From Ordinary to Extraordinary

by Mary Erickson Ph.D. Education Consultant & Professor of Art

with Ellen Murray Meissinger Artist & Professor of Art and her students at Arizona State University

International Guild of Realism

Eighth Annual Juried Exhibition

What could be more ordinary than five tin cans and four partially peeled oranges?

How did artist Nino Dobrosavljevic transform these mundane objects into something extraordinary? How does the position of each object add to the “drama?”

How does the setting of Cat Corcilius’ Tea and Roses painting help transform a simple teapot into something more? How do the objects around the teapot suggest a story?

In The Music Lesson, artist Barbara Rudolf created a setting for the violin by combining an unlikely set of human-made indoor objects with natural objects from the outdoors.

What story do you “read” in this painting?

Your assignment is to make a drawing that transforms an ordinary object into something extraordinary.

1. Choose an ordinary object.

2. Dramatize your object by carefully choosing the viewpoint from which it is seen ….

seen below eye level seen above eye level

… or dramatize your object by carefully choosing its position.

3. Create a setting for the object by adding real or imaginary surroundings.

4. Finish your drawing with a touch of color.

Between rock strata at eye level. Among tomatoes below eye level. In suburbia above eye level.

Between books. On a tree branch.Tipped on an incline.

All the university students in these examples drew ordinary cups. They sketched them in several positions from several points of view.

Ariana Ramirez

Joaquin Franco Munoz

Daniela Michelle

Then the students placed their cups within settings by adding surroundings.Your setting may be realistic or imaginary or strictly visual.

Halley Nguyen Zachary Osowski

Caitlin KaiserAna Smith

Christine Weeks

Finally, most students choose to add some color.

Joaquin Franco MunozStephanie Hagen

Nicole Giro Faith Brown Connor McShane

Rebecca Lopez

Derek Brennan titled his animated, top-down view of a cup and saucer Tornado in the Midwest.

Ariana Ramirez wrote

“I wanted the vessel to be a home for something. Thinking about tea or coffee steam, I made that something a ghost couple. They stand in the opening teaching their son, who’s just left home, about making good first impressions.”

In-process photos of Fabian Hernandez’s work illustrate how one student transformed an ordinary object into an extraordinary one. First, he made a pencil drawing of a stack of cups in various positions. Next, he traced the drawing with a fine-tip ink pen. To add drama, he added human figures sitting and standing among the cups.

Fabian refined his drawing and began to create a setting for it. He made a new pencil sketch of his work to help him plan the placement of colors.

“When I was … creating the piece I was thinking of the materials of which the cups are made. So I depicted the cups as a mountain to make it one with the earth.”

Fabian wrote: “I believe the title should be up to the viewer because anyone can interpret them in their own way.”

What ordinary object will you transform into something extraordinary through your selection of point of view, object positioning and setting?

Janet Weaver

Thank you to the following artists for the use of their artworks in this presentation.

Cat Corcilius Nino Dobrosavljevic

Barbara RudolfJanet Weaver

& Ellen Murray Meissinger’s art class at Arizona State University

Support for this curriculum unit was made possible by a grant from the Friends of Tempe Center for the Arts.