Live drawing [Drawing]

Research Background: Drawing’s re-emergence as a vital component of Fine Arts practice can be seen in major international events like The Big Draw in UK and similar activities in the USA. Contemporary practice combines today’s vision with traditional techniques. Performance drawing as a practice has been largely overlooked in critical and scholarly investigations. The form emphasises the interdependence of the physical nature of drawing and its conception of ideas. The drawer’s immersion in the activity of drawing and its site specificity is highlighted.

Research Contribution: This investigative research of site-based practice generates new imagery, an innovative approach to drawing ‘skills’ and the notion of the drawn line as documentation and performance. This practice enables contemporary visual language to be available to a universal audience through the application of the direct encounter with the site and the experience. Through a focus on artist performances in the moment (dancers, musicians, actors on stage), the drawer is both performer and interpreter of physical expression.

Research Significance: The active research into drawing as language, culture of relationship between artists and contemporary models, and the role and response of the audience as spectator subject and witness has provided a diverse range of international platforms of investigation. Based on earlier commissions (eg Queensland Ballet), an Artist in Residence was awarded for Festival International de Benicàssim, Spain, and produced work featuring performing musicians.