Museum of Self - Keeping a Visual Diary

A pre-recorded online 5 day course

This year more than ever we have been confined to our homes, many of us turning to it as a subject matter, for its familiarity, and personal significance - whether comforting, or claustrophobic. But if you are finding drawing yet another tea pot just a little uninspiring, this 5 day course will give you a fresh way of looking at the everyday, and aims to encourage a regular practice on a small scale. All the work will be done in a sketchbook, with guided exercises and suggested self-study throughout. It can be seen as a way into a new subject, making you see your home life with new eyes, maybe inspiring more work to develop from it. Or, it might help you rediscover the joy of keeping a sketchbook as a visual diary, for no other purpose than the process itself, a record of these times. There will be 5 sessions, which you can choose to do in 5 consecutive days, or, take your time, and see how much work can come out of each online session, let the sketchbook fill up over days or even weeks.

Course Taster

Course Details

There will be a mixture of exercises and meditations to guide and inspire you: experimenting with materials as well as exploring ideas, finding ways of starting, planting seeds for growing a creative practice. We will begin with the ordinary, an object in your pocket, getting in touch with where you are right here and now. From this anchor point you will be invited to explore your own home, create your own story, visually though observation but also through memory and association. Using only a small, portable selection of materials, you will be free to move about your home, find your favourite spots to sit and draw or dream. As you let things unfold, taking time to explore, you may be surprised at what connections you find, what inspiration awaits you, in the every day.

In the process of making this film, I have been enjoying my own process of free flowing creative ‘thinking’ through doing. Sometimes it is the material that leads the way - an ink line, a cut edge, a splash of pattern. Sometimes the idea takes over - a memory of my morning walk, the act of cleaning my teeth, a collaged photo of my own work stuck into this new context. I have found myself rediscovering recurring thoughts and images, subconsciously connecting to what is important in my practice. I shall certainly be continuing with the sketchbooks I started here.

I am so excited to be offering this course as a pre-recorded session as I can imagine you all in your own homes, something that would be impossible in a studio based course. I can feel you seeing your spaces afresh with new eyes. I can picture you moving about your homes, sitting in a sunny window, lying on the floor, climbing a dark staircase, drawing what you see and feel as you move and respond.