Etch-A-Sketch used as art form

Drawing crowds to look at well-done manipulations of magnetic dust on magic screens might be simpler than drawing diagonal lines on an Etch-A-Sketch.\nSenior Dan Gratz has been tweaking the knobs of Ohio Art's most prized invention since he was in high school, killing time in a peer tutoring program. Now Gratz is a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts student at IU whose preferred medium is painting, but he never gave up on what many would consider to be only a children's toy. Friday night at the McCalla School of Fine Arts, Gratz displayed his Etch-A-Sketch creations in an exhibit, "Magic Screen."\n"What I wanted to do was kind of blur the lines between what is considered high art and low art," Gratz said. "I really wanted to do this show because everyone can relate to it, everyone has had an Etch-A-Sketch at some point." \nGratz's artwork on 10 Etch-A-Sketches, some of it original and some of it the replication of existing pieces, blended classical form with pop-art mentality. A Star Wars storm trooper -- Gratz's first serious attempt at an Etch-A-Sketch composition -- sat between interpretations of a Hokusai pastoral and a variation on a human figure originally painted by Henri Matisse. Gratz said the most blatant example of blurring the high/low art divide came in his copy of "Venus of Urbino" by Titian. \n"I think the Titian one was the best example of taking something that is perceived as high art and adapting it," Gratz said. "These are revered masters, and I thought by including them and making that point, I could move on to doing things that were more original." \nGratz included a self-portrait and an original still life of a sink full of dishes. He also displayed several nudes he had completed at Monday night drawing sessions with an Etch-A-Sketch. \n"The nudes were some of the most fun ones to do because they only took me like an hour," Gratz said. "They were more spontaneous."\n"Magnetic Endeavor," a film by Gratz and fellow student Eric Rivera, added music and movement to the exhibition room that was bustling with onlookers shortly after the exhibit's opening at 8 p.m. Gratz said he is pleased both with the turnout and the feedback he received because reviews of his quirky, expressive medium by formal academic artists had been somewhat mixed in the past.\n"I actually included an Etch-A-Sketch in my B.F.A. interview and one professor called it pretentious," Gratz said, laughing. "I'll never forget that."\nTom Zeta works with Gratz at Pygmalion's, an art supplies store in downtown Bloomington. Zeta attended Friday's exhibit and said he enjoyed Gratz's ingenuity. \n"I knew he'd been doing this, but I had no idea of the scope until he brought a postcard into work," Zeta said. "It just went beyond what I expected."\nGratz dispelled some common misconceptions about Etch-A-Sketch in an interview following the show. He said the screens don't shake clear as easily as one might think and that circles are not only possible, but easier to draw than diagonal lines on an Etch-A-Sketch.\nKaren Jensen is in Gratz's printmaking class and said she could appreciate the dexterity necessary to do such things.\n"It's better than I can draw, and it's only one continuous line," Jensen said.\nGratz said Ohio Art provided him with 10 Etch-A-Sketches prior to his show upon his request. He said other people are doing impressive and complicated things with the device, and that while he enjoys much of what his strange toy provides, he does not intend to pursue it as his sole means of expression. \n"I'm not saying this is what I want to do, but this is certainly something different," Gratz said. "I'm not counting on being an Etch-A-Sketch artist or anything like that, but it might always be an avenue"