Before going into the subject of this post, I will mention that this Saturday I will be exhibiting artwork and performing at “Summer Magic”, the fifth-anniversary fundraiser event for CRS, an important supporter of butoh dance, movement theater and healing arts in New York. Info here.
Cross Pollination 02, August 2009, by Fred Hatt
Choreographer Valerie Green‘s lovely Green Space Studio in Long Island City (Queens, New York) overlooks the Manhattan skyline and the 59th Street Bridge. Once a month Valerie hosts “Cross Pollination“, an open improvisational session in the studio where dancers, musicians and visual artists can practice their crafts while taking inspiration from each other. For me it’s an opportunity to draw some dance and do some movement myself. Many of the participants alternate between playing instruments and dancing or between dancing and drawing or painting. Here are some of my recent sketches from these events.
Cross Pollination 02, June 2009, by Fred Hatt
Cross Pollination 03, August 2009, by Fred Hatt
Cross Pollination 03, June 2009, by Fred Hatt
Cross Pollination 04, August 2009, by Fred Hatt
Often the movement of the dancers at Cross Pollination is way too fast for me to draw the figures by observation. I either construct the figures imaginatively from fragments observed or caught in memory, as above, or simply use the energy and fleeting impressions of figurative elements to construct abstract compositions like those below. In these I’ve turned the paper to different orientations while working, so if you look at them from different angles you may be able to pick out recognizable body parts.
Cross Pollination 01, June 2009, by Fred Hatt
Cross Pollination 01, August 2009, by Fred Hatt
I know at least one other artist that often attends these sessions has posted her Cross Pollination work on the web. Check out Irena Romendik‘s light-footed brushwork.
My drawings pictured in this post are either 18″ x 24″ (45.7 cm x 61 cm), ink on paper, or 50 cm x 70 cm (19.7″ x 27.5″), aquarelle crayon on paper.
