line - stop trying to find it and draw the model". Whatever I was doing, it eventually sank in and my kids produced some great pieces.
