Today I had the fantastic opportunity to work with local artist Kurt Jackson in a drawing workshop, in conjunction with his exhibition ‘Line Caught and Local’ being shown at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The aim of the workshop was to open our eyes to the idea of quick and spontaneous drawings that capture moments in time. For Kurt, drawing is a fundamental part of an artist’s working practice. It is a visual diary; a way of collecting, gathering information; a way of creating a visual library of knowledge. Never working from photographs, he always works directly from life or from sketches. His work ranges from making drawings whilst out on boats with fishermen, to working directly onto board or linen on the beach, to painting the seafood on his plate before he eats it. He told us that he felt that this is the only way he could give something back to nature, for the sacrifice the wildlife has taken to be on his plate. He also draws and paints local wildlife underwater in their natural environments whilst out snorkelling (an idea that I am very keen on trying). The aim of the workshop was to open our eyes to the idea of quick and spontaneous drawings that capture moments in time. We were encouraged to set ourselves limits to draw objects quickly, using gestural lines and marks in order to capture the essence of the subject matter. When he goes out on fishing boats, Kurt only has a matter of seconds to draw some of the things that he sees, so has become accustomed to working quickly under pressure. With a range of fishing tackle, live lobsters and crabs, shells and stones we had our very own nautical still life set ups, to draw from. We also had a member of the fishing crew that Kurt works with modelling for us in his working clothes. Funnily enough Kurt joined in with the dressing up too, claiming that drawing people with clothes on was more interesting than a typical life drawing class; the clothes made the body more ambiguous. What I learned from this workshop was the element of spontaneity, and how making quick drawings with little thought can help to build up a body of collected ideas, a visual documentation of thoughts. It also has made me think about the use of photographs as a source to make drawings and paintings, and how I should try and work more from sketches to see what a difference this makes to my work. I definitely want to use my sketchbooks in a freer and spontaneous way; I am so used to making perfect drawings every now and again, and I want to progress my working practice so that I can be less precious about every page and focus on making a body of work full of experimental pieces rather than just more refined work.
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AuthorThird Year BA Hons Fine Art student studying at Falmouth University Archives
April 2017
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