Although I consider myself more of an engineer than an artist, drawing has always been a very welcome release for me. When I was younger, I read a magazine called USA Hockey due to my interest and involvement with youth hockey. My favorite section in the magazine was called "Slap's Gallery" because of the published artwork contributions from young readers, like I was at that time. After reading the magazine and flipping to that section for several years, I decided to draw a hockey player I idolized from the high school varsity team, and submit it to Slap's Gallery. I drew the original on the back of my middle school schedule planner. Low and behold, it was published just a few issues later, and I was a minor celebrity at hockey practice for that week. Because it was so fun, I then scanned the drawing, increased the drawing's size on the computer, printed it out, and traced a larger version to hang on the wall of my bedroom.
In high school, I was given the choice to either sing for the choir, or take drawing classes. Due to my prior interest and success, I chose the drawing classes. I was able to make works of which I was proud, such as: Tiger Woods fist-pumping in pastel, a lion's likeness from black paper with a grey background, and the standard fruit still-lives and charcoal spheres. I would spend hours immersing myself into the narratives, making every effort to tell the story of my characters through emotions and subtle cues.
My passion for storytelling and purpose in my art has lived on, now that I've had the chance to take this drawing class in college. What has strengthened throughout the years is the drive to leave vague the meaning of my art, while also conveying meaning via subtle cues to those people who may have upbringings and values similar to my own.
Cheers,
Dan Meinert
No comments:
Post a Comment