This story is a part of the “My Favorite Class” series.
Today we feature junior Eric Widing, an Art Education major from Cedarville, NJ (Cumberland County). Eric talks about his favorite class, Expressive Drawing.
What is your favorite class?
Expressive drawing, no doubt. Expressive drawing has been a lot different than other drawing courses that I have taken. With the other classes it was more focused on drawing objectively. With expressive drawing it is more focused on subjective. More room for creativity.
What professor taught the class and what was his or her impact?
Herbert J. Appelson was the professor. For starters, he gave out a lot of homework. At the beginning of the semester everyone kind of loathed that, but looking back it was really important for us to have that kind of work because practice does mean perfect. It was one of those things that you hear over and over again but it is true: the more you practice the more better you become. Drawing is like a muscle the more you work it out the stronger it gets. He would also allow you to take your work home from class to continue to work on. Overall, he would give us a lot of time to work on assignments to make polished pieces.
One memorable thing you have learned from the class?
I took away a lot from this class. The professor was brutally honest when it came to examining people’s art work. He was not necessarily mean about it but he was brutally honest, the correct kind of feedback. That is one of the things that he pointed out early in the semester. The effects of brutal honesty and critique artwork versus spoon-feeding positivity that that is one of the only ways an artist can grow.
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Story and photography by: Stephanie Batista, sophomore Music Industry major