Experimental Drawing Workshop involving three different countries at Outline

30 students, 4 Educational facilities from 3 different countries in just 2 hours!

Programme  manager Ian Andrews led the workshop based on the theme of skeletons and bone structures  designed to support the  life drawing sessions that the local students have been studying with us.The students from Sutton Girls and Bishop Vesey were joined by students from the Czech Republic and Finland who are attending the college as part of the Leonardo exchange programme.

Birmingham Metropolitan college's Outline department has a thriving overseas exchange programme where over 30 students each year have the chance to study abroad in a range of countries.

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The environmental drawing workshop has been tremendously successful over the last few years and is an ideal collaborative exercise. Students learn not only individual skills in depicting the world around them but have to learn to liaise and cooperate with other students who are drawing nearby making sure their drawings work as individual statements but also as part of a total whole.

This workshop was a privilege and a pleasure to teach, my congratulations to the students involved who many cases had not met prior to the workshop and yet managed to produce a coherent statement connecting three different countries with one visual language!!

HND Fine Art second year student Lauren Buffery in association with " The Loft "

Following a successful written proposal and interview Lauren Buffery works on a "live" drawing event in association with "The loft" organisation.

Lauren worked in the Oasis market in Birmingham at The Loft's Gallery space where she produced a drawing a day during the week's residency. The space was available for members of the public to enter at any time and talk to Lauren about the work.The student's study two units in the second year, Commissioned Artwork and Site-Specific, which  encourages students to engage in the community and external organisations, becoming familiar with writing proposals and dealing with clients.

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The theme "Faces of Birmingham" was designed to raise awareness of the different ethnicities and  cultural diversity of Birmingham seen through the faces of older residents who have lived in the area for some time. The old, whilst a resource of experience are often overlooked by society and Lauren designed  this project to celebrate age and diversity.

Outline and "Leaps and bounds" at the Library of Birmingham.

Outline has been liaising with the "Leaps and Bounds" organisation and 20 of our students have produced work as part of the "Who am I?" project which culminated recently in a private view at the Library of Birmingham.

Who am I?  asked young people to explore artistically the concepts of citizenship, heritage and identity.

In addition to the opportunity of exhibiting at the Library of Birmingham and be part of a regional tour, students were able to work with practising artists.Providing a crucial insight into how artist's develop their own personal practice for the production of artwork for sale and to work with a range of community groups to develop greater awareness and use of the visual arts in empowering people to express themselves.

Outline welcomes the Lord Lieutenant of Birmingham.

 Programme manager Ian Andrews and Director of Schools and Corporate Events  Bridget Byrne were proud to welcome representatives of the Lord lieutenant's office.Mr Paul Chandrasekharen Sabapathy CBE the Lord-Lieutenant was appointed in October 2007 and was born in India. His amazing story is another addition to the thousand stories that make up Birmingham and the Midlands.



Martin Tunstall and Denise Lewis reviewed the work produced as part of the live brief run with the Lord lieutenants office for the production of artwork to be displayed in the refurbished offices in Solihull.

Mandy purchase, Freya Rily, Catherine Suen, Suzie Bramich, Tony Simmons, Helen Johnson and Kelly Martin, students on the Foundation  Diploma in Art and Design, gave formal presentations  explaining the ideas behind their constructed textile pieces.

The students are looking forward to a visit to the offices in Solihull to meet the Lord Lietenant himself and discuss the siting of the work and appropriate display methods.

Outline presentation at the V&A in London

In November Outline took part in a series of presentations at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the launch of a publication called "15 methods 20 questions." The book was a series of interviews with people who are developing  innovative curriculum delivery models and Outline were invited to participate because of our  Experimental Drawing workshops and Community Drawing projects. 

Programme manager Ian Andrews gave a  presentation on the development of the experimental drawing workshops, their rationale and delivery methods and the City of 1000 Stories initiative run by the Department to engage community groups in the visual arts.

The presentation was an abridged version of the interview conducted with the Q-Art research team which forms part of the publication.

“FEED” Evening with visiting artist Saranjit Birdi

OUTLINE welcomed  former student Saranjit Birdi to the first FEED evening of 2013/2014. Saranjit spoke about his varied practice as an Architect, Choreographer, Theatre Designer and his work on Public Art Commissions.  His fusion of drawing and dance was of particular interest to the OUTLINE initiative.

At the end of his talk he demonstrated his drawing abilities with different parts of his anatomy! Making a portrait of Programme Manager Ian Andrews in 10 minutes using his feet!

Then it was “socks off” for those  willing to have a go themselves!