Amateur and aspiring artists have a rare opportunity to learn from a master, thanks to a workshop in June at the University of Mississippi Museum.
“Learning to Sketch from Museum Masters” is a two-day weekend event June 27-28 in the museum’s studios and galleries. Sessions begin at 2 p.m. each day. The cost is $30 for members and $45 for non-members and includes all materials.
Space is very limited and early registration is recommended. To register online, click here or come by the museum front desk during normal hours of operation.
“We are so thrilled to announce this newest adult workshop, led by esteemed artist and educator Constance Pierce,” said Emily McCauley, education curator. “Coming with an amazing background in museum and art workshops, Constance Pierce’s first weekend workshop at our museum promises to be an engaging program that you will not want to miss out on.”
Saturday’s session in the museum’s Art Studio demonstrates how to prepare sketchbook pages in advance by creating delicate watercolor monotypes. Students will then practice “paraphrase”‘ sketching of master artists’ drawings while experimenting with watercolor pencils and wash.
On Sunday, actual sketching begins in the museum galleries. Participants use the watercolor pages created the previous afternoon to gesturally sketch over them while viewing works in the galleries. A surprising synchronicity often emerges as the sketches combine with the background colors.
To complete the afternoon, the group will return to the studio to add final accents with wash.
“This two-step process is especially useful for museum sketching, because the wet medium is utilized before the dry sketching that is required in galleries and museums,” McCauley said.
Pierce has twice exhibited her sketchbooks at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She also serves as a professor of drawing at Millsaps College.
Her sketchbooks are in the collection of the National Gallery of Art Rare Book Library, the Yale Center for British Art, Prints and Drawings and the Oxford Treehouse Gallery. She is exhibiting in Japan in June.
Courtesy UM Communications
