What’s On
Events - Workshops - Shows
Natalie Charles | The Things I Have Inside
“These [works] are the things I have inside that I toss out because there are burdens with which you cannot live or drag along…” Belkis Ayón
Natalie Charles (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist from London whose work explores connections between people and the impact of our personal histories. She honours her sensitivity to materials and flexible approach as a ‘toolkit’, working across a range of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking and animation. The foundations of her practice are materiality, shadows and texture. She makes some of her materials, enabling her to connect with and understand their potential. Her work then draws the viewer in by highlighting the intimacy in quieter moments, often through cleverly cropped compositions and delicate attention to shadows. Scale and rigour are imperative to her process, as is maintaining a playful approach to texture, pushing the surface and medium to evoke an emotional response in the viewer.
Natalie has of late been investigating her ancestry, personally and through her practice. The Things I Have Inside, a new body of work taking its name from a quote by Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón that deeply resonated with her early on in her journey into generational healing, is an articulation of the innate spiritual guidance that steers and protects her in life.
Natalie is currently on the Drawing Year 2023/4 at the Royal Drawing School having graduated with a BA Hons in Illustration from the University for the Creative Arts in 2013. She worked as an animator before pivoting to Operations and Communications management for arts charities. Natalie is a Trustee at Packed Lunch Productions and Content Manager for Middleground Magazine.
A free exhibition, with proceeds from all sales going to the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Roy Joseph Butler | From the Life Room
“As a model, I am an artist.”
As a model, writer and filmmaker, storytelling is central to Roy Joseph Butler’s practice, one now shifting towards a critical exploration of his life journey and a heritage - personal and social - informing both his identity and his outlook as a body-positive Queer person. Consequently, he is compelled to introduce and engage ever-newer audiences with the life room, a place of compulsory collaboration between fine artist and life model and a formative creative centre in which his body and the history traced upon it are displayed, ready for critical artistic interpretation. In this space, he perpetually rediscovers himself.
Roy’s work is mainly concerned with expressions of belonging. From the Life Room, his debut exhibition, is a documentation in photographs of those spaces where he, as artists’ model, has been both inspiration and subject, encouraging viewers to consider how they see, how the subject who would otherwise inhabit the space may view them and how that, in turn, translates into a conversation of creative collaboration and acceptance. In that conversation, the creatives on both sides of the easel function as artists and necessary agents, and in the tacit dialogue between them, they find manners of expression and, it is hoped, real senses of place.
Roy is the founder of charity and social enterprise Packed Lunch Productions, whose mission is to advance visual storytelling through fine art, moving image and performance, subsequently improving the social capital of its partners and participants alike. All proceeds from From the Life Room will go to supporting the organisation’s public programming.
A free exhibition.
Dulwich Festival
Presenting new and original work by figurative artists Natalie Charles and Roy Joseph Butler, exploring the narratives expressed by the human form in space and over time. Part of the Artists' Open House at Dulwich Festival 2024.
Natalie Charles (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist from London whose work explores connections between people and the impact of our personal histories. The Things I Have Inside features paintings and lino-cut prints that are an investigation of the artist's ancestry and the innate spiritual guidance that steers and protects us all in life. Proceeds from all sales will support the artist’s growth and fund public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Roy Joseph Butler (he/him) uses photography to convey aspects of belonging, his most recent series, From the Life Room, highlighting the connection between the artists' subject and both the space and the viewer that contextualise and interpret them. All proceeds from this show will be donated to Packed Lunch Productions, supporting our work in advancing visual storytelling and enhancing the social capital of everyone who engages with our initiatives.
Hosted in partnership with West Norwood Picturehouse, 1 - 7 Norwood High Street, London, England SE27 9JU.
The artists will be on-site on:
Saturday 11th May, 10 - 6 pm
Sunday 12th May, 10 - 6 pm
Saturday 18th May, 10 - 6 pm
Sunday 19th May, 10 - 6 pm
Painting Imagination (Parent-child)
The mind is a powerful thing. Ever changing. Ever creative.
In this free family workshop, you'll be given all the tools and inspiration you'll need to pool imaginations and create unique, vibrant works of art. The mediums of choice will be gouache and watercolour paints, with a host of supplementary materials to make your creations really pop.
Materials are included, but make sure you bring your imagination.
