Each year students from BA Drawing at Camberwell College of Arts have the opportunity to draw at the National Centre For Circus Arts. With no technology or messy materials allowed, the challenge is to draw in response to the incredible range of complex and often constant movement of the performers as they rehearse their skills. Below we provide an insight from two third year students who took part in the workshop and present a selection of work from the day.
Catherine Hulme, Third Year BA (Hons) Drawing
“The Circus Space Workshop contributed to changing the way I perceive drawing. It became less about trying to illustrate what I was observing, which in this case was something quite spectacular, and more about how, what I was observing dictated the way in which I made my drawing. The human figure was propelled into a series of shapes and lines; the capability of the body accentuated. These movements are transferred onto paper as a succession of lines tearing across the page, as squiggly marks somersaulting in the white expanse, and as large swooping arcs swinging from corner to corner; my drawings becoming a dramatic representation of the extraordinary movements of the performers.”
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by third year Drawing student Catherine Hulme at the Circus Space Workshop
Rosie Wyllie, Third Year BA (Hons) Drawing
“The Circus Space Workshop helped me to see the potential of drawing as a way of echoing and responding to the liveliness of the body in movement: expressive marks and traces can interact and perform within the space of the paper, much like acrobats and jugglers can in the space of the building.”
Circus Drawing on location by third year Drawing student Rosie Wyllie at the Circus Space Workshop
Collage after the workshop by third year Drawing student Rosie Wyllie at the Circus Space Workshop
Drawing pieces by First Year students
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Josep Barnardas Estivil at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student India Randall at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Harriet Caldwell at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Christina Rhiant at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Christina Rhiant at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Ana Afonso at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Ana Afonso at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Yunran Zhang at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Patrick Metcalfe at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Zuzanna Pedrasik at the Circus Space Workshop
Circus Drawing by first year Drawing student Vanessa Zheng at the Circus Space Workshop
More about the BA (Hons) Drawing Course can be found here: http://www.arts.ac.uk/camberwell/courses/undergraduate/ba-drawing/