Archive for August, 2007
Gene’s Artwork
Remembering Gene
That midnight call from Mark in end of July still rings in my ear. Our friend Gene had passed away. My heart still mourns and I grieve for my friend. For those of you unfortunate to have not known him, Gene Wiskerson was one of the torchbearers at Disney’s enrichment classes. Every Thursdays Gene made it possible so that our little band of gypsy artists could come and sketch together . We learned from sharing each others drawings in mutual respect and pure joy of being in the moment with other
creatures who love to laugh,draw and create.
I know I lost a brother because only loss of a family member can cause this hollow numbness in your heart .
I will miss his knowing smile, dry puns and his experienced eye.
His marks were sculptural and painterly. You could always turn to his lines for inspiration. I gained so much from looking at his work describe as “haunting” by a friend.
He was a retired WDI(Walt Disney Imagineering) artist and sculptor by profession. I’ll never forget last years Thanksgivings party because during a board game of cranium Gene created in two seconds NO exaggeration here a pair of anatomically correct lips. All the players were agog at this miracle in speed and agility.
I had the pleasure of having couple of his bronzes grace our home for a month. Like the artist the figures were solid, elegant and graceful almost pagan.
I can still hear Gene shout fifteen lines or less in gesture class. For those of you who
are new to gesture drawing. It’s NOT a rendering class or an anatomy class. That would
be easy.The goal in a gesture class is to distill the models pose into a story in as few lines
as possible all within minutes. You should be able to recognize clearly the anticipation,
action and reaction in the gesture.
Walt Stanchfield was quoted as saying you only need fifteen lines to tell a story.
It means THINK so that EVERY line adds to the story. No LAZY lines. You can test your work by taking out a line. This will make the drawing collapse or at least change it dramatically.
Losing Gene is likea foundation line missing in our group. Its effects obvious and dramatic.
Gene’s memorial is this Sat. I look forward to celebrating with other friends and family
in honoring Gene Wiskerson an artist and friend who left some beautiful marks on paper and in our lives.
Thank you Gene I’ll miss you.
Please visit genewiskerson.com for more information.