In partnership with Barnet Youth, Barnet Library Service and the London Borough of Barnet.
Free. Online booking essential.
Life Drawing East of Eden
Packed Lunch Goes East of Eden
The creative spirit is within us all. To recognise and celebrate this potential, this reality, we’ve partnered with fitness studio East of Eden to offer life drawing for all levels of ability.
In keeping with the East of Eden exhibition for the E17 Art Trail, Finding peace in the human experience by Heather Milner, this is an experience where model and drawers alike can find their own fresh, unique ways to flex their creative muscles, finding that secret dialogue and synthesis between them that encapsulates something of themselves.
We’ll also be welcoming a new art nude to the life room, Ravi, a transman and creative soul whose personal experience of finding peace in the human experience (and body) will no doubt inspire.
Materials provided, but if you prefer bringing your own, dry mediums only, please!
Paper also provided, as well as guidance for all new drawers on where to make your first marks and how to continue.
Spaces are limited, online booking essential.
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Ravi is part of the Starkers Academy, an initiative for new and developing life models. Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch or visit the Starkers Academy.
Chrissy Thirlaway | Intimate Stories of Feelings
“I use the human form to examine…tensions between light and colour, culture and emotion.”
Chrissy Thirlaway is a fine and creative artist working out of Brixton, South London and Los Angeles, California. She began serious drawing, she would say, at the age of nine, during a period of several years living in Brazil and with no contact with other children.
“Like many people, I've felt a bit of an outsider since I was a child, born in one country, raised in another… Drawing was my companion and my teacher then, and still is now, allowing me to relate and respect the subject.” For Chrissy, drawing was and is a journey of exploration “of our interface with the world I find myself living in and its consequences. I am in awe of the beauty of what is. What comes from me are delicate, precise, emotional narratives about [people’s] common experiences and what it is to be human beings.”
The process of painting is an extended, layered process of her practice, often taking months to complete, while clarifying her insight(s) into the impulse(s) for a particular work. Sometimes, it is a window into the world she knows, and other times the canvas' edge is the world. Her subjects are naked and natural, stripped of all disguise, and in their nudity are both vulnerable and powerful.
Chrissy also works in three dimensions - including textile, copper and glass - and her work is held in private collections in the United Kingdom, the USA, Brazil, Indonesia, Qatar, Portugal, Germany and France. Intimate Stories of Feelings is her latest solo show.
A free exhibition, with proceeds from all sales going to the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Life Drawing at Burgh House: (In)Visible Women
Capturing the In(Visible)
We return to Burgh House Museum this summer with another exuberant evening of multi-model life drawing for all levels of drawing ability
As part of the museum’s programming around their Marie-Louise von Motesiczky and Dorothy Bohm exhibitions, we welcome Patricia Oon and Valentina Rock to the life room, celebrating the power of their physical selves, inspiring with the stories of their bodies and promoting the visibility of women who are often absent or overlooked in the art world.
Drawing will take place in the Burgh House public space, with a drink included in the ticket price.
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
Limited spaces, booking essential.
Members & U25s: £16.96 + 1.96 booking fee | Non-members: £20.21 + £2.21 booking fee
Tickets via Burgh House Museum
Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch or visit the Starkers Academy.
Watercolours in Practice with the V&A
Paintbox belonging to the miniature painter George Engleheart (1750 – 1829). Museum no. P.16-1925. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Live online watercolour workshop inspired by the V&A collections.
Details coming soon…
Life Drawing at Burgh House: Women and Portraiture
A beautiful marriage of art appreciation and art practice for all levels of ability.
May. The month when many cultures celebrate Mother’s Day and the world observes International Victorious Woman Month and Women’s Health Month.
It also marks our return to Burgh House Museum with an inter-generational multi-model life drawing experience promoting the visibility of women often overlooked, and too often absent, in the art world.
As part of the museum’s exhibitions of works by painter Marie-Louise von Motesiczky and photographer Dorothy Bohm exhibitions exploring the (in)visibility of women, we welcome Poppy McMurtrie and Jane Roberts to the life room, celebrating the power underpinning their physical selves and inspiring drawers of all abilities with the stories of their bodies.
Drawing will take place in the Burgh House public space, with a drink included in the ticket price.
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
All levels of drawing ability are welcome and encouraged.
