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Your Museum Time: Finding a Place of Respite

This is the week to take advantage of the Museum as a place of respite from all the tension and uncertainty that many people are feeling right now. We just have a few weeks left in the Fall 2020 semester, and I hope that by this point you feel very comfortable bringing your whole self to the Museum. I just can't say it enough—spending time with works of art can do so many things for each of us. It can offer new ways to see the world, pose difficult questions, activate feelings and emotions, challenge us with new ideas, and sometimes delight us with beauty. Please know that if you have questions, ideas for prompts, or any suggestions, I would love to hear from you at [email protected]. All the best, Kris Bergquist Mirken Curator of Education and Engagement

Prompt #9 "It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover, to your surprise, that you have rendered something in its true character."  – Camille Pissarro

Contour Drawing Grab a stool at the Welcome Desk and enter the Museum. We're beginning to de-install a few exhibitions in preparation for some new ones so don't hesitate to ask the welcome desk and security staff for help in navigating our spaces. In art class, one of the first skill-building activities is often a contour drawing, which helps you connect the drawing skills of your hand to the looking skills of your eyes. With this activity, you're drawing the contour, or outside edge of an object. It works best to do this activity with a three-dimensional sculpture, preferably one with lots of edges, wrinkles, or other details. This is a great choice for a contour drawing, with lots of interesting edges and folds.

There are different types of contour drawings—you can follow the directions for one of these techniques, or try both: Option 1: Look intently at the edges of an object and draw, without lifting your pencil from the paper and without looking at the paper. Option 2: Look intently at the edges of an object and draw, without lifting your pencil from the paper but being able to look at the paper. Step 1: Settle in front of the work of art you want to draw. Gently wiggle your fingers and do some neck stretches to release tension. Step 2: Put your pencil to the paper and make sure your starting point gives you enough room so you won't draw off the edge of your paper.

Step 3: You want to focus on the contour (outer edges) of the sculpture and slowly draw what you see, trying to capture all the detail that you see on the edges—every edge, crack, line, wrinkle. Imagine that your eyes are guiding your pencil. For my contour drawing, pictured right, I went with Option 1. One of the great things about this activity is that the end result is not meant to be a realistic drawing. There is no "perfect." It might even look like scribbles, but as you look at it longer you may find that the lines you've drawn resemble the object more than you may have initially thought. An artist friend once described it to me as connecting your eyes to your hands, and bypassing the brain. And that may be just what your brain needs this week. My contour drawing in the journal—I really love how I managed to capture the little girl on the right.

Let Art Inspire: Mindful Healing To discover more about how art can improve your mental and physical health, check out our Artful Healing program, new this fall. This virtual program provides an opportunity to practice a series of hands-on activities inspired by artworks in the galleries. It is led by one of the Museum's teaching artists, Bodhi Simpson, LCPC, ATR, who also is an art therapist with a private practice in Waterville, Maine, called Conscious Art Therapy. The next program, Artful Healing: Let It Flow, will be available at 12 noon on Monday, November 16. To watch this program, visit the Colby Museum @ Home section of the museum's website. You'll find links to this program, as well as other Let Art Inspire programs that connect the mind, body, and spirit in innovative ways.

BANNER: Colby College Museum of Art; photo © trentbellphotography. Artwork: Bessie Potter Vonnoh, Enthroned, 1902, Bronze, 12 in. x 8 1/2 in. x 10 1/2 in. (30.48 cm x 21.59 cm x 26.67 cm), The Lunder Collection. Accession Number: 2013.279 .Copyright © 2020 Colby College Museum of Art, All rights reserved. #colbymuseum Colby College Museum of Art 5600 Mayflower Hill Waterville, ME 04901