12 / 40
12
ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Art on the Wild Side
By Anna Millar
Julie Brook, a land artist who
has worked in the Hebrides
and the Libyan desert, came
to School in February and ran
a day’s workshop with Lower
Sixth Art pupils to develop
and improve our drawing
techniques. She wanted us
to appreciate the outdoors
and engage with our
environment so we spent the
morning drawing down by the canal sitting on
the ground and drawing from life. Then, after
lunch, we used our sketches and worked in
the studio with large A1 paper on the floor. In
her second visit, we all went out to Wytham
Woods where we worked on paper with a
variety of media such as ink, charcoal, salt,
crayon and pencil to try to
create the views through the
trees. She then encouraged
us to start working with the
environment itself and move
branches, leaves and dirt into
forms that contrasted with
the natural landscape, and the
extreme weather conditions
enhanced the ephemerality
of these pieces. In all sessions,
Julie encouraged us to focus on the forms
as areas of light and dark as opposed to
outlines. She was inspiring and helped us all
learn a huge range of new techniques and
approaches that will definitely help us in many
different ways along our course. I hope she
enjoyed her visits as much as we all did!
Anna Millar
Head of Art Adam Hahn with Kevin Yang
Julie Brook with Lila Pollen and Mia Nicholas