SEEING IS BELIEVING ~ A Drawing Class for the Ponderer

SEEING IS BELIEVING is a course study for the curious, the one who ponders, the person who wants to stretch their way into perceiving in an open observation based structure. Through observing deeply, one can learn to draw what we see in the world around us.This course is designed in a salon format with directed readings and discourse, modeled after the Black Mountain Instructor Hazel Archer, whose class "Perceptions" inspired many artists and thinkers in Santa Fe in the 1980's and 90's, and who adding drawing as a door into understanding. The structure supports serious observation through drawing the world around us, beginning with curated still life setups using charcoal, rag drawing paper, soft lead pencils, and erasers. The objective here is to slow down, truly see what is in front of us, both in drawing and in life.

Each salon will be supplied with directed readings, usually two selected per meeting, and basic art supplies as needed for each salon's subject. You will need your own 11x14 sketchpad. Drawing boards, pencils, charcoal and erasers will be provided.

Discourse and tea will happen as well, and discussion of the readings and experiences during the drawing process will also occur. Your selected readings will be sent before the date of the class.

$90.00/class with a $20.00 materials fee to be collected at the class. For all three classes, $300.00 with no materials fee.

Please note that on March 7th at 4 PM there will be an exhibition of all artist's work with a reception. All are welcome to attend at 4 PM that day.

Your teacher: After graduate school, Shelley Horton-Trippe moved to Paris to study video with Nam June Paik, and exhibited in the first International Women in the Arts exhibition at UNESCO. Then, in 1978, she settled in New Mexico to continue her interdisciplinary practice. Rooted in a love of paint, the art of Shelley Horton-Trippe is most allied with the interdisciplinary workings of the Feminist movement of the 1970’s and a notion that the medium is the metaphor. Whether she is working in paint or paper or installations using damask or oscillating fans or video projections on tin roofs or adobe walls, her work is most often reexamining history to expose it’s otherness. Questioning the dominant motive is at the root of the inquiry and exploring the innate duality of existence: rich/poor, dark/light, Woman/man remains at the core.