About Geometric Abstraction

Geometric Abstraction:
The Art of Stylizing,Abstracting, and Composing Imagery

Instructor: David Sommers

All levels
Live class - via Zoom

When:

Thursday, October 10th 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursday, October 24th 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

What You'll Learn:

Inviting all artists who have dreamt of following in the footsteps of their favorite artists of the last few centuries, and yet want to keep their work original and in their own style. Unlock the design secrets of painters like Cezanne, Picasso, and Mondrian with this two-session course titled Geometric Abstraction — Stylizing, Abstracting, and Composing imagery. This class will offer a brief introduction to the golden section followed by a focus on the rhythmic structures that past painters have employed in sketching out their ideas into paintings. As a result, we will examine ways to bring a more dynamic energy to our own designs before we start new paintings or redesign previous works. Dave Sommers, the workshop leader, will offer examples of his own work and demonstrate how he abstracted them to varying degrees. Some of his more traditional landscapes will also reveal how these design systems can still be employed in more representational art work.

Class participants will be invited to bring images ready for the first session along with tracing paper. Then, we will examine how to simplify your design with a limited range of linear directions. Homework will follow in which you will finish your designs of a current or past work and upload a photo of it for a group critique and brainstorming session. By the end of session 2, we will create and refine a new rhythmic design that follows a long-standing tradition of simplifying directions and locating objects on key divisions in the rectangle of our choosing. Join us and uncover the seeming magic of great design that painters of yore employed, and implement those secrets in your own art work!

About David

David Sommers is a multidisciplinary fine artist based in the Lehigh Valley, PA. With 30 years of experience, he synthesizes past art traditions with a modern, multidimensional viewpoint. His work reflects a Cubist-Realist style of geometric shapes, organized on diagrammatic intersections that fracture color, space, and shape. His work is on display in private collections and at three Penn State Hospitals, including a large mural at Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center.

For 10 years Dave has been a resident artist at the Banana Factory Gallery in Bethlehem, PA, and is a high school teacher. Dave has also has presented at various churches locally and in Latin America on the role of visual art in theological education and preaching.

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