Monica Ponce de Leon at the Art Institute

The Art Institute of Chicago, with co-sponsorship by Chicago Women in Architecture, recently hosted Monica Ponce de Leon for a lecture to discuss her work and her approach toward architecture, particularly with respect to digital fabrication. Ponce de Leon took us through a sample of her body of work with particular focus on materiality and experimentation. This is an ongoing theme in her work that extends across the built spectrum from art installation to sculpture to building and back again.  What particularly captured my imagination was the idea of digital fabrication as a natural evolution and extension of hand craft, and the notion that architectural design can be an act of discovery through the exploration of materials.

Drawing: a powerful tool

I've recently been making an effort to carve out time in my schedule for a daily drawing. I don't have any rules about what the drawing is or how much time I spend on it, just that I get at least one done per day. Often I will bring my sketchbook with me to lunch or on the train, and occasionally I'll get curious looks or a comment from some passerby.

Almost every comment I get is some variant of "Wow, I could never do that."

Last year I attended a lecture/workshop that examined the intersection of architecture and comics, and part of the workshop was a sheet of comic panels to fill in. Some of the panels even had some unfinished linework to get people started. There were many who dove right in to the drawings, but at my table a few people refused to even pick up the pencil. Why?

What is so fearsome about drawing that some people won't even touch the tools?

Experiential Art and the Architectural Lens

A loose collection of art that I believe is particularly architectural.  Each piece invites the viewer to look at something in a new light (as great art does) but many of these subjects are architectural in nature - in this case the (usually ignored) backdrop of the every day.  Artists are credited below each photograph.