Collaborative Drawing: A research group to develop drawing as a tool for artists’ Continuing Professional Development - Emma Gregory

Here’s a question, what aspect of your practice might you develop using drawing? (If you find it hard to answer substitute the word develop for the word explore.)

I’ve learnt that for some – myself included - even post MA, the rigour necessary to answer questions like this is more easily found in a group where the people around you will contribute to the energy levels and the depth and structure of a discussion. 

Last summer I put together a group of artists, all of whom were interested in drawing and the question of their own CPD. We agreed to meet one day a month at Drawing Projects UK for four months. The venue was important, lending professionality and a sense of serious endeavour.

Initially we had to explore what contemporary drawing might include by doing more and more boundary testing. Is a piece of cord tied to several objects including oneself a drawing? Is this spill of charcoal a drawing? And that torn edge? 

Our first collaboration filled the room: involving all the furniture, tape, paper and charcoal. It was a cross between a playground and a den. We decided it was a legit’ drawing. There was no conventional beauty in it and some of us found the mess discomforting, a fact we couldn’t discuss openly because we hadn’t yet established trust levels in the group. Simultaneously we had been testing one another’s boundaries: which of us is comfortable with the apparent chaos (lack of reason) and who finds it distressing?

Over the sessions which followed we took turns to set the agenda working on one person’s question at a time, inspired by a personal sticking point or area of growing interest, informed by intuition. Sharing these things with the group was a matter of trust. Here are some of the things individuals brought to the group for exploration or development: performative drawing and the group as one body; failure and our value systems; drawing to transform found printed matter and ownership; drawings on and in plaster/3D drawing; how different genres of music affect a group doing improvised mark-making.

After each project we stopped briefly to discuss how we felt about the drawings we had done. Yet immediately following the intense drawing session, we were always tired with the effort of deep concentration. We held an extended, reflective discussion in the fourth session, based on the idea that ‘As Time Went On You Began to Fail Better’ with the aim to look at our relationships with both creative failure and success. Would we have benefitted from having structured this discussion more heavily, post or prior to the moment it was created? Or did the distance allow a more considered discussion? These are questions we will keep asking ourselves and each other. 

There were probably an infinite number of ideas we could have explored. In the final session we were doing seemingly absurd exercises we could not have attempted in the first session as we had begun to trust and cohere. In other words, we had begun to transition towards being a research group. 

Speaking for myself, I have always wanted to have access to ‘a drawing-based research group’ although I can quite see that for many others an artist’s practice is a private affair. I don’t see it that way. There are times when I have to make alone but I enjoy seeing what another person’s intellect and imagination brings to the table and I LOVE making alongside other people. It’s a celebration of shared values. Like having the same faith maybe.

The group will carry on meeting, with a month off in February. If you want to talk about putting a similar group together, get in touch (Instagram: emmagregorymakes).

The group: Emma Gregory, Leonie Bradley, Kirsty Lovell, Andy Midgely, Maxine Foster, Vanessa Coles, Esmé Clutterbuck, Henny Burnett

Emma Gregory
February 2020

 

 

What's happening at Drawing Projects

Cabinet: Margaret Kilgallen print above a Vanson credenza designed by Peter Hayward

Cabinet - an exhibition of works on paper, ceramics and furn…

Cabinet at Drawing Projects UK presents works on paper and furniture from our collection and on consignment. Please join us on Saturday 6 April from 2-5pm to view the exhibition. This changing exhibition will be open by appointment only after this date, and continues until Summer 2024.  Works on paper are by James Brooks, Yvonne Crossley RWA, Peter de Francia, Margaret Kilgallen...

17-03-2024

Trowbridge Stanza Poetry Session at Drawing Projects UK

Informal Poetry Feedback Session with Trowbridge Stanza - 6 …

You are invited to bring one of your own poems for informal feedback from the Trownbridge Stanza group on Saturday 6 April from 2pm to 4pm at Drawing Projects UK.  Your poem should be in 12 font and fit one A4 page - 30-36 lines maximum. Please bring ten copies of a poem that you feel needs some more work. Everyone is...

17-03-2024

Girl Friday Breakfast Club with Helen Legg at Drawing Projects UK in 2018

Girl Friday Breakfast Club on International Women's Day - 8 …

Join us online for the Girl Friday Breakfast Club online on Friday 8 March 2024 at 8am (UK-time), convened by Anita Taylor. Friday 8 March is International Women's Day - and six years since we started the Girl Friday Breakfast Club! To celebrate we are inviting our Girl Friday Breakfast Club attendees and those interested to know more about the Girl...

17-03-2024

From the Blog

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 at Trinity Buoy Wharf, September 2023

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 Call for Entries &…

The International Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 is now open for all drawing practitioners to submit their work for the exhibition and awards. Widely considered to be the most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize presents an exceptionally wide range of current drawing practices, demonstrating the depth and breadth of drawing...

10-03-2024

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 Exhibition & Tour

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, is widely regarded as the foremost annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the United Kingdom. The 2023 edition marks the 30th year of the exhibition project and the 6th year of generous support from Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust for the annual open exhibition. The open call...

13-10-2023

Octogenarian Dance: Yvonne Crossley - until 18 November 2023

Drawing Projects UK is delighted to present a solo exhibition, Octogenarian Dance, by Yvonne Crossley RWA from 23 September to 18 November 2023. The exhibition is open each Saturday from 7 October from 1pm to 4pm, by advance appointment and during events. Here are some images of the exhibition to give you a sense of the wonderful work on show...

04-10-2023

View all blog stories