Tehachapi News

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Tehachapi High School art students, under the instruction of Carol Horst, recently completed a pen and ink project inspired by world-renowned artist and “photorealist” Chuck Close, whose work frequently makes use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image.

Horst first asked her students to have someone take their digital photograph, and create a grayscale image to work from. Then they transferred the image onto paper using a grid system, block by block.

Students were instructed to fill in all the blank spaces utilizing patterns of both an abstract and representational nature, based on an 8-step value scale ranging from black to white. The “value” is the element of art that describes the lightness or darkness of an object. Denser patterns were used in darker areas; delicate patterns for light areas.

The result was an “Up Close and personal” pen and ink drawing that used pattern, texture and composition to represent each student’s self-portrait in the most minute of details, as well as the bigger picture.