News from Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

Artist Sue Ferguson Gussow to speak

on teaching drawing to architects,

Sunday, 

August 8th at 5 p.m. at The Fireplace Project

In her illustrated lecture, ARCHITECTS DRAW: FREEING THE HAND, Sue Ferguson Gussow will discuss her experience teaching drawing to architects. She uses the language of freehand drawing--one of the most fundamental but overlooked speculative tools for architects--to reveal the potential within even the most inexperienced students and show them how to observe and perceive the world around them.

Ms. Gussow's book, Architects Draw (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008) lays out a program in freehand drawing developed over three decades at The School of Architecture of The Cooper Union. The book, with 210 illustrations of student and professional work, describes foundational exercises, gives examples of advanced projects with accompanying student discussion and concludes with a chapter on drawing in noted contemporary offices. Copies will be available for purchase and signing by the author after the lecture.

In the era before computer generated graphics became the lingua franca of architectural practice, architects needed to be able to draw. They carried sketchbooks in which they noted ideas and kept travel journals for sketching buildings. Drawing served both as research and a means of representation. A course in freehand drawing was a requirement in most architectural curricula. Today, with CAD (Computer Generated Drawing) and all manner of computer imaging universally employed in the practice, the question arises:  Why teach architects to draw at all?  Indeed, in many curricula freehand drawing no longer exists. Ms. Gussow will argue in favor of its vital importance for a well-rounded architectural vision.

Sue Gussow lecturing at The Cooper Union. Photograph by Frank Fournier