Spaces are limited. Booking is essential.
Members: £15 + 1.96 booking fee | Non-members: £18 + £2.21 booking fee
Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch or visit the Starkers Academy.
Exhibition Launch - Natalie Charles | The Things I Have Inside
Launching the latest solo show by multidisciplinary artist Natalie Charles (she/her).
“These [works] are the things I have inside that I toss out because there are burdens with which you cannot live or drag along…” - Belkis Ayón
Join us in person on Friday, 19th April at the Picturehouse to immerse yourself in this free exhibition by the artist, featuring new works tapping into her ongoing interest in the connections between people and the impact of our personal histories.
No RSVP necessary, just turn up!
The evening also celebrates the exhibition launch of From the Life Room by Roy Joseph Butler.
Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Exhibition Launch - Roy Joseph Butler | From the Life Room
Launching the debut photo exhibition by art nude and creative Roy Joseph Butler.
“As a model, I am an artist.”
Join us in person on Friday, 19th April at the Picturehouse to immerse yourself in this free exhibition, a documentation in photographs of those spaces where he, the artist as artists’ model, has been both inspiration and subject, encouraging viewers to consider how they see, how the subject who would otherwise inhabit the space may view them and how that, in turn, translates into a conversation of creative collaboration and acceptance.
No RSVP necessary, just turn up!
The evening also celebrates the exhibition launch of The Things I Have Inside by multidisciplinary artist Natalie Charles.
Proceeds from all sales donated to Packed Lunch Productions, funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
BIAF presents: Charcoal Animation Workshop
Come and learn erasure charcoal animation with artist and animator Leo Crane. Everything will be provided, you just need to bring your smart phone.
Easter Art Fun (8 - 13 years)
Hop into Spring…
…with a FREE Easter arts workshop that lets your creative spirit roam free!
Using a mixture of ingredients - from paints, crayons and coloured pencils to ribbons, sparkles and magazines - you'll create a series of mixed-media art works that shine a light on what Easter means for you.
Materials are included, but make sure you bring your imagination.
In partnership with Barnet Youth, Barnet Library Service and the London Borough of Barnet.
Free. Online booking essential.
Life Drawing at Ajamu Studios
A new year, a new thing.
And, in 2024, our newest thing is the partnership with artist-photographer, curator, archivist and activist Ajamu X to bring life drawing to his South London creative haven.
In March, we welcome dancer, singer, actor, yogi, fitness instructor, art nude and all-around diva Kage Douglas to the life room at Ajamu’s studio, offering up his unique brand of gesture, grace and athleticism for the drawing public. Expect dynamism. Expect poise, confidence. Expect poses that will both challenge and invite interpretation and freedom.
But, not to worry. This is a drawing experience for all levels of ability, because, frankly, everyone can draw. Believe it!
Boards, paper and materials are also very much included.
However, spaces are extremely limited, so book asap!
£15 per person (complimentary ticket for assistant)
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Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch or visit the Starkers Academy.
Life Drawing at Burgh House (SOLD OUT)
Fancy a resolution?
How about stretching your creative muscle with life drawing?
We return to Burgh House Museum in the new year with an exuberant evening of multi-model life drawing for all levels of drawing ability. And in 2024, even the art nudes have resolutions - to model for the very first time!
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In February, we welcome Terry Mason and Jonathan Dockney to the life room, making their creative debuts as life models for the drawing public. Terry and Jonathan are the latest inductees of the Starkers Academy, an inclusive body-positive learning initiative for new and developing art nudes.
Drawing will take place in the Burgh House public space, with a drink included in the ticket price.
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
Limited spaces, booking essential.
Members: £11 + 1.62 booking fee | Non-members: £14 + £1.87 booking fee
Tickets via Burgh House Museum - SOLD OUT
Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch or visit the Starkers Academy.
Art Business for Artists
In this business boot camp, students will develop personalised strategies to become successful artists in today’s international art world.
Over five live sessions, students will meet expert guest speakers and be guided through the key components of a business strategy for professional fine art practice. The course starts with defining success and identifying workstreams to balance creative freedom with income generation. Participants will learn how to build relationships with cultural institutions and public sector funding bodies, as well as positioning within a global market, from pricing works of art to effectively negotiating commissions and gallery representation. Students will also explore the wealth of potential of digital strategies from social media to the rise of web3. In the final session, students will consolidate their learning into a framework for their own individualized practice.
