CHUCK CLOSE July 5, 1940

1. CHUCK CLOSE July 5, 1940 • Visual artist, who used inventive techniques to paint the human face. • Best known for his large scale, photo-realistic portrait paintings. He has also has done printmaking, watercolor, finger painting, paper collage, and pastels. • Suffering from severe dyslexia, Close did poorly in school but found solace in making art. Graduated from University of Washington with a B.A. and then received his M.A. from Yale University.

2. Working from a gridded photograph, he builds his images by applying one careful stroke after another in multi-colors or grayscale. He works methodically, starting his loose but regular grid from the left hand corner of the canvas. His works are generally larger than life and highly focused. Close suffers from Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, in which he is unable to recognize faces. By painting portraits, he is better able to recognize and remember faces.

3. “The choice not to do something is in a funny way more positive than the choice to do something. If you impose a limit to not do something you've done before, it will push you to where you've never gone before.” By the late 1960s, Close and his photo-realist pieces were entrenched in the New York City art scene.

4. Although his later paintings differ in method from his earlier canvases, the preliminary process remains the same. To create his grid work copies of photos, Close puts a grid on the photo and on the canvas and copies cell by cell.

5. In 1988, Chuck Close was paralyzed following a rare spinal artery collapse, since then he has continued to use a brush holding device strapped to his wrist and forearm. His biggest fear was that, "Since I'll never be able to move again, I would not be able to make art. I watched my muscles waste. My hands didn't work." However, Close continued to paint with a brush strapped onto his wrist with tape, creating large portraits in low-resolution grid squares created by an assistant Viewed from afar, these squares appear as a single, unified image

6. "Art saved my life in two ways," the artist says today with undiminished enthusiasm. "It made me feel special, because I could do things my friends couldn't, but it also gave me a way to demonstrate to my teachers that, despite the fact that I couldn't write a paper or do math, I was paying attention."

9. WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING….. • Drawing a realistic self portrait using the grid method that Chuck Close was known for • Learning about value and mark making, creating a value scale to use as a tool • Creating viewfinders to help with focusing on one square at a time • Developing your skills in observational drawing…drawing what you see! This project will be worth 100 points, and be a formal grade.

10. Fulfills Assignment:Create a grid on both your photo and final drawing paper. Complete a self portrait filling in values in each square. Completes all prep work including sketches, mark making and value activities; completes a self evaluation worksheet and participates in class critique. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Creativity and Originality: How original, daring, and inventive is your drawing? Did you put effort in being creative and using your own style and drawing skills? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20  Elements and Principles: Were the elements and principles of art used to make the visual elements work well (value, texture, pattern)? Did you show an understanding of art techniques? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20  Effort and Craftsmanship: Is the work neat, clean, organized and presented well, and done with effort and care? Did you take your time in creating the grid and completing each square? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20  Work Habits: Did you stay on task, pay attention to presentations, participate in discussion? Was the student cooperative? Did the student act appropriately and provide appropriate feedback? Was the student respectful of supplies, materials, space, and others? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20