Project in a Night displayed as the Flying Pages

 Project in a night involves the production of a series of drawings developing an idea or theme in a short space of time. This sequential development is naturally suited to the flying pages method of display

 Seen here displayed in the Outline Department itself ,this presentational format  is becoming extremely popular and generated a lot of interest from members of the public and colleagues.

Another successful Project in a Night Workshop

 Students produce a series of drawings developing an idea or theme in only two hours!





 Programme Manager Ian Andrews leads the Group crit.

The Tree of 1000 Stories

This is a time laps of our latest  drawing workshop, which was held at Birmingham Central Library.

Comenius Exchange Programme

This week students from colleges in Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, Latvia and Bulgaria are visiting Outline. The group of students was working on a large scale mural inspired by their local surroundings.

Outline presents a "Drop in " Event at Birmingham Book Festival

The 1000 stories team worked with members of the public attending the Birmingham book Festival to create the "flying pages" of the book of Birmingham Installation.

Participants were encouraged to contribute in a variety of ways from making a freehand drawing that expressed something about themselves, to making a quick rubbing of their postcode telling us about the areas they travelled in from.

   

Some participants traced images from famous Birmingham landmarks, others made more personal contributions revealing more details about their stories in visual form.

Details of the "flying book of Birmingham" installation.

The drawings produced were gradually added to the "flying pages" Installation, which changed and evolved across the duration of the Festival.

Book Festival Event

Our youngest participant in the event!

Memories of the train journey into the city.

Author Anna Lawrence Pietroni.

Book of Birmingham

Come along this week or next to join us at The Birmingham Book festival in the library. The 1000 stories team invites you to participate in our latest art installation, the Book of Birmingham. Share you personal experience and tell your story through words and images using a range of simple mark making and drawing techniques, before adding your contribution to the flying pages of the Book of Birmingham installation in the pop-up bookshop.

Spend some time or simply drop in for a moment to add your ‘visual voice’ to the many fragments. Join us, let your story be part of the installation, be creative and make your mark!

The Birmingham Book Festival runs from the 4^th October until 13^th October at the Birmingham Library, weekdays 10am – 5.30pm, Saturdays 9am – 4.30pm, Sunday the library is closed. 

Find more information about the Festival here.

The view from the outside in

Workshop at Birmingam Museum and Art Gallery

To follow up our first workshop at the BMAG, the Outline team worked once more with a group of participants from the Friends of the gallery. After a brief demonstration by Ian Andrews, the participants used the same methods that artist would use to establish accuracy and proportion in their drawings. The practical workshop at the gallery was concluded by Graham Lawler with an art historical analysis of proportion within the work of past and present artists.

 Above: Observational drawings produced during the workshop on accuracy and proportion.

Workshop at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

The Outline drawing team working with the friends of BMAG delivered the first practical drawing workshop in the museum. Participants analysed paintings and famous art works from an artist’s perspective, making drawings in pen and pencil. The art historian has great insights to impart about the artwork in museum collections, but often for artists they are more immediate and relevant than historical. They respond to the visual and need to capture the excitement of looking at the art of the past.

The participants worked with practising artists, Ian Andrews, Sally Butcher and Tjark Schoenfeld in making compositional analyses of paintings in the collection, looking at the main directional impulses, the distribution of lights and darks and the use of positive and negative spaces. The practical drawing was followed by a group critique and concluded with a presentation by Graham Lawlor who contextualised the practical session into an art historical framework.

Ian Andrews demonstrating and discussing the main directional lines and tonal values in an artwork with a participant of the workshop.

One of many studies produced during the workshop.

Ian Andrews and the group of participants during the group critique, which followed the workshop.

Graham Lawler gave the group an insight into how artists construct and develop artworks from an art historical point of view.