Sketching the Museum
Capture the museum in these guided sketching classes led by artist Leo Crane. After an introduction by Leo, you’ll explore the galleries in a small group, capturing details from our vast collection. Using a variety of sketching techniques, you’ll develop your pencil drawing practice and style, whilst looking at objects in a new and detailed way.
£35
1.5 hours (three time slots to choose from)
Book via the V&A website for 10:30 - 1200, 13:00 - 14:30 or 15:00 - 16:30
Sketching the Museum
Explore the galleries of the National Army Museum and develop your drawing skills in this sketching workshop led by artist Leo Crane.
Take inspiration from the varied objects on display in the National Army Museum’s galleries in this guided drawing session led by artist and educator Leo Crane.
Following an introduction by Leo, you’ll explore the Museum, selecting objects, details and spaces to create your own visual narrative under his guidance. You’ll be encouraged to develop your drawing techniques, as well as to look at objects and artworks in a new way.
Tickets are £20. You can book onto one of these sessions via the National Army Museum website:
10.30am - 12.00pm
1.30am - 3.00pm
Exhibition Launch - Anna Marlen-Summers | Manifest. Oh?
Launching the latest solo show by mixed-media creative Anna Marlen-Summers.
“What do we make when we want to make something special? What does that say about us, and what we think is important? When we make, we manifest. A thing is in the house that wasn’t there before, and what on earth are you supposed to do with it? What is it to crown yourself, especially if you increasingly look like your mother, who recently died. Is the sparkle real, and does it even matter?”
Join us in person on Friday, 12th January at the Picturehouse to immerse yourself in this free exhibition of recent re-works by the artist, created in response to the remnants of her previous exhibitions Trying (2022) and Trace (2021), a visit to Vienna (where she saw the relics of various saints in various churches and the bejewelled skeletons of Germany’s rural Catholic churches as photographed by Paul Koudounaris) and a vaguely remembered talk attended some time in 2010-ish.
No RSVP necessary, just turn up!
The evening also celebrates the exhibition launch of Equilibrium by fine artist Maria Rado.
Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Exhibition Launch - Maria Rado | Equilibrium
Launching the latest solo show by fine artist Maria Rado.
“I start a painting with my own vision of it, what it is and why it’s there but I leave it loose and open, so you can find your own world in it.”
Join us in person on Friday, 12th January at the Picturehouse to immerse yourself in this free exhibition of recent work by the artist, using inspirations from nature to create a string of ten paintings of dancing colours and dynamic forms that balance and speak with one another.
No RSVP necessary, just turn up!
The evening also celebrates the exhibition launch of Manifest. Oh? by maker and mixed-media creative Anna Marlen-Summers.
Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Introduction to Watercolours
Discover the lively personality of watercolour painting. Through a series of exercises with expert tutor Leo Crane, each week, you’ll explore a different way to use this versatile medium, from luminous manuscript painting to precision illustration and spontaneous mark-making. By the end of the course, you will have tried out a variety of techniques, creating a mini portfolio of sample pieces and a final project.
Learn from our world-class experts wherever, whenever: watch classes live or view the recording later in your own time.
Time to explore: 12 hours of live classroom sessions over six weeks.
Consolidate your learning: watch over 20 specially commissioned How To videos to support your course. Receive feedback from the class tutor on your work.
Deepen your understanding: weekly Spotlight Sessions with V&A Curators, Art Historians and practicing artists explore the background to the projects.
Learn at your own pace: lecture recordings and study materials are available for six weeks after the course ends, so you'll never miss a minute.
Course fee: £260
Maria Rado | Equilibrium
“I start a painting with my own vision of it, what it is and why it’s there but I leave it loose and open, so you can find your own world in it.”
Maria Rado is a fine artist based in London whose work explores minimalist abstract approaches that evoke a specific feeling or sense of place for the viewer. Her artistic interests extend to nature, especially the beauty of the underwater world, where the way light and colour behave continues to inspire an ongoing series of paintings. She also focuses on verdure - the richness of flora, its curves and the balanced innate in its proportions.
