Drawing

Course Description

Two fun activities on campus during the summer are drawing in the studio and being outdoors. In this Arts Intensive Drawing class students will do both. The course will revolve around composition and layout, expressive mark-making, and basic drawing techniques. Mainly using pencil and charcoal as our primary medium, this class will explore dynamic compositions found in nature, gestural figure drawing, and portraiture. Students will also have the opportunity to work on quick and in-depth drawings, gaining a more excellent working knowledge of line, shape, perspective, proportion, volume, and composition. On-campus drawing-based visits will include the Anderson Collection and Cactus Garden. An off-campus docent-led tour at the San Jose Museum of Modern Art will provide students the historical awareness of artists who have worked in this manner. The whole class is meant to be an experimental lab while allowing students to gain a rigorous foundation in drawing. Honing individual style is encouraged! 

Meet the Instructor

Lauren Toomer

Lauren Toomer is a visual artist who explores drawing, painting and community installations. Toomer obtained her MFA at Stanford University and her BA from UC Berkeley, summa cum laude. She is committed to advancing the fields of studio art and medical humanities, holding a joint lecturing appointment in the Department of Art and Art History in Art Practice and the Department of Surgery in Clinical Anatomy. Toomer received the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Fellowship from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Drawing of Excellence Award. Artworks created by Toomer are on permanent display at the Fair Oaks Health Center, the Kaiser Permanente boardroom in California, the CCSR Building at Stanford, and a recent campus-wide  Covid-19 Memorial titled, Apart-Together. Further highlights of Toomer’s exhibition history include Art on Paper Miami, San Jose Tech Museum, the Annual Global Fund for Women Benefit, and SCOPE NY. Toomer maintains a dedicated studio practice in San Francisco.