About the blog

My involvement in non-traditional drawing began in an undergraduate course called Experimental DrawingI began exdraw p in 2015 to try to see and categorize what was happening with contemporary practices. As an artist, I am interested in broadening ways to see and experience the medium. The blog is an extension of this. Regional (Baltimore/Washington metro area), national, and international artists are featured. 

The title, exdraw p, stems from the word expanded, the original name for the blog. This word references an exhibit I participated in called Drawing in the Expanded Field at Colorado State University (2010). The adopted term is meant to extend the dialogue.






Susan Knight 
Rising Water
Hand cut Mylar, acrylic ink
Site specific installation, size variable, 2009




Susan Knight 
Water Courses
Layered, hand cut reflective Tyvek on paper
Size variable, 2010.




Susan Knight
Hand Cut Paper in the Colorado Landscape
Photograph of hand cut paper, Mylar dots
20 x 30”, 2013





As a research project, the blog asks "What is a drawing?"   Featured artists work in between mediums and conceptual frameworks. Collectively, the various strains of drawing featured on exdraw p suggest a medium without limits. The less of a framework it has, the more it seems to thrive. Susan Knight merges her interests in the environment with spatial drawings, line, and site specific installations. Of her work, Knight writes, "I research data and filter facts about water and environmental issues like the ecosystem breakdown in the Great Lakes ... I translate scientific information into forms by hand cutting the designs into manageable components." Peter Foucault creates compositions of ethereal marks with mechanical systems. 

Other artists translate ideas through different mediums. Valerie Molnar and Matt Spahr sensitize viewers to the very being of nature in Vibration RateThe artists investigate "the transfer of energy and the dynamic exchange within nature with color, form, and complex time based installation." With a playful approach they ask serious questions like, "Can a plant have a more fulfilling life if it takes in a sunset?"  





Peter Foucault, Staccato Series 1




Peter Foucault, Staccato Series 2





Valerie Molnar and Matt Spahr, Vibration Rate





Valerie Molnar and Matt Spahr, Vibration Rate



While showcasing artists is the central component of exdraw p, the dialogues created between them is most important. This can happen in many ways. Viewers can do this as they navigate the site, making connections.  Artists can do it more literally by contacting each other. Recently, The Lichen Project was launched to stimulate more of these kinds of conversations. Artists were invited to collaborate with other like minded artists. The drawings created in this project will be interdependent between contributors.



-Nicole Lenzi

Comments