Maria was raised in Bulgaria and earned her Master’s of Fine Arts from the National Academy of Art Sofia in 1996. She subsequently worked in advertising and publishing for twenty-five years, holding positions in Europe, the Americas and Africa. During this time, she also illustrated more than fifteen books. In 2018, Maria relocated to the UK, where she has focused full-time on her painting practice, and her work can be found in private collections in the UK and Europe, the USA and Canada.
Equilibrium is a new series by the artist, using inspirations from nature to create a string of ten paintings of dancing colours and dynamic forms that balance and speak with one another.
A free exhibition, with proceeds from all sales going to the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Anna Marlen-Summers | Manifest. Oh?
“What do we make when we want to make something special? What does that say about us, and what we think is important? When we make, we manifest. A thing is in the house that wasn’t there before, and what on earth are you supposed to do with it? What is it to crown yourself, especially if you increasingly look like your mother, who recently died. Is the sparkle real, and does it even matter?”
Anna Marlen-Summers is a maker living in London. Having worked in arts education for over twenty years, she periodically oscillated between:
1 - feeling that all her own creative practice has been obliterated, and all the remains is the occasional craft outburst;
2 - deciding that the teaching itself is a creative practice (it’s just that she gave all her ideas to teenagers to do, badly);
3 - wondering if perhaps just making things is good for you, and so it should be done.
Having now moved away from the classroom and into adult arts education management, as well as completing an MA in Arts and Learning at Goldsmiths, University of London, she now finds that in fact all three coexist in her practice, alongside an all-encompassing compulsion to collect and stockpile discount arts and crafts materials.
Manifest. Oh? is an exhibition of recent re-works created in response to the remnants of her previous exhibitions Trying (2022) and Trace (2021), a visit to Vienna (where she saw the relics of various saints in various churches and the bejewelled skeletons of Germany’s rural Catholic churches as photographed by Paul Koudounaris) and a vaguely remembered talk attended some time in 2010-ish. It is demonstrably NOT a manifesto.
A free exhibition, with proceeds from all sales going to the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Life Drawing Queer Identities
A celebration of Lisetta Carmi, featuring artists’ model Olli McSorley.
Join us for a very special evening of life drawing inspired by the ground-breaking work of photographer Lisetta Carmi - in partnership with the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art and part of its public programming for the exhibition Lisetta Carmi: Identities (20th Sep - 17th Dec 2023).
Prepare to be immersed in texture, shape, and composition, celebrating the nude form as both a site of Queer identities and physical inclusivity! And working directly from a life model, you’ll also explore materials, techniques and dialogues inspired by Lisetta Carmi's works.
No drawing experience is needed, and all levels of ability are welcome and encouraged.
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own . (Dry materials only, please!)
Online booking essential, limited spaces available.
If you have any accessibility needs, please contact education@estorickcollection.com.
£25 (£20 Estorick Collection Members & 18+ Students w/ID)
Celestial Life Drawing
Images from the V&A Collection
Drop into this life drawing workshop where we conjure up a celestial being on a crisp winter night. Model Maya will pose with the moon and stars, evoking constellations and Christmas fairy tales. Guidance is on hand from artist Leo Crane and all materials are provided. No experience necessary.
Please note that this event is exclusively for V&A Members. Join here.
Christmas Open Studios at Cooper’s Yard
We’re opening our studio doors at Cooper’s Yard once again as part of the Christmas Open House. Whether you're an art aficionado or just looking for a unique gift, you'll find a fantastic line-up of creatives and makers each ready to share their passion and artistry with you.
You’ll also get to discover what we do at Packed Lunch, including our public-facing visual storytelling experiences, learning programmes and studio productions. Original artwork and signed copies of the book Contemporary Figures in Watercolour will also be available, ideal gifts for the burgeoning and practicing creative(s) in your life.
Pop by and say hi, and bring the family!
Life Drawing at Burgh House
Sublime multi-model life drawing in the heart of Hampstead.
We return to Burgh House Museum in November with another life drawing experience celebrating the body-positive, featuring art nudes Esther and Alex.
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Realise the innate beauty and power of two distinct human forms, gaining inspiration to release your inner creative courtesy of confident, inspired poses.
Drawing will take place in the Burgh House public space, and all levels of drawing ability are welcome and encouraged.
So, leave your reservations at the door, help yourself to a drink (included in the ticket price) and let the creativity flow!
