Alter Egos At Windgate
By: Riplee Breeden
What if you got to see your Alter Ego come to life? Well that's what Professor Peter Cullum, Associate Professor for Arts and Graphic Design, is having his students in Advance Drawing accomplish.
I had the opportunity to step into their studio and see the artist at work. Walking in I could have heard a pin drop. Every student was locked in on their drawing, 6 out of the 11 students had some form of headphones or earbuds in living in their own world of artistry. Charcoal lingers in the air hitting your nose as you walk around. Prof. Cullum pointed out that because it lingers and so many years of charcoal being used, the pipes near the ceiling may look like they have a very dark shadow on top but in reality it is just years of charcoal build up.
I got a moment to speak with Professor Cullum to get some extra details on this project. He informed me that this project was passed down from a past Professor and that the students love it so much every year that he decided to keep it going without changing anything. We got to talking about the name of the project. It's known as “Alter Egos” but he calls it “Time” stating "What is drawing? It's investing time, hours and hours of rendering but the time pays off.” When asking about the guide lines I learned they are somewhat simple: all the same size of paper that's provided to each, it can be turned horizontal or vertical, must be an alter personality to the artist drawing whether it's a job or a darker side “The students are visual communicating the alter ego with no color only charcoal” in some rare cases a student has used an additional color but very rare chances.
The assignment goes on for 4 weeks. The students choose their Alter Ego then all gather in the photography studio to take a reference photo to then add a black and white filter over.
Then it's drawing time! Each person, to get to this class has had to pass Intro to Drawing and Portfolio classes. Learning different techniques as they go such as shading on shapes, sketching a person, etc.
Advance Drawing meets twice a week for 3 hours, but the majority of the students are coming to the studio in their free time to work on the project as much as possible. After everyone has completed their art work they are of course graded, some to be hung in the hallways of Windgate and the rest to go home with their artist for their portfolio. Some past artwork can be seen at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum.
I had the chance to speak with 4 of the students in the class about their drawings.
Kaelyn Goehman’s Alter Ego is Celaena Sardothien from the book “Throne of Glass”. “She is an icon, a legend, and anyone who has read the book will get why I choose her.” Outside of class she has spent about 3 hours a week working on her piece. When referring to the classes required to take to get to Advance Drawing she had this to say “To get to this point was a lot of rinse and repeating in classes” She also let me know that usually in this class everyone is yapping and talking with one another and not so locked in like they were while I was there observing.
Kaitlyn Fogo’s Alter Ego is Carrie Bradshaw from the show “Sex and The City”. “She’s confident, outgoing, and gives good advice to females that watch and I also really enjoy the show.” Kaitlyn has spent about 2 and a half to 3 hours a week of outside class time working on the project. She believes that the parts that will give her a bit of a challenge will be the lace on her shirt and the curls in her hair. “Next week will be when everyone really locks in focuses” Kaitlyn had to say.
Channing Shelton's Alter Ego is a 1920s Show Girl. “A Show Girl is a performer but this is her behind the curtain.” Channing has spent about 8 to 10 hours of her free time working on her art work. She mentioned that she's really been enjoying the realism aspect of this project and coping the1920s Show Girl style.
Ella Kuykendall’s Alter Ego is a Pop Star/ Tate McRae. “Popstars are performers and I grew up in that world of performing but as a dancer. I like singing, I just wish I could be good enough at it” Ella has only been able to spend in class time working on her drawing. When asked what this project has taught her she mentions this is her first time at realism but has taught her some new great techniques for drawing especially for realism.
This was a great opportunity to see what goes on in different areas of UAFS and I recommended to anyone to go for a walk in a building you don't get to visit much on campus just to see what's going on and you may see something extraordinary! If you're curious to see some of these incredible drawings for yourself, be on the look out at Windgate in the next couple weeks.
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