Exploring Anatomy Through Art

4/3/2017

Is it art or is it science? Students in Lisa Townley’s Interdisciplinary Studies elective, Studio Explorations of Anatomy, combined both disciplines, and more, as they explored the nature of human anatomy in the art studio this winter. Members of the Rivers community lent their expertise during the trimester to provide scientific and historical contexts for their studies. Samples of the students’ work will be on display in Bell Gallery this month.

Townley, a member of the Visual Arts Department and Rivers’ Class of 2001, designed her course to pose some essential questions: what is human anatomy, how can we render it through art, how has scientific history changed our understanding, and how do visual representations of the human form reflect past and present cultural values?

Early in the trimester, Townley invited science teacher and head trainer Myron Mentis to discuss the skeletal and muscular systems while students first created a detailed pen and ink drawing of a skeleton, then added an overlay of the figure’s musculature in colored pencil on mylar paper. The class studied how the human form ages, from the flawlessness of youth through the imperfections of old age. They studied facial expressions as being key to understanding their subject, and how the artist can create a feeling of empathy in the viewer through the subject’s face and posture. Later in the course, art history teacher Ben Leeming presented an overview of how artists have rendered the human form from prehistoric times through the present. They discussed the concept that every representation of the human form in art represents an idea, and how that idea is rooted in the history and culture of the times.

With their initial drawing project completed, students exercised their powers of observation while sketching a live model in a variety of poses, essentially putting the outer contours on the underpinnings of the human body that they had previously mastered in class. Their pencil and charcoal renderings took shape quickly and fluidly as they sought to capture each change in the model’s position.

“Drawing the human form is actually being taught now in medical school to enhance students’ powers of observation and build their empathy skills,” commented Townley during the modeling session.

The final project for the course was a full body drawing that conveyed a message or idea that was supported by an art history movement. For example, if a student wanted to convey intense emotion, they might use an expressionistic approach to their work to help support their main idea. In preparation, the students had to write a paper connecting those cultural values to their work—the essential “how, what, and why” of their drawing.

“For my full body drawing, I would like to draw my step father, Jordan,” wrote Hunter Corliss ’17 in his preliminary essay. “As senior year comes to a close, I’m starting to feel really sentimental about the things I have taken for granted during high school, and our annual fishing trips with my older brother are one of those things I’d like to capture. The style I’m aiming for is something that emphasizes…mood through color, and something that uses motion and fluidity to show the life and wetness of the environment. At the same time, I would like to emphasize the activity we participate in and the primal roots of hunting and fishing we share with our ancestors. For this reason I would like to pick Regionalism as the art movement I will replicate.

“American Regionalism is the process of creating illustrations that depict realistic scenes of rural and small town communities. While it arose in the Great Depression, I believe it was intended to spread reassurance that the ‘American heartland’ was still hardworking and strong, and therefore resonated with power,” concluded Corliss. “I would like to reassure viewers of my drawing that the outdoorsman is also strong and everlasting in our technology-evolved world.”

“One student, Jermaine Samuels ’17, drew a picture of his girlfriend in chalk pastel,” said Townley. “He wanted to draw her with her books because she is so committed to her studies. Connecting his idea to art history, Jermaine picked Edward Hopper to help convey his message. He focused on simplifying and softening light, form, and detail to convey her shyness, and make his drawing more reminiscent of Hopper.

“Lexi Lehan ’18 drew an image in chalk pastel of a younger child whom her sister babysits, eating a watermelon and sitting in the grass,” continued Townley. “She wanted to capture youth, innocence, and nostalgia, and focused on Realism to help her describe her idea. Lexi did a beautiful job of mixing colors in with smooth transitions to capture youth and innocence. Her use and application of color really brings these emotions forward to convey her ideas well.

“The students more than fulfilled my expectations and produced some really beautiful work,” Townley concluded.

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