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
Limited spaces available.
Tickets: £15.70 (£12.62 Burgh House Members & U25s)
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Alex Sarson made his life modelling debut in September 2023 with Bare Life Drawing, a champion of new and developing artists’ models.
And in 2024, we look to revive the Starkers Academy, a multi-partnership initiative where new life models are born and nurtured.
Ever considered trying life modelling yourself? For information about gaining experience, ticking off that bucket list item or properly getting started in the industry, get in touch.
Charcoal Animation Workshop (16 - 25 years)
A hands-on practical animation workshop for ambitious 16 - 25 year olds anywhere in the UK, in partnership with the BFI Film Academy and Fabrica.
Digital Strategies in the Art World
This course introduces the use of AI, blockchain, and metaverse technologies to art businesses and museums.
Gallery and Life Drawing - Black History Month 2023
SOLD OUT
Celebrate Black History Month 2023 at Queer Britain with fine-art-creative-indulgence realness.
Dig deeper, look closer, think bigger...
...and allow your inner-creative OUT with a life drawing experience for all abilities, featuring sex-positive, body-positive, Caribbean Queen art nude DMAC (he/him). Expect poses both exquisite and dynamic from a consummate, inspired performer.
But first, warm up with a spot of gallery drawing in the UK's incomparable museum of British LGBTQIA history and culture. Explore and re-interpret the works of global-majority Queer artists with your own drawn creations. And not to worry, technical support will be available, so no drawing experience required in this all-inclusive experience.
Boards, paper and materials are provided, and you're welcome to bring your own drawing supplies
Online booking essential, limited spaces available.
If you have any accessibility needs, please email Katie at Hello@QueerBritain.org.uk.
About tickets -
Queer Britain is committed to making its events accessible to everyone, regardless of financial circumstances. As a result, they offer four types of tickets:
£5: General admission
£10: An option to pay a little forward for those who can't.
Set Your Own Price: This option allows you to set the price of your ticket, so if you would like to pay a little less or a little more then you can do so.
Free: If you need a free ticket for any reason, no need to contact us, just select this option when registering.
Exhibition Launch - Exhibit12 | Community
“Acting on a desire to get back to our work and awaken our creative juices once again.”
Join us on Friday, 22nd September at West Norwood Library & Picturehouse to launch the latest exhibition of South London art collective Exhibit12.
Exhibit12 was formed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, founded on a desire to embrace a new-normal - reconnecting, coming together and creating fresh work in a post-lockdown world.
Works include prints, original oils and acrylics, collage, mosaics and three-dimensional mixed-media pieces giving a flavour of the collective’s depth of talent, richness of inspiration and love of their community.
No RSVP necessary. Just turn up!
Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artists and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Exhibit12 | Community
“Creativity is part of what drives us as humans.” - Oana Gavrila, Exhibit12
The Exhibit12 collective is a product of the pandemic.
Initially an online exhibition event, run by a small group of South London creatives acting on a desire to get back to work during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown and enliven their creative juices, Exhibit12 began as a platform for showing and selling work in the digital space.
It has since expanded to a collective of 12+ creatives assisting each other in their artistic journeys, providing a welcoming and supportive environment for artistic connection and collaboration with other artists, and creating and nurturing conversations around art and creative practice.
Exhibit12 also exists to make the most of the power in numbers, coming together to take its work into communities and taking up opportunities that show our work to the wider art world.
Community is the collective’s latest offering, an exhibition of recent work that highlights the skills, stories and aesthetic of the individual artists while exemplifying the heart and soul of this ever-evolving group: community.
A free exhibition, with proceeds from all sales going to the artists and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
Charcoal Animation at the V&A
Discover the magic of charcoal animation to make your own hand-drawn film using a smartphone and simple drawing materials.
By George, They’re Starkers!: Queer Nude Body-Positive Life Drawing
Performative multi-model life drawing deluxe.
The Queer Georgian Social Season is back! And with it, for the second year running, returns our special brand of multi-model life drawing, an extravaganza placing the Queer nude front and centre, literally.
In partnership with Burgh House and vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Bougies Baroques, and featuring art muse-models Kyle White, Mauricia Lewis and Roman Ackley.
