Over the summer, five fine arts alumni drawings appeared in the new edition of a nationally published textbook.

The drawings were created in School of Art classes and submitted to the book’s authors by Darice Polo, associate professor of drawing and painting.

“Wayne Enstice, one of the authors of the book, contacted me and asked me if I could show him some examples of my students’ work,” Polo said. “So I put together some slides and sent him some images.”

Polo said Enstice looked through the submitted drawings and selected images he felt illustrated chapters in the textbook, “Drawing: Space, Form and Expression.”

“I wanted to get a really good sampling of strong student drawings from around the country,” Enstice said. “It strikes me that the drawing program at Kent State is a very strong.”

Roni Callahan, 2008 graduate and painting major, said she found out her in-class gesture drawing was going to be published in the book through an email from Polo.

“It’s very exciting,” Callahan said. “It’s my first book-published piece, so it’s really exciting that people appreciate what you’re doing.”

Callahan said her charcoal drawing was produced in Polo’s upper-level figure drawing class.

“Wayne included (Callahan’s) drawing in a chapter specifically on gesture drawing,” Polo said. “The works chosen were all based on an approach to drawing.”

Polo said the book features one of her own photo-based graphite drawings in addition to the works from her former students, Mark Spangenberg, Susan Hlaudy, Amy Thompson, Matthew Swartz and Callahan.

The students’ drawings were created primarily in intermediate to advanced drawing classes, Polo said. They were used to supplement instructional chapters on topics such as value, light and design.

Polo, also the coordinator of the School of Art’s drawing program, said the textbook will be used by Kent State graduate assistants who teach foundation drawing classes as a reference for students.

“I always wanted to be a teacher, so it’s kind of neat to think that kids could be learning from a drawing I did,” Callahan said. “In a way I’ll be kind of a third-party teacher.”

The textbook is “designed to address the needs of undergraduate drawing students from beginning through advanced levels,” according to Pearson Education’s website. The fourth edition was published July 21.

said the new edition of textbook shows contemporary drawing samples and instructions that differ from older editions.

“(It is) one of just a few drawing textbooks that are comprehensive and discuss drawing from foundation to advanced,” Polo said. “It’s a very thorough book—It’s used by students and teachers alike throughout the country.”

Contact Brittany Nader at [email protected].