OCA students get absorbed at DRAWN
This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.
A couple of students on a recent study visit took the trouble to write to OCA with their reflections on the day. Since they are interesting and lively responses, we thought we’d blog them there. The tutors have also now added in their reflections on the day.
First Sue Gilmore reports: ‘This was a study visit to a Survey Show of Drawings at RWA in Bristol, led by OCA tutors, Linda Khatir and Michelle Whiting. After an introductory talk and discussion we spent time in the galleries looking at the work. It was suggested that we each identify a number of works, one that relates to our own practice and perhaps a work that we might aspire to- these formed the focus of discussion during the afternoon. We also met the artist-in-residence, Karen Wallis, who is working in The Drawing Lab. She is making a piece of work by recording people’s responses to the drawings. A number of the group participated and spoke about a drawing that stood out for them. 
I spoke about a drawing by artist, Fiona Hingston, who had made a drawing called ‘Furrow No. 3’ using Earth and Charcoal. There was something about this piece that had a certain presence. It was monochromatic, in earth tones. It’s a landscape suggestive of climbing a mountain, but its title suggests a smaller landscape. I was drawn to the texture in the drawing and in the physical texture of the surface. I was interested in the materials because I have recently been making my own explorations of the use of charcoal and earth in different ways to this, but found myself looking very closely to try and work out how she had achieved this. Discussion with Karen Wallis suggested that she possibly builds up layers of earth and charcoal which then works back into to create her meticulous drawing. Karen also said she spends hours just drawing lumps of earth, which you can see translates into an intimacy with her subject.
The exhibition was formed from a fantastic range of approaches to drawing, from quite traditional to highly experimental and engaging with modern technologies. Here is Dragomir Misina’s large painting with drawn marks. Artist Debbie Locke uses Lego programmable technology to make a kinetic drawing machine that interprets data collected by people who have taken a walk from the front door of the RWA with a GPS handset. It is an attempt to retrace their steps and at the same time depict a cumulative map of their experience. It was interesting to be challenged in terms of what makes a drawing, like Laurie Steen’s ‘Root Drawing’, this was an actual piece of oak root on which the artist had drawn over the surface of the root, giving it a metallic sheen, and mounted in a box frame.
The range of mediums used was quite staggering, but I was also taken with the manner of hanging or display. There were of course many mounted traditionally in frames, though some of these housed irregularly shaped pieces or unfinished edges. There were a number engaging directly with the space by being drawn on the wall and on the floor. There were works unframed and supported using dog-clips and pins. There were i-Pads and 3d digital laser animation, book, journals and boxes. For real modesty of means there was one piece made on a till roll! Revisiting everyone’s chosen pieces and being able to discuss and share whilst being guided by the tutors was really valuable. It highlighted how for me it’s easy to get stuck on one aspect of a work, like material or process, but the discussion allowed for a wider exploration. Seeing all the work was fantastic, but it was great to be able to share thoughts and ideas with a highly engaged group which in turn led to some lively discussion. A great visit.’
And OCA student Averil Wootton writes: ‘I found this study visit valuable and enjoyable with Linda & Michele. There was so much variety, interest and inspiration in the exhibition that I came away buzzing with ideas. The tutors gave important guidance as to how we each could engage with what we saw and explore why particular works attracted us. For instance, I liked the urban grittiness of James Allen’s Outside Kings Cross and it showed me a way of making something from my sketches done from the front seat of the top deck of the bus at Exeter bus station (a safe place from which to sketch – even if I only get a couple of minutes each time, before we leave). I hope to go to Drawn again before it closes and take my husband as well. He was particularly interested in the idea of a drawing machine, as he’s an engineer, but I failed totally to answer his technical questions about what was actually going on in the little black box! It was great to have an event within reach of at least the Devonians in the OCA; the Cornish do have Tate St Ives after all…’
Linda Khatir led this visit with Michele Whiting. Linda adds her reflections here: ‘It was a delight to spend the day with a group of enthusiastic students from different courses, all working at different levels. It was also great to see that one of them even had a work in the show – no mean feat considering many of the selected exhibitors were academicians and/or seasoned professionals.
