The Moving Figure

http://www.ocad.ca/students/articles_campus_life/20090619_the_moving_figure.htm

The Moving Figure

By Veronika Lukacs, third-year Criticism & Curatorial Practice student at OCAD.

The Moving Figure graphicAlthough OCAD specializes in art and design education, the wide array of elective courses the university offers help students bring breadth to their work. It gives them a background in other disciplines that they can then draw into their practice. The Moving Figure is an art exhibition and competition featuring the work of students enrolled in SCMT 2B02 — Human Form and Function: Introduction to Anatomy. Taught by Dr. Stephen Tulk, the course is a requirement for Illustration majors, but students from all programs are able to take it as an elective or use it to fulfill their Science, Technology & Math (SCTM) requirement. MaRs Discovery District displayed the work on May 23 and 24 during Doors Open Toronto, an event hosted by the city that allows visitors free access to buildings of cultural significance, buildings that either aren’t usually open to the public, or would normally charge an entrance fee. Following this show, the exhibit moves to OCAD's Transit Space gallery, where it will be exhibited from September 1 to 17, with a closing reception to take place on September 17.

Jurying of the works took place at MaRs on May 23, by a jury composed of faculty members from OCAD, Haliburton School of the Arts and Sheridan College Institute of Technology. "The Moving Figure is actually the first juried exhibition of anatomical and figure inspired work by students of OCAD,” says Diane Pugen, an associate professor in OCAD’s Faculty of Art. “The jurors were looking for creativity and originality relative to the use of the figure, and in-depth understanding and application of anatomy, with particular regard for aesthetic and conceptual ideas.” First place went to third-year Illustration student Alexandra Bayliss, second place was tied between third-year Photography student Elise Victoria Louise Windsor and second-year Illustration student Jose Gascon-Hurtado, and third place went to Morgan Eadie (third-year Sculpture/Installation) and Andrew Foerster (third-year Illustration).

Bryn Ludlow, a third-year Integrated Media major, organized this student-initiated exhibition after taking Tulk’s anatomy class last year. Because she enjoyed the class so much, she approached Tulk to see if he needed a lab assistant, and she’s been helping out in his classroom since September. Although the course deals largely with understanding the anatomical basis of movement, it also emphasizes an appreciation of the human form and all of its capabilities.

“I thought it would be cool to show student artwork from this class. Students have to create two projects using the skeleton and muscles and the quality of the work was really impressive,” says Ludlow. “I’d been planning the show since October of 2008 and during one of Dr. Tulk’s classes I approached the students. They signed up right away — there was a very positive response. Other departments have shows, but the sciences at OCAD tend to get neglected even though they often include an art component.”

Ludlow began collecting work from her peers and then contacted MaRS and the Science Centre about the possibility of displaying it. She also asked fourth-year Criticism and Curatorial Practice student Teresa Aversa to curate the show. “This is a great opportunity to show students’ works in two different locations throughout the year,” says Aversa. “The exhibit focuses on anatomy but it also takes it away from [anatomy in] the classical sense. It shows what students are really getting out of the class. There are both 2D and 3D works and they really play with the body and motion. A lot of the projects were very science and anatomy based, but students have gone their own way, incorporating other mediums.”

Work by second place winner Jose Gascon-Hurtado, second-year Illustration.According to Aversa, “Bryn is the brains behind the operation,” but Ludlow remains modest, attributing her success to the support she received from Tulk. “He hasn’t been questioning things as much as he’s been motivating them,” she says.

“The response I receive from art students is totally different from people who learn about anatomy in a clinical setting because you have to distance yourself,” Tulk explains. “The material is compelling for art students because there’s nothing more real than looking at the body. This is who we are. For some students it’s a transformative thing — to see who we are. And for some students there’s a real spiritual aspect to it because we’re dealing with mortality and being and how we work as a mechanism and [as an] organism. Bryn found some of the energy in this and what’s gratifying is that she had the motivation to get it started.”