We've just come back from a five day workshop spent in the village of Cerdeira. A small stone village, near Lousã, Portugal, restored and built with the purpose of hosting artists and craftsmen.
Landscape
Trees
Looking at Painting
A sense for the natural mark
Making scenography for a local school
Here are some images of sketches and prototypes from the work we're doing with the primary school at A-dos-Loucos. We've been invited to help out with the production of a play that tells the story of a well kept secret in the oasis. Lizards, camels, scorpions, a centaur and a giant serpent are all characters that will populate the stage.
Drawing in the National Museum of Arte Antiga
Last month we had the last sessions of the Drawing the Human Figure course with our students, and we decided to leave the classroom and do a full weekend with them sketching from the works in the museum of Arte Antiga here in Lisbon, that harbours a large collection of paintings and sculpture from the gothic to baroque era.
Visible Thinking in Amsterdam
This month we participated in a workshop in Amsterdam on Visible Thinking. We learnt about ways of engaging people in spending more time reflecting at artwork in museums, using questions, curiosity, wonder and perceptiveness. The method elicits observations, invites us to make connections, and looking deeper.
Drawing with a sense of volume
In January we held our first weekend with the new figure drawing course. The drawing exercises we specifically chose had to do with perceiving the body as volumes. Apart from drawing, we also did small sketches in clay. This is a great way to use hands and eyes together to getting a grasp on the anatomy of the body. By developing one’s sense of form through sculpture, one’s drawing ability is greatly enriched.
Time and texture - drawing at the Museum of Ethnology
Another two day session of the Drawing and Creativity course took place this weekend. The topic was time and texture. We spent one of the days at the Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon. We were privileged to spend hours drawing in their large collection of artefacts from Amazonian tribes, which includes magical objects used in rituals.
On the topic of SPACE : Drawing and Creativity November
In this month's weekend we worked around the topic of space. We went from again focusing on raising the technical ability of the group - how to create a sense of space, atmosphere and wholeness in a drawing with full chiaroscuro (the use of light and dark), and how to work with a correct linear perspective without too much fuzz. We then looked at ways that artists have worked with and contemplated upon space in different eras.
Drawing and Creativity sneak peek
The second weekend of our Drawing and Creativity course is coming up. Here's a peek into the classroom activity during the first weekend. The theme was evocative objects. We started by refining basic drawing skills.
Creativity in Art Practice - Second Edition
We've just finished the second edition of the course Creativity in Art Practice. We did five weekends throughout the year. This course is based on solid principles, but is always changing and recreating itself according to the nature and needs of the group. This particular group had very deep and intense questions regarding working with content and formulating concepts, how to have an art practice that is meaningful for oneself and what choices must be made when the work is to be shown. We are grateful to this group for their questions and willingness to go beyond the familiar, and the great challenge for us to keep formulating this content.