A group of art-loving community members learned how to sketch better at a “Drawing in the Galleries” class led by artist Philip Salamone [BS-Art ’03] in the Chazen Museum of Art on June 20. The participants, of all ages and skill levels, explored figure drawing with a model. Salamone offered tips, including to look at the subject 90% of the time and at their paper 10% of the time, and to view the model in a mirror to get a different perspective. “Drawing in the Galleries” is made possible in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

At center, Luciana Borbley and at right Dianne Vollrath look closely at artist model Marcus Nickel. Borbley and Vollrath are friends who are part of a group of 12 that meets twice a week to “play art” and to share tips and encourage each other. In the background from left to right, Edward Reginald Frampton’s ‘The Voyage of St. Brandan’ painting, Nikolai Alexandrovich Ionin’s ‘Cable Factory (Sevkabel Factory)’ painting, Samuel Levi Jones’ ‘Joshua’ piece, and Truman Lowe’s ‘Feather Tree’ sculpture.

Linda Endlich sketches a during a 20-minute figure study. Endlich retired from UW after working for 36 years in the art department on graphic design. Since retiring, Endlich returned to watercolor painting and drawing.

At center, Ten Juza, undergraduate student double majoring in graphic design and art history, gets advice on figure proportions and alignment from instructor Philip Salamone. Juza says, “I’m more used to ceramics, and I’m getting back into two-dimensional art like painting and drawing. I saw the Chazen offered this free class, and I was like, ‘Okay, gotta take advantage!’” Artist Truman Lowe’s ‘Feather Tree’ sculpture is seen in the foreground.

At left, figure drawing model Marcus Nickel poses in a contrapposto position, which in Italian means “counterpoise.” At right, drawing instructor Philip Salamone explains to the class how the model’s weight is shifted to the back foot, his shoulders are rotated from the hips and the pelvis is tilted at a diagonal.