Abstract

The exhibition included 19 pieces of work of varying sizes produced in Charcoal. The broader body of work, which comprises 37 pieces, is represented in the catalogue publication. The exhibition outputs explored the function and value of transcribing the work of masters acknowledging the seminal exhibition of the late 1980s, past and Present – contemporary artists drawing from the masters (Arts Council/South Bank Board). Through visual exploration and reflection the work investigates the benefits of transcription as a means of initiating and sustaining body of work through the practice of drawing. The body of work tests the notion of transcribing original works and how this process determines and defines the nature of the drawings by reflecting on aspects of visual thinking and articulation. The landscape provides a central thematic concern within the emergence of the work, which helps provide relevance and connection between transcribed work and later, subsequent, novel outputs. The early transcriptions study Turner, Nicholson and Strindberg’s work which uses land as the subject in an attempt to decode the visual decision making process through an intimate connection with the artist’s work. The outputs document the progress of the drawings through an intimate and personal journey of visual language articulated in drawing supported and by textual analysis. The enquiry concludes with a scoping of the value of transcription and how it can inform sustained visual enquiry from practice based reflection. The exhibition duration was two weeks comprising a supporting lecture to undergraduate, postgraduate, and a range of employed staff. The work was peer reviewed by Professor Don Kalec of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.