Meeting took place on Thursday 4th October in my studio space, on the issues of life drawing at Edinburgh College of Art...
G- the problem as I perceive it, as lots of
others do too, is that although life drawing is included in the design
curriculum…
J- What is it you study?
G- Costume design.
J- OK
G- It isn’t
included in the art curriculum. And I find that an incredibly big problem
because personally I think you don’t wan to do something that is figurative- if
your interests are more abstract or in sculpture- whatever you like, I think if
you still want to do life drawing, which I think a lot of people do, then they
should have access to it.
J- ACCESS
G- I mean, at the moment, the access to it is very limited. If there
is no life drawing on your course, then you have to speak to any friend that
you know who has it, and say “Can
I come along to your lessons?”. And of course that doesn’t always work, because
it might be that those lessons are already full and so forth. And also there is
not a strong facility there. It’s all about who you know and how you happen to
know them.
J- Yes
G- So I have spoken to Christ about it and he seems quite positive
J- What are his thoughts on life drawing?
G- He thinks that there should be ways to get it back.
J- So is it something that we have lost?
G- I am not quite sure how it was
J- Sure
G- I’ll tell you that my impression is, that generally, life drawing
has been taken out art school teaching because it is considered as quite
old-fashioned. Which is something I disagree with.
J- Why?
G- Because I think it trains the eye. But I don’t want to push it as
a mandatory part of the curriculum because then you get the equivalent, but in
reverse, when people say: ‘We don’t want to do life drawing’, and complain and
then it becomes a waste.
J- So it’s about having the option?
G- Yeah, it’s about having the option. What one of the things that
Chris has said, is that he gets asked about life drawing a lot outside of the
university. People will ask why it is not allowed. And he will say that it is
allowed, but only in design. What’s your opinion on it? Do you want life
drawing?
J- Yeah, I’m interesting on life drawing as a space to work but also
to discuss. Whenever I do life drawing, I find it very meditative and I think
that it would be a nice environment where some feels inclined to talk as they
work- I’m always conscious about how quiet the life drawing room is. I am not
sure if that’s an issue regarding the model and making them feel more relaxed,
rather than having people around them talking the whole time. I am interested,
as an experiment, to tie-in my concerns in my contemporary art practice with an
exercise that is so basic and fundamental to art- life drawing.
G- I’m not sure there’d be much I’d be able to help you there with.
J- Yeah sure. But, am I right in thinking that surely the Fine Art
department has a budget for life models.
G- I have no idea. All I know is that it isn’t on the curriculum.
People that are painting, sculpture, intermedia and photography do not have
life drawing as part of their courses throughout their four years. I may be
wrong, but I am under the understanding that that is the case. My friends in
second year painting and photography have complained because they find it
ridiculous that it’s in design but not in Fine Art. I think the money is there,
it’s just a case of how there is access to it.
J- The money must be there, it’s not a huge expenditure.
G- I agree. I think there is a way to do it, its just a way of
finding out the way to do it. And I am going to push for it.
J- And how envisage these classes? Would they be just for the Fine
Art School, or mixed with, say, the design department?
G- As I imagine now, they would be a series of drop-in life drawing
classes held every week.
J- OK
G- It would depend on the demand. Also, finding a tutor and a model
every week for a class that would have 15 drop in places every week, sign up
the week before, or the day before.
J- I think you may have an issue of numbers early on, but then later
on, you’ll probably even out and you’ll only have about that many people
turning up anyway. I did an exchange in Munich and there was also ways a life
model room and they had various types of life modeling going on every day. All
day, they would have a model in. For example, Monday would be drawing, Tuesday
would be painting, Wednesday would be something else. People could come in as
they pleased. A constant room of modeling that people could go to. Because, it
is a nice starting point for people to go to, if you’re having a tough time
knowing where to start with an idea.
G- Yeah, exactly. I love life drawing because I just love drawing
the body. J- And it’s so bizarre that it’s so split up into different
departments. It would be nice to have a drop-in situation where any one from
any department could come in and use the facility.
G- Because also, people outside ECA, in the wider university are
interested too. There is a demand for life drawing.
J- Yeah. So you would have a tutor in there leading the class?
G- I feel I am at the stage where I don’t like so much the tutored
stuff. I love having a tutor there because they can see things that you can’t,
but I also love having a model and drawing a pose for 5 hours- just developing
it how I want.
J- Yeah
G- The university Art Society organized their own life drawing
classes, and they’re always over-subscribed. I think they have too many in
their tutor classes there. They could probably run two sessions a week and make
more than enough money back.
J- So you’re talking about starting an initiative where people pay?
Don’t you think it’s something that should be free?
G- No I think it should be something that’s free. Or even a nominal
£1.50 to pay for materials. But as an artist, you would probably have your own
materials anyway.
J- I think there are ways to do it, and I’m going to push for it. I
think the reason why it is not provided, is because our culture has developed
within art teaching that is a bit traditional and elitist and I think there are
people who don’t care about life drawing, that the feel that its not
necessarily. I’m not saying that its right or wrong. If they don’t want to do
it, I would feel equally bad in enforcing them to do it.
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