dawsoncannon
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"every child is an artist
until they're told they're not an artist."
- John lennon
Kindergarten
1998
Designs an excessive, eight-story mansion. No regard for common sense; each floor had its own dedicated “elivator,” although they were still horizontally aligned to one another from floor to floor.
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mechanical art
1999
Submits creativity project to an art exhibit at Arlington County Fair. Wins "Reserve Grand Champion" of the kindergartners for a side-scrolling television set. Twist the polls on top to progress a hand-drawn story line within this tastefully spray-painted cardboard TV.
Was not too crazy about coming in second.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL 2000
The holiday season was always favorite. Depth perception, shading, and neatness are still off in the distance as far as drawing skills are concerned – but the amount of detail in these early illustrations at this age (6) baffled older onlookers.
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mechanical drawings
2001
As early as 8 and 9 years old, there was this growing urge to create physical things. Mostly after a flying chairs, flying shoes, or flying something to be pilot of.
Likely inspired by the Lego space ship below. It was built symmetrically from stray pieces, no kit. Alongside it is a toy car made from wood scraps, cardboard, bottle caps, and a little bit of crayon decals.
colorful diligence
2002
Following the attacks of 9/11 in hometown of Arlington, Virginia, the locale is turned upside-down. Many instances of unfortunate witness to the area's young kids.
Towards the end of third grade, illustrative talent becomes apparent with full-color drawings of unmistakable cartoon characters, historical figures for school assignments, as well as visits to the principal’s office.
painting
2003
County wide, art teachers hand-pick student work to be displayed at the Arlington Arts Center exhibition. Members of the school board attend, basically making it one big “please don’t cut our budget” fest. These paintings in particular were a tribute to Picasso’s “blue period” stuff.
BLUEPRINTS
2004
Imagination inflates beyond the confines of life as a 12 year old. Growing desires of the unattainable are a constant source of disappointment between life at home and school, and this was often expressed on paper. Strict parents did not entertain the notions of fantasies like robots, spaceships, and rocket cars. Note the proper inclusion of Liquid Oxygen, Hydrogen, and combustion chamber in one illustration…
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Storytelling
Fine-tuning the skills of replicating characters on paper was quickly growing stale. Dialing back the quality of the illustrations led to being able to at least tell a story, as redrawing contents of frames and scenes became tedious for the ill-equipped nine year old. The illustration quality was lost to Whether a full-fledged adventure with hovercrafts and laser guns, or a roundabout way to a cheesy punchline, it was a way to convey an experience, rather than a moment.
StATIC ILLUSTRATIONS
2005
The ability to draw did not necessarily lead to much enjoyment beyond the praise received for being good at it. It was a distraction that allowed the imagination to come that much closer to reality, a distraction from the reality itself that was not that amazing.
TECHNICAL FANTASIES
2006
A frustrating childhood filled with fantasy-ridden doodles was cause for a slightly more mature Dawson to “dial back” his tendencies towards design – all with the very simple goal of seeing a drawing come to life.
After discovering graph paper, his amateur architecture career was rekindled for the first time since his 8 story megamansion from 1998, however now with scale factors and straight lines. In many of these drawings, one grid square was to equal a half foot.
Unfortunately, these visions were too confronted by the harsh hammers of realistic parents, zoning codes an urban neighborhood, not to mention slim finances. These are some of the strongest examples of a young creative mind longing for the physical touch of what could only be made possible on paper.