immersion
immersion
When I look for inspiration in the work of another culture, I first go through an “immersion” process. I study the work by reading or (when I can) by going to museums and drawing. You learn a lot from sketching: how other artists handled shape and form, how they simplified and stylized, and what subjects interested them. I prefer to draw from sculpture and pottery rather than from other drawings because there is some translation involved in converting three dimensions into two. But anything that grabs your attention is worthy of a quick sketch. The sketches on these pages are based on original Mayan and other Meso-American art, drawn mostly in the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City. A few are from photographs.
Hidden Images Little human forms clamber and peek around a two-headed serpent, all standing on a Death’s head.
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A Bold Imagination The Mayans and their antecedents were creatively fearless in combining elements. Here is a warrior god coming out of a serpent’s mouth.
This was a very artistic form of hieroglyphic writing. “Shape-conscious” art Large major shapes get filled in with tightly fitting smaller shapes.