Aristotle's Amish

The word "essence" always gets me thinking about Philosophy. It was Aristotle who believed that every "thing" (object, person, etc.) had an essence, or specific categories that were true for all of that kind. Of course there were numerous flaws in his Philosophy, but that's beside the point. The point is that every thing has a succinct, defined being.

That "being-ness" is what we were asked to discover visually this weekend with our 9 artifacts. We were given limited materials - marker, ink, paper, etc., and then had to illustrate the essential characteristics of each artifact. I worked with a Sharpie, brush and ink, and cut paper.

In my studies, I illustrated different views of the objects, depending on what the material lent itself to. By far, the most difficult object to illustrate was "Bonnet". Every time I tried to recreate it, it came out lumpy, awkward, and would make any prairie girl cry.

I tried a few different styles. Some were loose, using minimal marks to get across the objects, while others were more silhouetted. 

I enjoy the feeling of the loose, minimalist marks, I just worry that it doesn't have the correct feeling. Further, it may not translate well into the digital world. But I have yet to see what these sketches are laying the groundwork for.