Students were asked beforehand to choose a work they liked and a work they would aspire to make, and there were many interesting conversations around these questions. I think most of us chose a different work and were able to explain to the group why we were drawn to it. Here is OCA student Valerie alongside the work she successfully entered into the show about which she wasn’t sure could really be categorised as drawing because of the material used, but for me it was very much about drawing as she had scratched into the surface of the thick paint leaving strong repeated marks and grooves above and beneath the surface – the lines working as both visual and material traces of her drawing activity.
Part of the day was taken up with resident artist Karen Wallis recording short discussions with each of us about our favourite work, we are not sure what she will do with this information but keen to find out – perhaps Doug Burton (OCA tutor with work in the show) will find out and let us know …
Michele and I were very pleased to receive positive feedback during and after the event and we were reassured to see that all students joined in critical and contextual discussions – at times energetic with different opinions on what a work means or reveals. At the end of the day most of us will have left with a deeper awareness of what drawing is and might be, and hopefully a sense of excitement about our own drawing practice now and in the future.
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Well done to both students for writing about their day at Drawn. Very well written reflections on the day an example for me to aspire. It is helpful to have suggestions on how to tackle what to view at an exhibition as it in usually a bit overwhelming.
This was my first study day visit and I must thank Linda and Michele for a great day.
Sue Gilmore has written a very good and full report of the day event and the exhibition and like she say revisiting every one’s chosen pieces and shareing their thoughts and feelings was really valuable.I came away from the exhibition thinking more about the works that other studenr’s and tutor’s had chosen than the ones I had picked, I had to go back a week later for a second look.
Like Averil, I also draw on buses! And at bus stops … and on stations, and on trains. The small sketchbook I’ve been doing this in, week by week is filling up and coming out as an interesting mixture of quick sketches of people and longer drawings of the hardware, etc. This started with me drawing a bus queue for one particular linocut, but I’d just got to the stage of wondering if I make more pieces of work out of all this, so thanks for the pointer to James Allen’s Outside Kings Cross drawings – they encourage me to do more of this.
Thanks to Linda and Michele for an interesting and inspiring day. It was great to have a study visit so close (I travelled from Cardiff) and to see such a fantastic variety of drawings with so much inventive use of materials. The best aspect for me was being able to meet other students and the tutors to swap ideas. I particularly appreciated the chance to discuss our chosen pieces although it was very difficult to narrow this down to just two. I came home with more inspiration than I could have hoped for. If you are in Bristol the exhibition is well worth a visit.
This looks like a very interesting exhibition and sounds like the study trip was a great success. I am interested in how students went about chosing a work they aspired to making and if this differed much to the one they chose that related to their own practice. Did they generally aspire to making work that was similar technically and/or conceptually or work that was completely different and, for that reason, exciting? There is much to be learned even from these comparisons.
A belated thankyou from me, a brand new student, to Linda Khatir and Michele Whiting for this wonderful study day. The art was wonderful of course, but furthermore I listened to fascinating discussions about what drawing actually is, how the whole body is involved, or even machines set up by the artist, how drawing is a process and one image may be part of that huge process; I returned to my coursework feeling honestly inspired and ready to put in a bit more effort.
As for the drawings I felt related to my practice, and the one I aspired to – yes they were quite different. I related to the ‘wildness’ of Paul Fletcher’s massive graphite drawing, Creative Evolution. I aspired to Siobahn Piercy’s sculptural paperwork, This Body Real As You See Me/This Body As I See You because I felt she has harnessed her imagination and somehow controlled it .. but thinking back on the day I think I aspire to what I felt more connected to, namely the Paul Fletcher. Similarly I liked Peter Matthews’, 4 Hours in the Atlantic Ocean (England)made with pen, rust and water from the Atlantic Ocean.
Thinking about the comments on drawing people from a bus, the other day I took a particularly bumpy one hour ride through Somerset, minus book or music. So I took out my sketchbook and a pencil, rested the pencil on the page and recorded the jolts in the journey. Would I have considered this as a valid way of drawing before this study day? Probably not. Thankyou!
So glad you gained knowledge about what drawing might be and that it inspired you to try something new. This is the aim of these study visits