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Designing Place: Student Artwork
The students in Kathryn Maxwell's 2004-05 eighth grade art
honors course at Martinsville West Middle School learned about historic
architectural styles and how to draw buildings in two-point perspective. Using
historic photographs of Martinsville buildings both past and present as a guide,
they created their own black and white illustrations. They then wrote a short
commentary about the buildings and the creative process.
Chelsea Kouns created the illustrations that were used on
new street signs that designate Martinsville's historic districts. The First
Presbyterian Church represents the
East Washington Street Historic District.
The Northside Historic District is represented by a composite drawing of
the New Highland Sanitarium, with a carved sculpture that appears on the
building's northeast corner. The Morgan County Courthouse represents the
Martinsville Commercial Historic District.
The signs were created by Sign Solutions of Whiteland,
owned by Martinsville residents Mike Pflum and Monty Hopkins. They were erected
in March 2006.
Chelsea says: I drew the courthouse because of its
Italianate-influenced style. I used the black and white to illustrate all the
differences in the building. I simplified the drawing so it could be used as a
possible sign.
Chelsea found it challenging to reduce the buildings'
architectural details to simplified line drawings suitable for use on the signs.
She did a wonderful job capturing form and essential design elements.
Other students emphasized details, paying close attention
to the way bricks were aligned and the way windows were partitioned. Some used
their own imagination to alter buildings according to their own whims.
Morgan County Home (no longer exists) by Dean Hammack
I chose the county home in Martinsville because I like
old houses. I didn't only choose it because of how old it is but also because I
like the style of the house, which is Italianate. Before I could draw the house
I had to go through and learn how to draw in two-point perspective, which is
drawing to two vanishing points.
IOOF Building (1893) by Spencer Thacker
The Odd Fellows Building, Italianate style. As we were
studying perspective drawings, this was an excellent example showing how focal
and vanishing points from different areas can prove to be helpful in drawing
buildings.
First Presbyterian Church (1881) by Meghan Maxwell
I drew the Gothic Revival style of church for my art
project. The hardest part was drawing the steps and keeping the lines straight
from the vanishing points. My favorite part was drawing the bricks. I believe my
perspective project turned out better than I thought it would.
First Presbyterian Church (1881) by Toni Pugh
I drew the old Presbyterian Church because I liked the
way the Gothic Revival style looked. I thought it would be a cool building to
draw. I had a hard time getting the shading right. It was fun drawing it,
though.
Mitchell-Kivett House (no longer exists) by Brad Emerson
We looked at slides and learned about the different
styles of architecture. Personally, I liked the Italianate, and that is why I
chose to draw the house where Doris Daily Park is today.
Martinsville Carnegie Library (1906) by Alana Merrick
Isenhower Building (no longer exists) by Anthony Patterson
I picked this building because not a lot of people cared
to draw it. It was the Italianate style and a nice challenge. The most
challenging thing to draw was the stairs. Illustrating the depth of the stairs
made it a challenge.
Isenhower Building (no longer exists) by Mike Carney
This was an old building that used to be in downtown
Martinsville. I liked the decorative Italianate cornice on top. I also liked the
way the windows and stairs were constructed. Understanding how to draw the
stairs in two-point perspective was the most difficult part of the drawing.
Nutter-Schnaiter House (c.1890) by Anthony Sims
I chose the Queen Anne style of house to draw because it
was big and a nice looking house. It had an upstairs deck and a big porch.
Indiana Theater by Brad Emerson
I liked the old theater where the store Super Sports is
today. The architectural style of the theater is called art deco. I find it a
shame that it was made into a sport store.
Indiana Theater by Emily Gehbauer
First I watched slides of different types of buildings.
Then we studied the different types of buildings. I chose the movie theater
because it looks really cool, like an old building. I drew it, and then inked it
to make it just black and white.
Second Empire house by Jerika Scott
The house I drew was a Second Empire. I chose this
picture because it kind of reminded me of my old neighborhood. My old
neighborhood had tall houses, some with towers like this one. The difficulties
of this house were the small detail. I also had difficulty with the windows and
shading. The easy part was the outline.
New Highland Sanitarium (now the Morgan House) with added
Baroque details by Kata Dean
Morgan House modified. I chose this building because I
wanted to use my imagination and change it. I liked the looks of the brick
building. I wanted to add a different type of tower on it. It was fun.
House by Emily Gehbauer
Nutter-Fleming
House by Seana Brannon
House by Shawn Tolemy
I chose this building because I liked the style and look
of it. It reminded me of my house. The building actually looks a bit different
in real life. Since I was only able to see two sides, I drew the other side. By
using the opposite side as a model, I put the garage where it would look and
function best.
Queen Anne house by Josie Mundell
I chose to draw a perspective drawing of a Queen Anne
style house because I liked all of the detail the house had. It almost looked
like a house that I would like to buy when I buy a house. I favor the old
fashioned type of houses.
First Christian Church (1891) by Jenna Moscrip
I chose this Gothic Revival church because it has great
detail and good size. The think I liked most about the church is the big window
in front, and the thing I didn't like is how I had to draw the big window.
Gothic Revival house by Kata Dean
I picked Gothic Revival because I thought it looked
interesting. It had lots of details, like the designs on the roof. It was kind
of hard to draw all the little twists and curving those different ways. The best
part I really liked were the flowers on the building.
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