Drawing is a central and pivotal activity to the work of many artists, a touchstone and tool of creative exploration that enables them to visualise their perception as they make manifest their ideas.

Rarely seen in full throttle in exhibitions, remaining largely hidden from view - categorised either as a minor activity or remaining an intimate and unseen element of the artists practice - drawing continues to be a significant and important activity to many. This includes established artists, art students, researchers, educators and those in cognate disciplines, such as archaeology, medicine, law, architecture and design, who use drawing as a means of communication and identification.

There are distinct ways in which drawings can function. It can distinguish and aid us in understanding our complex world through signs and symbols, by mapping and labelling our experience. It can also enable us to discover through seeing - either through our own experience of seeing and observing or through the shared experience of looking at another's drawn record of an experience. It can have a transitory or temporal relationship with the world; or provide a record of lasting permanence. It can be prepositional, preparatory, visionary, imaginative, factual, generative, transformative, performative; it can convey potential, as well as actuality in the realisation of ideas and concepts. What is certain is that the graphic language is prevalent and rich in its application and associations.

Images are teased from the raw materials, and the act of drawing, through the responsive choices and decisions made, defines the thinking process behind the activity. Through whichever medium is chosen, it invites all of us to remember and identify with our urge to make marks, to touch things, our impulse to make an imprint, an inscription, a signature.

The history and practice of drawing is as long and extensive as the history of our culture, a primary means to translate, document, record and analyse the world we inhabit. We are able to trace in our mind the marks that record the process of thinking and in making the drawing, we are able to read, follow and explore our decision making, adapting and re-qualifying where necessary.

In this context, it is notable that the Discerning Eye has chosen to celebrate and support drawing through the award of its bursary for drawing this year. It reflects a growing interest and commitment to the activity of drawing and the increasing recognition of the value of drawing as a primary research tool for artists and as a universal and vibrant language. ". . . a great drawing is either confirming beautifully what is commonplace, or probing authoritatively the unknown" [Brett Whiteley (1939-1992), Tangiers Notebook 1967].

Professor Anita Taylor RWA
Vice Principal Wimbledon School of Art
and Director of The Jerwood Drawing Prize

 

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