Study visit: Drawing as process

Artist Michelle Charles will be hosting a unique study day the British Museum in London in conjunction with curators from the Department of Prints and Drawings.
The workshop will examine the scope of drawing as thinking: the exploratory recording of a thought, the generation of ideas, their development, definition, and translation. Disciplined enquiry and meditative reverie are explored as alternative approaches, and the workshop will focus on drawings, that give insight into the process of the artist over the finished work.
Spaces are limited (because the workshop will take place in the collection room with actual works of art) so we are offering a choice of two dates on a first come first served basis.
The dates are;
Friday 8 April 11am-1pm
Friday 6 May 11am-1pm
Students from all disciplines and levels are welcome to attend. The only requirement is to be open to drawing from the Museums historical and contemporary collections.
Drawing is the ultimate thinking medium. With its inherent speed and facility it is the only artistic practice that can truly claim to act at ‘the speed of thought’, and the choices and judgments of the thinker remain legible in every line. In its continuous process of enquiry and discovery it both inspires and facilitates thinking, creating a space for it and acting as its trace.

You will be able to take a close look at actual working drawings of 15th and 16th century masters such as Michelangelo and Goya, right up to contemporary works and artists working in our present day (including; Agnes Martin, Sol Lewit, Brice Marden, Juliet Mehretu, Bridget riley, and David Hockney,). Practically speaking you will have the chance to closely observe and make drawings directly from works in the collection room. In closely observing and making drawings from these works, you have the opportunity to really think about the process of drawing itself, and use it to analyze your own creative practice.
Drawing by its nature encompasses thought as process. You will have the chance here to examine many artists works and really see the errors that occur in the drawing process and perhaps gain confidence and the knowledge that so called mistakes or errors are a necessary part of art making in every form.
To reserve your place please email enquiries@oca.ac.uk
 
Image credit: Michelangelo A nude figure seated to front, 1508-12 Black chalk