This page is intended to provide reviews of interest to other drawing researchers. We welcome reviews of relevant papers, books, exhibitions, theses and other research-related outputs (in the case of exhibitions we cannot guarantee to get the review posted on this page during the life of the exhibition). I reserve the right to edit any submissions. Please send contributions to Steve Garner (s.w.garner@open.ac.uk).

Journal and conference papers

Exhibitions

[24 April 2008]
Mia Pearman and Gareth Bell-Jones
C4RD, London, 10 April - 2 May 2008
Reviewed by: Lucinda Holmes

"On entering the Centre for Recent Drawing's intimate space, I was pleasantly stunned by Mia Pearlman¹s Eye - a giant swirl of cut and inked paper, lit from below, casting shadows, as it expanded onto the ceiling and walls. This work had instant appeal with an energy akin to Pop Art, in particular Lichtenstein¹s Wham. Along side responding to Pearlman¹s site-specific installation, were Gareth Bell-Jones's arduous but carefully cut drawings....."
> see review for more

Books

Sian Bowen, Gaze, Art Editions North, University of Sunderland/Victoria and Albert Museum, 2007.
ISBN 978-1-873757-36-9

A book published on the occasion of the display of new work made by Sian Bowen during her residency in drawing at the V&A Museum, London, 2006-07. It’s befitting that this co-publication with the V&A highlights new drawing that displays one foot in the past and one in the future. Bowen’s work from this residency emerges directly from the varied collections of images and artefacts in the V&A collections, ranging from work inspired by Japanese woodcuts, daguerreotypes, knitting patterns and wallpaper.

It also charts a relationship between drawing and new technologies such as laser cutting and screen-based media. Bowen addresses the inevitable divide in museum displays between the visitor and the work on show - between the viewer and the viewed. Her drawings explore this relationship through analogy and metaphor in a way not possible with tangible artefacts. Having said this, it’s the physical - the qualities and surface texture of paper - that figure strongly in Bowen’s work. The book presents a rich and diverse collection of drawing outputs which are strongly three-dimensional on a micro and macro level.

Interpretation is provided through four personal perspectives provided by Gill Saunders, Richard Cork, Tony Godfrey and Pauline Webber. A valuable contribution to the interface between research into drawing and research through drawing.

---------------Drawing - The Purpose -----------------

Edited by Leo Duff and Phil Sawdon
Intellect
ISBN: 9781841502014
Paperback: £14.95/$30
 
Drawing – The Purpose emphasises how artists and designers use drawing to kick-start their creative thinking, and considers the application of drawing and its various uses across professional disciplines. From the perspectives of archaeology, jewellery design, illustration and landscape architecture, this collection of short essays highlights how drawing is used in the professional world. Essayists include:  Dave Brown ,Helen Wickstead, Sarah O’Hana, Pat Gavin, Russell Marshall, Nigel Holmes, Susan Hale Kemenyffy, Hew Locke in conversation with David Cottington, Andrew Selby and Lin Chuan Chu.

Theses and other research

[25 April 2008]
Juan Carlos Briede W. is based in Chile. He completed his PhD in Spain in February 2008 and the topic is outlined below. Contact Juan Carlos on email if you’d like to know more. juabrwe1@cap.upv.es

‘Systematic Methodology and the Role of the Freehand Sketch
in the Conceptual Design of Industrial Products’
The proposition of this thesis is to study the theoretical phases of the system model, conceptual model, and the sketch drawing as constituent elements in conceptual design, while focusing on the final translation to the sketch with the aim of studying the possible relations between these factors.

[11 May 2007]
A recent PhD concerning the creation of new  forms of digital drawing in virtual environments  for advancing site-specific and digital media art. Fratzeskou, Eugenia, 2006, 'Visualising Boolean Set Operations: Real & Virtual Boundaries in Contemporary Site-Specific Art', (Ph.D. thesis), Guildford, London: University of Surrey, Wimbledon School of Art

[19 March 2007]
George Whale’s PhD thesis is now available. Whale, G. (2006). An Investigation of Spatial Strategy in Observational Drawing. (Ph.D. dissertation.) Loughborough, UK: Loughborough University.
Full text viewable online at Institutional Repository of Loughborough University Library > https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace/handle/2134/2726