One quick, efficient way of denying a culture and rewriting its history is to destroy its art. Considering how much Queer-coded art was destroyed and hidden over the centuries by various religious and political forces, it is amazing so much of it still exists. Classical examples of the nude physical ideal, as displayed by prototypical figures such as the faun, nymph, satyr, warrior, god, and goddess – for which popularity reached fever pitch during the Georgian Era – provide us with a crucial key to Queer identities handed down through the ages by the ancients, in turn establishing the centrality of the original Classical nude, and its myriad reinterpretations, within the historical development of the Queer community.
In this creative fine-art experience, you get to immerse yourself in the making of art as a pure celebration of the nude form as both a site of Queer identities and of physical inclusivity.
So please, leave your preconceptions at the door, help yourself to a drink (included in the ticket price, no less) and let your creativity flow!
No drawing experience is needed, and all levels of ability are welcome and encouraged.
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
Online booking essential, limited spaces available.
£18 (£15 Burgh House Members & U25s)
Groucho Life Drawing
LIMITED SPACES REMAINING
In August, clown-of-all-trades Clapmutt enters the life room. Model, creative, nonsense pop artist, Clapmutt experiments with bold approaches to the life drawing experience, offering up emotion and absurdist narratives in his trademark lipstick and plaster bow tie, encouraging you to draw what you see instead of what you think you know.
“The clown is here to prove that creativity doesn't have to be all the time a pretty result. He believes in the principle FUN=SUCCESS and his audience has elected #mindbreaking #entertaining #emotional and #chameleon as his most characteristic hashtags.”
An out, loud and proud Queer and HIV activist, Clapmutt's work supports the HIV community as well as the sexual and mental health of future generations. Pop music, dance, acting, fashion and fine art are his weapons of choice, always aiming to do what art does best - redrawing what people think.
“POP doesn’t only stand for popular, but for POPULATION.”
Clapmutt is an international poser, having worked with artists and groups online and in person in the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and around London. He has appeared on Channel 4's Drawers Off, posed for Getty images and been featured in Attitude magazine.
A drawing experience for all levels of ability, because, frankly, everyone can draw.
Boards, paper and materials included, but you’re welcome to bring your own.
Online booking essential.
Tickets: £15
Life Drawing at Burgh House
Sublime multi-model life drawing in the heart of Hampstead.
We return to Burgh House Museum in July with another life drawing experience celebrating the body-positive, featuring art nudes Leo and Cyril.
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Realise the innate beauty and power of two distinct human forms, gaining inspiration to release the inner creative intrinsic to us all courtesy of elegant, confident and powerful poses.
Drawing will take place in the Burgh House gallery and public spaces, and all levels of drawing ability are welcome and encouraged.
So, leave your reservations at the door, help yourself to a drink (included in the ticket price) and let the creativity flow!
Materials, boards and paper are provided, and you are welcome to bring your own.
Online booking essential, limited spaces available.
Tickets: £13.70 (£9.38 Burgh House Members & U25s)
The Art of Sport (Parent-child | 4 - 8 years)
Sport really is an art form…
…so why not celebrate it with an art experience for all the family!
In this painting workshop, you'll capture your favourite sports and sporting heroes using gouache, a water-based medium that's easy and fun to use.
From Wimbledon and the Gay Games to the Rugby and FIFA Women's World Cup, Summer 2023 promises to be a bumper season for sport...and now, inspiration for a hugely creative season of art.
Materials are included, but make sure you bring your imagination.
In partnership with Barnet Youth, Barnet Library Service and the London Borough of Barnet.
Free. Online booking essential.
Exhibition Launch - Lizita | The Radical Gender
Launching the latest exhibition of original work by artist-illustrator Lizita.
“Movement is the manifestation of life. Moving is an all-natural process, such as blood circulating in our veins, such as the rotations of the earth, microcosmos = macrocosmos… Stagnation and standstill are death. In shamanism, death is believed to be a transformation into another stage, a further level of existence and consciousness. It is the condensation of the physical body into light, referring to a luminous being.”
Join us in person on Friday, 7th July at the Picturehouse to immerse yourself in this free exhibition of new work that explores the concepts of movement and human transformation while questioning the social structures within which they are considered.
No RSVP necessary, just turn up!
The evening also celebrates the exhibition launch of Of Light and Men by photographer Roberto Boussin.
Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artists and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.