Theatrical drawing: movement through space
Weekend-long practical course
10 June 2017 10.30am - 5.30pm11 June 2017 10.30am - 5.30pm
The Life Room, Royal Academy Schools
£240 per day. £420 for two days. Includes all materials, lunch and wine reception at the end of each day.
Terms and conditions
The RA's historic Life Room will be elaborately set with theatrical costumes, props, drapes, mannequins and a life model for this practical drawing course focused on movement through space.
In his book Berger on Drawing (2005) the renowned art critic, novelist and painter John Berger excitedly described the paper on which he is about to draw as being not so much a clean flat page, but an "empty space". He goes on to write;
''Its whiteness became an area of limitless, opaque light, possible to move through but not see through. I knew that when I drew a line on it – or through it – I should have to control the line, not like the driver of a car, on one plane; but like a pilot in the air, movement in all three dimensions being possible.''
During this intensive two-day drawing workshop, participants will explore notions of moving through pictorial space, creating a journey for the eye via the stitching together of successive viewpoints travelling along a vertical, horizontal or diagonal axis.
The historic Life Room at the Royal Academy will be elaborately staged with an assortment of theatrical costumes, drapes, and mannequins, as well as various oddities and props. A life model will also feature, to add dynamism to the composition. There will be strong directional lighting to further dramatise the scene provided by theatrical spots.
These objects will provide stepping stones for the eye to cross the space ahead, recording what you have seen and what you are about to see. There will be no constraint placed upon size as participants are encouraged to work in large scale as well as smaller scale, building up a panorama of the staged set.
About the course
This is primarily a drawing experience using a combination of wet and dry media on paper.
Day one Materials will include ink, charcoal, conté and chalk. Participants will use line as a primary tool, using density of mark, positioning, size and overlap as devices to describe recessional space and give depth clues. Notions of editing and selectivity will also be explored. Examples of relevant drapery and fabric studies from the Academy’s archive and collection will be referenced giving further inspiration.
Day two Materials will include ink/wash, charcoal, pastel, chalk and conté. The emphasis will be more on tonal value, and developing a sense of volumetric form, the key aim is to use the drawing as a metaphor for a journey through space, and to select interesting junctions and intersections to focus the eye.
This course is available to book as individual days or as a full weekend-long course.
This course is suitable for all levels, preferably with some prior experience of drawing, painting or creative practice in general.
This course is for you if:
• You have some prior knowledge of drawing and/or painting and would like to extend your skills in the practice of working from both perception and direct observation with a challenging large-scale set.
• You would like a new perspective in your approach to drawing from life.
• You would like the opportunity to develop your skills and ideas in a small group setting in the historical setting of the RA’s Life Room
• You have no prior experience of drawing from still life, but an interest in the history, theory and practice of art more widely.
Minimum age 18
The number of participants is strictly limited to enable detailed feedback from the course tutor.
Price per day: £240
Price for full course: £420
10.30am - 5.30pm on each day
Includes:
• An introduction to the Academy with particular reference to relevant works in the Collection
• The opportunity to work from an elaborate theatrical set including costumes and props
• The opportunity to work from a life model
• All practical materials
• A drinks reception at the end of each day
• A certificate of participation upon course completion (if taking the full course)
About the tutor
Mick Kirkbride
Painter and teacher Mick Kirkbride graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 1995, where he received the Richard Ford Travel Award to travel to Mexico to study the murals of Diego Rivera. Between 1996 and 2011 he was Senior Lecturer in Visual Studies at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. In 2004 he was elected as a member of The New English Art Club, with whom he exhibits on a regular basis. Whilst exhibiting with the NEAC at the Mall Galleries in 2013 Mick won two major figurative painting awards; The David Messum Prize and The Doreen McIntosh Prize. He shared each of these with one other artist. In 2014 he became the Curator of The New English Art Club Education Programme, and in 2016 was a finalist in the Lynn Painter Stainers prize where he will again be represented in March 2017. In addition he exhibits regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Mick has taught drawing and painting at all levels, more recently as drawing tutor on a range of postgraduate specialisms at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Over the past two years he has tutored a series of life drawing sessions for Friends of the RA based in the Keepers House. Mick’s paintings are essentially suppositions; they seek to make visible narratives that exist in the mind’s eye. The idiosyncrasy of invention underpinned with observational drawing is the primary tool, with the human figure as the dominant recurring structural motif.
About the space
The Life Room
Set in the Academy’s historic Life Room, nestled deep in the heart of the RA Schools, this unique and significant space was designed in the 1860s when the galleries and schools were first constructed, purpose built to accommodate the study of the human form in art.
The semi-circular seating arrangement is based on an ancient design and can trace its British history back to the 1730s and Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane. The directional light is also of ancient design and is used (then as now) to provide directional light to aid the delineation of the figure’s musculature – significantly enhance the use and study of colour and light in art.
Our courses and classes programme
Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.