Artists Tom Jones, Sam Rowe, Carolyn Morton and Jaqui Rowe all help to deliver the weekly art sessions at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
The weekly sessions are very different from a traditional art class. Participants have been invited to embark on a creative journey with each person working independently in a concertina sketchbook to explore and develop their own creative interests. Some of this is happening at WAG and much of it is happening elsewhere.
We are working both in the education rooms at the Gallery and in the Galleries using the collections to inspire the work. The focus so far has been on drawing and mark making:
Session 1- Magic marks – We explored making marks with meaning, introducing the concertina books and the idea of narrative notebooks. We made speedy drawings and linear silhouettes.
Session 2 – Taking Our Time – We focused on drawing for a purpose and quickly. Speed as a way of improving hand eye more closely and less self-consciously.
Session 3 – Taking a Line for A Walk – We looked at merging writing and drawing and spent time making visual notes in the galleries.
Session 4 – Unruly colour – Involved lots of visual experiments using our eyes and squares of coloured paper. The emphasis was on colour as we see it rather than colour theory.
It’s very exciting to see how varied the work being produced is. People are increasingly confident to set themselves up in the Galleries to make their work.