Friday, December 30, 2016

InsiderArt Video Feature


I'm excited to share this short video glimpse into my ceramic-making process by InsiderArt. Drawing is usually the first step to everything I make, regardless of material, although it sometimes takes me months to actually make that which is on paper. Drawing of an idea is a proclamation of intent to the universe, and somehow it works! As my art mentors say, our tastes are always ahead of our abilities, and that's a good thing: keeps us, makers, busy and striving for more!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Drawing Music :: Performances Up Close


Sometimes a dream job comes along and it makes you feel oneness with the universe. It happened to me this autumn, when Princeton University Concerts commissioned a reportage of the "Performances Up Close". Here are some of the drawings from Histoire du Tango: Grammy-award winning violin phenomenon Augustin Hadelich and Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas.
 




Concert hall with the audience seated on the actual stage, to create most intimate experience.


And tonight, I had a sweet surprise in the mail: a holiday card from Princeton University Concerts with the concert hall reportage on the cover.


Happy Holidays!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Life Drawing Fall 2016

A collection of drawings done at various locations with Dalvero Academy in the fall of 2016.














Not My President!

Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.

The result of the 2016 USA Presidential Elections took many by surprise. New Yorkers, shocked and appalled, took it to the streets. I went out, too, because I tried to process the unfolding events...somehow. Drawing helped.


Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.

Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.

Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.

Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.

Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.
Protesters in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, November 9, 2016.



Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Austin Snapshots

Barton Springs Pool, Austin, TX. ©JuliaSverchuk2016

I visited a dear friend in Austin, TX, this October, with another dear friend. The trip was short, but I did jot down some memories in ink.  

Austin's Zilker Botanical Garden. ©JuliaSverchuk2016




Prehistoric Plants at the Zilker Botanical Garden. ©JuliaSverchuk2016

Beach Beauties ©JuliaSverchuk2016

Swimmers at Barton Springs Pool, Austin, TX. ©JuliaSverchuk2016

Barton Springs Pool, Austin, TX. ©JuliaSverchuk2016

©JuliaSverchuk2016


©JuliaSverchuk2016

Saturday, October 22, 2016

"The Winter's Tale" by New York Classical Theatre

Mairin Lee as Hermione and Brad Fraizer as Leontes

Here are my (way overdue) summer reportage drawings of The Winter's Tale production by the amazing New York Classical Theatre, directed by Stephen Burdman. The main theme of this Shakespearian comedy (which, to me, felt more like a tragedy 'till the last act) is marital fidelity, devastating power of jealousy, forgiveness and Time.

I attended performances in both Battery and Brooklyn Bridge parks. Each park transforms the play. Battery park feels much more intimate, in contrast with the magnitude of Manhattan skyline in Brooklyn Bridge Park. What a luxury it is to attend awesome off-Broadway productions on summer nights,  for free, outdoors, in some of the most beautiful parks in New York...and be able to see it again, as long as it doesn't rain! If you're not familiar with the panoramic nature of New York Classical theater, here's one of the latest reviews.

The Winter's Tale was the second production of New York Classical's 17th summer season, the first being  A Midsummer Night's Dream (drawings here). I look forward to the 18th season, wondering what kind of magic Stephen Burdman, theatre's Artistic Director, is preparing for us next.

p.s. Check out this fantastic illustrated synopsis of the Battery Park staging by my friend, artist Evan Turk! 
Sunset in Brooklyn Bridge Park


Brad Fraizer as Leontes, Peyton Lusk as Mamillius, David Heron as Polixenes (foreground)
Leontes and Paulina
Brad Fraizer as Leontes and Lisa Tharps as Paulina
John Michalski as Camillo
Leontes:
“Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh?- a note infallible
Of breaking honesty. Horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift;
Hours, minutes; noon, midnight? And all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked - is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;

My is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.”



Leontes, torn by jealousy
Leontes, Camillo and Polixenes
Peyton Lusk as Time
Mark August as Autolycus
Mark August as Autolycus and Ian Gould as Shepherd
Paulina, Hermione and Leontes
John Michalski as Camillo
Mark August as Autolycus