Headstrong: Drawing the Human Head

Drawing the head from the ground up—meaning the skull outward. A bit of basic anatomy is in the mix, but mostly these sessions are about finding value structure, integrating line with tone, composing the page, balancing figure and ground. This is not a class about portraiture, although students are welcome to attempt a likeness if they would like to try. Each session will include demonstrations and group critique. We start with representations of the head and then venture into abstractions of it. We'll also look at the beautiful works of other artists, and there are many. No experience necessary.

About the instructor: Kerstin Engman I’m drawn to various subjects and materials as a painter of the land and life in Maine; my palette imitates the seasonally shifting behaviors of the terrain in and around Waldo County. The paintings are an expression of color in some sort of balance that feels connected to daily routines and observations. The role of the ‘story’ is minimized; attention is directed past what is going on in the painting toward how things relate visually to each other. The body of work is about color behavior and the arrangement of information; images are manipulated until a certain light condition is struck and a sense of territory is explained.