Community Art Education: Factors that Motivate Students to Attend: Figure Drawing Secrets of the Renaissance Masters

This presentation is part of a study for the Capstone Project presented to the College of Fine Arts of the University of Florida in Partial Fullfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Robyn L. Lorenz, University of Florida 2012

The research seeks answers to the question, "What Motivates Adult Students to Attend Community-based Independent Art Instruction?"

Research indicated a majority students showed interest in:

attending classes in drawing and painting
were motivated to improve their art
wanted to learn new techniques
indicated an interest in learning figure drawing

A one hour PowerPoint presentation was conducted in a community Art Gallery. The bases for this presentation was to assess a template I created for the future design of a curriculum. The contents of the presentation were based on the interests of students observed an interviewed in a community-based setting. Class participant responses were encouraged and noted.

Supporting information was collected through the distribution of surveys to students and instructors. The answers to these surveys helped to answer my Capstone research question on the students motivations to attend community-based independent art instruction classes.

The five part presentation addressed many issues that students indicated as areas of interests and ways to learn new techniques and improve their art. A sampling from the 5 part presentation is shown in the subsequent slides.

Part 1 included a brief history of the making of the Renaissance period, and the elements of what makes an artist a master.

Part 2 examines the components of the artist and their thought processes that allowed them to create master artwork.

Part 3 first examines the artist's construction of the human head. This section addressed proportions, anatomy, grid construction, rotation & movement, and lineal direction.

Part 4 analyzed the construction of the human figure through storytelling, control, lineal movements, form construction, illumination & shadow, and color construction.