An intensive and enjoyable workshop, intended to reinvigorate approaches to drawing as well as introduce new ideas and techniques.

Who is this for?

This workshop is aimed at adult artists at all levels of expertise, art students and anyone with an interest in exploring ways of drawing.

Workshop overview

In the session, we will explore a series of practical and instinctive ‘embodied’ drawing exercises, underpinned by examples from key artists. We'll begin with a discussion around drawing processes before watching short video demonstrations. Then we'll work through a series of exercises together, including:

Body as drawing tool – for print / mark making / tactility / direct contact with mediums: pigment / charcoal / chalk / paint

Embodied drawing: drawing as intuiting – drawing as listening – doodling and formless drawing – automatic drawing - gestural drawing – drawing as expression

Embodying drawn responses: drawing as meaning – what do marks mean? What marks can we make in response to specific words / sounds / smells / surfaces / tastes?

Embodied drawing: self as subject - narratives of self - taking a line for a (narrative) walk

The workshop will end with a short talk from artist Amanda Holiday discussing the drawing methods used in her recent large-scale research drawings.

Join us!

About Amanda Holiday (https://www.amandaholiday.com/)

Artist and poet Amanda Holiday studied Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art in the 1980s before moving into film. Her large 1987 drawing ‘Red Riding Hood’ was shown in Women in Revolt!, which toured from Tate Britain in 2024 to Whitworth, Manchester in 2025. The same year, she undertook a UKRI Travel fellowship to the Smithsonian’s NMAAHC in Washington. Holiday’s artwork was included in group shows Bloom Song and Gloam, both at The Bindery. Five of her drawings were selected for Malta Biennale26 and she is represented by Felix & Spear gallery in London where her solo show ‘Dreamery’ ran until the end of July 2026.

Accessability

General access information can be found on the Drawing Room Access Page (https://https://drawingroom.org.uk/visit-us/access/). For further information about this event and/or to address any access needs, please contact rachel@drawingroom.org.uk / 020 4547 6200

Description supplied by the event organiser.