While the upstairs life drawing class was going on down stairs Ed was starting a small group off at the very beginning of their journey. Ed takes the drawing class every Wednesday. He’s been on that journey himself. He started off at Rowden as a former research scientist, now he is a furniture maker. Followed our step by step process into drawing Ed is now an extremely competent draftsman. But his journey is still with him so he knows what it’s like to feel like to say “I can’t draw” and he knows the steps that have to be taken to turn you in to a draftsman by building on little success after little success after little success.
As well as the Wednesday night hard looking (because that’s all that drawing is) we do a class on Tuesday on creative thinking, creative looking. Which is more about play and fooling about with colour and having a nice time and generally trying to think like a five year old. Somewhere between these two extremes the hard line looking and childish play lies the truth of creativity. Visual work, because that’s all this is, is a great access point to visual creativity. We want to get at what’s happening at the back of the head and sitting down with a pencil and just letting it go. Seeing what comes off the end of the pencil uncontrolled except by the unconscious is what this is all about.
