smudging & scratching

Life drawing - February series

2012-03-01T01:49:00.001-08:00

During February's series everyone found some surprising and interesting insights into their own work by exploding it and sifting through the fragments.

It began with two weeks making many many studies of body parts up close.
In the third and final session we spread out, up on the walls and across the floors in the huge empty space of the gallery, reassembling the body parts to make new composite drawings.

At this point we looked at Annette Messager's installations to broaden the scope of possibility, to lessen the world's pervading influence of 'realism'.

I was told the process revealed:
Pleasure and discovery in spending time looking and arranging ones own drawings (rather than storing them under the bed).

A different way to look from afar and obliquely at the drawings thereby noticing rhythm in lines and marks.

An alternative way to draw, using drawings as marks to place in space.

motivation

2011-08-07T11:57:00.001-07:00

Working WITH people...
I'm doing my "CASCADE" drawing workshop at Fabrica tomorrow so I'm wandering around the house seeing if there are any more bits and pieces that will help people find new angles on their drawing. Washing-up liquid bottles that I keep to refill for instance - what more could you want in a workshop about fluidity and unpredictability than what amounts to drawing with a water pistol?
Then I checked my emails to find one from Johanna Samuelson the model I've booked for the session who has just been to see the exhibition "CASCADE" in preparation for the session and is proposing ideas about how to work with the installation - it doesn't get better than this for me, I feel exhilarated to be working with someone so committed and responsive. This is the exciting bit, setting things up so that you can collaborate with people on ideas and ways to work, I absolutely love this!
Now I am going to get back to her about her fabulous new perspective on how to work with the body and the water and we will proceed, building together, how perfect work can be sometimes.
Thanks Johanna.

CASCADE drawing event at Fabrica

2011-07-30T08:23:00.001-07:00

Comments about Jane Fordham's Drawing workshop 'MARKING TIME' at Fabrica

2011-04-18T12:06:00.001-07:00

Thoroughly enjoyed it! Great set up and really good fun. Very accessible - thanks very much.

Excellent space to work on one large piece. The music was totally transformative - another world and having a model move through it was inspirational and moving - Thank you.

Wow movement sound centred me. Totally emercing experience.

Enjoyed it very much, something different and well set up in ideas and materials etc.

Fabulous, serious, inspiring tutor with an excellent model. Big thanks.

Fantastic - very liberating.

Great, lovely energy - thank you.

The wrap around sound gives a powerful kind of protection to enable you to take risks with paint and mark making on a large scale.

Great, I enjoyed it as always and I always learn something new about myself too in relation to what I like doing as a photographer.

Marking Time

2011-03-31T06:11:00.001-07:00

Tools for the Job

2011-03-17T03:39:00.001-07:00

I love looking at peoples tool collections, containing all the bits that might be useful, favourite boxes, practical containers, total messes I enjoy the lot.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Some pictures from Life drawing in The House of Vernacular

2010-12-08T10:04:00.001-08:00

One of the challenges of drawing the model in 'Bogota' was that the slides of street scenes changed approximately every 5 seconds.

Life Drawing - 'Bogota' in The House of Vernacular

Life Drawing - 'Jet fuselage' in The House of Vernacular

Life model Johanna Samuelson in 'Bogota'
(see her blog listed on the right)

Life drawing at Fabrica

2010-12-08T09:08:00.001-08:00

Week 2 Life drawing at Fabrica - "The House of Vernacular"

Having the opportunity to draw in this amazing installation has had a really good impact on everyone, from the interesting constraints of space (I'm thinking of the airplane fuselage room) to the drastically changing atmospheres, lighting and textures from one room to the next. The increased stimulus for models having something to work with instead of the usual studio type room seemed to renew the whole drawing experience. Infact there have been too many effects to list here, I will never finish this blog if I go into all of it.

In the second week I set an exercise which came from wondering how to get 9 people, a model and a fire safely and comfortably in one room of The House of Vernacular. I decided to split everyone into two groups one in 'Brazil' warmly lit, and one in 'Corinthians' lit only by a carousel projector.

I asked the model Amanda to move between the two rooms spending 10 minutes in each at a time. This meant each room spent 10 minutes without her too. The challenge, to continue working on the drawing after the model had left the room and to notice and act on what the significance of that might be, in the focus of the drawing, knowledge of the body, the atmospheric change in the space - right down to the disturbance of air when she exited.

I was unsure of how well this would work but I wanted to use the challenges of holding a life drawing session in the installation to my advantage, in a different way every week.

The period between the models appearances became a short time of reflection on the drawing in spontaneous group discussions after which everyone continued to draw. We don't usually break for talking during the work so I was pleased that this exercise provoked a change. The discussions arose directly from the drawings in the moment of drawing, people were still involved and were able to articulate very specific insights about what they were doing and trying to do.

I always need to try things out with people before understanding the effects, then I can adapt and alter the situation with the participants. This group is really responsive to trying out ideas with me, they suggest things they'd like to try and they're always willing to experiment, if something doesn't work we change course. We work together in an 'experiment, explore and respond' sort of way.

The exercise continued for about 2 hours and ended with us talking about the difference between making a drawing and making a study, and about the fear of the 'lie' in drawing when moving away from literal observation. It was interesting to hear why people are fearful about expanding upon what is observed solely with the eye, and begin to explore what one feels through the body and senses and how to put that on paper.

It's a recurrent subject, but I find you can only begin to understand something fully when you meet it in different ways. I suppose that's partly how I see my role as a drawing facilitator - presenting things in new contexts in order that they may be approached from a new perspective each time. What comes out of this method is varied and often unexpected, there is always new material to work with in the future.

One drawer said at the end "I love working in this space, it's so different, it's invigorated us."

Start blogging damn it

2010-12-04T05:16:00.001-08:00

"I cared not for consequence but wrote" William Blake.
That was one of the simple and permissive instructions Fiachra Gibbons gifted to us at a recent writing workshop held at Fabrica Gallery. Other inspiring snippets included "Ideas, observations, comment - write it, post it - with the energy you have at the time" This was probably the most useful for me as I tend to get bogged down in what I think I ought to be doing and not what I'm actually interested in doing where writing is concerned.
This blog will take it's shape from what I observe through what I do, which in a nutshell is about enabling people to look and think inwardly and outwardly mainly through drawing and writing. I make copious notes to myself as I witness some incredible things while working with people, now I have a place to put them.