Seated at a bench easel, Taylor Maroney gazes at the arrangement of orange, white, and green pumpkins sprawled on the table before them. An artificial light illuminates the mix of petite and plump gourds while enhancing the shadows along their distinctive grooves. Selecting four pumpkins to incorporate into their drawing, Maroney brings pencil to paper and starts with a searching line. Through soft strokes, they create a faint outline of their first pumpkin and use the pencil as a sighting stick to measure and compare angles and proportions for the remaining ones.
“If an object is smaller than our measuring unit, we want to work backward,” Maroney reminds the “Drawing Studio” undergrads who’ve gathered for a class demonstration in the newly renovated M36 Art Studio.
Following a conversation on how to incorporate shadows into drawings, students return to their easels, which are placed in a semi-circle around the pumpkins. Securing their sketchpads to a drawing clipboard and setting its orientation to landscape, undergrads spend the next hour bringing the still life into existence on the sheet before them.
The art of learning how to see
In Maroney’s “Drawing Studio” course, students learn how to realistically translate 3D objects into 2D. Undergrads start the course with line drawings and learn how to apply value before transitioning from graphite to charcoal. Toward the end of the semester, they’ll also dabble in pen and ink, notes the History, Literature, and the Arts lecturer.
“We hardly work off photographs,” Maroney says, adding that the group of 15 mostly concentrates on still lifes — everything from fruits and vegetables to mugs and other ceramics. By focusing on the objects in front of them, Maroney hopes to retrain the brain on how to see.
The human brain, Maroney explains, seeks to simplify the world by creating a visual symbol system, so people do not get overwhelmed by sensory details. For instance, when people see a tree, the brain recognizes it as “tree” rather than processing every leaf, shadow, or texture associated with that one object. In the art room, undergrads are attempting to shift their brain from autopilot and look incredibly close at what they’re attempting to draw to “see” realistically. The course's hands-on nature also helps improve hand eye coordination and dexterity — which people are more readily losing in the digital age due to scrolling.
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For Sean Cowie ’27, doing something different was just what the Finance major and Bryant football player had in mind when signing up for Maroney’s course. He wanted a class where he could decompress from his numbers-based courses.
Digital Marketing major and women’s volleyball player Melis Isik ’25 adds that she had wanted to take this course since sophomore year, but the class always filled before she could snag a spot. Having enjoyed another art-related offering in the meantime, Isik was excited when she made the cut this fall.
“My favorite part has been learning how to measure things to the correct proportions and draw realistically,” she says.
A hub for creative expression
Bryant’s M36 Art Studio is one of the latest facility improvements on campus — expanding the previous area’s space and enhancing the room’s capabilities. In addition to easels for painting and drawing, photography equipment, and taborets, the studio features butcher block tables for students to spread out their projects and work.
At a fall ribbon cutting for the space, Bryant University President Ross Gittell, Ph.D., shared that the area is an example of what the university is trying to invest in — spaces that enable students to develop in personal and professional ways in line with academics.
“If we provide opportunities like this for students, we're going to have a stronger campus and stronger programs in all areas throughout the university,” Gittell had noted.
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Assistant Professor of Studio Art and Arts and Creative Industries Program Coordinator Valerie Carrigan, who assisted in the renovation, shares that the space is a gamechanger and elevates the arts on campus.
“Our classes for next semester are already full with waiting lists,” Carrigan says with a smile.
Carrigan collaborated with Assistant Vice President for Planning, Design, and Construction Thomas Mann on the project — using hand-drawn illustrations and computer renderings to design the space. Together, they focused on maximizing the space to benefit different art mediums, such as drawing, painting, design, photography, and book arts.
Taking the internal to external
Making their way around the classroom easel by easel, Maroney chats with Cowie about his artwork — pointing out where more negative space is needed and suggesting the top of his pumpkin dip inward a little more. While Maroney pencils in where those shifts should occur, several classmates around the room are admiring the headway they’ve each made this session.
“I like to see my progression,” says Anna Jackson ’26, a Biology major and member of the women’s swimming and diving team. Students' semester drawings are compiled in their sketchbook, providing them with an easy way to see how their pieces have evolved over time.
For some, “Drawing Studio” is a break from other courses and to continue their artistic passions from before college. For others, the course is part of their curriculum as an Arts and Creative Industries major or minor.
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“I look forward to coming here and having that time to work by myself,” says Marketing major Addison Arone ’26, commenting on the class’s relaxing nature.
Announcing that they will begin applying charcoal to their drawings the following week, Maroney dismisses class for the afternoon. For Maroney, each class is a rewarding experience; they’re giving students the tool set to take something that's inside them and make it external.
“In the future, if they have ideas that they need to express and words aren't going to cut it, or they need to show someone something in a different way in a universal language, they have the confidence to take that internal or abstract idea and put it on paper,” Maroney says.