Last week eight students from Harrow and 19 from NHEHS joined forces to take part in the first ever Fine Art A-Level Masterclass, hosted here at NHEHS. This is the first in a series of paired masterclasses to take place here and at Harrow. The extended life drawing session highlighted the importance of working in a traditional way to produced sustained drawing studies, in an academic studio setting. This invaluable opportunity, directed by Mrs. Fisher-Black and practical sessions led by Ms. Cagnino; was essential in developing and honing drawing skill from life and building confidence in visual literacy.

During the Masterclass students took part in a number of drawing tasks;  short, fast, intensive sessions of drawing lasting 2-4 minutes as well as a longer session, to produce sustained studies. Some found the shorter sessions more difficult, for example when creating depth of line, while others found the challenge of the new shorter experience more fun as they were able to express themselves more freely, spontaneously and expressively.

The overall feedback was very positive; participants from both Harrow and NHEHS, commented on how the session deepened their understanding of composition when working on a larger scale.

The session took place in the drama studios, which meant students could use dramatic lighting and shadow to better appreciate form.

Some of the comments included:

“I felt the faster sessions were a good way to exercise my use of expressive and emotive mark making, looking more for the feeling of movement in a subject rather than the exact details. This was contrasted by the longer sessions which allowed me to work on my refined drawing skills. I was forced to pay attention to perspective and foreshortening- two areas I feel I needed to work on.”

“As the session went on, I felt my sense of shape and perspective improve.”

“I feel like I used two different styles for each of the fast and slow drawings, and I preferred the one I utilised when we did the fast drawings, as I used more rough shading and tone.”

“Being creative with how to combine the three drawings on one page was also very fun.”

“I enjoyed doing quicker poses as it really challenged me draw quickly and to analyse the model quickly. I also learnt how to see the different body parts as shapes which improved my drawings.

We look forward to more paired Fine Art masterclasses in the coming year with Harrow.