Drawing Interiors

Our winter exhibition details have now been finalized and we are excited to have two artists Fran Richardson and Ruth Wallace exhibiting with us.

Both artists have different approaches to similar themes of absence in a domestic setting.

Fran’s drawings exploit the blackness of the charcoal to create a dark, shadowy, unhomely place where unusual furniture and objects emerge from an endless void. Areas of the paper are left exposed for dramatic contrast with the dazzling light acting as a barrier to the possibilities beyond the confines of the architecture.

Ruth makes large-scale drawings in charcoal, graphite and mixed media. Her recent work, which centres on portrayals of women’s clothing, explores the dichotomy between absence and presence and the homely and the disturbing in relation to the domestic interior. It also addresses issues connected with memory and female identity and is informed by the distinctive visual style of film noir.

We hope this exhibition will be quiet and thought provoking relief to the usual Christmas mayhem.


Untitled – Lamp 3, 2007, Charcoal on Fabriano 5, Fran Richardson


For further details about Fran's work visit www.franrichardson.com
For further details about Ruth click here

Exhibition: Richard Box

We are pleased to announce that the artist Richard Box will be having a solo show at the Bristol Drawing School next spring, 16th Feb - 24th Feb 2009.

Richard specializes in the use of light using neon and glass and will also be showing how drawing and mark making influence and help him in his work.

For more information visit his website http://www.richardbox.com/


Shake Pole 30.09 -15.10.06

Autumn Term Timetable

Our Autumn term timetable is now available for booking.

We have a new tutor this term, Ruth Wallace, who ran our successful Developing Texture workshop in June, who will be running a Drawing course on Monday mornings.

We also have a new course, The Process of Drawing, aimed at experienced students. This course is aimed at helping students develop their work further and will involve individual tuition as well as group discussion.

Valerie Bowes returns to Monday afternoons with her popular Life Drawing class, and as a result the untutored class moves to Wednesday afternoon, where there is an opportunity to then continue drawing into the evening with the Wednesday evening drop in class. Discounts available if you book both sessions!

For further details have a look at our website http://www.drawingschool.org.uk/courses.asp

To book any course ring 0845 680 1409

Developing Texture in Drawing Workshop

This weekend we held our first two day adult drawing workshop. It was run by Ruth Wallace and was an opportunity for the students to explore a variety of drawing materials and techniques, full details here.

A good time was had by all and some interesting work was produced, below are some images from the weekend.











Ruth will be running a weekly drawing class this autumn term, have a look at our website for more information.

Jason Hicklin : Drawings, Paintings and Etchings

Full details of Jason Hicklin's solo show at the Bristol Drawing School are now available. The show will run from the 5th - 21st September 2008 and we will be having a preview evening on the 4th September from 6pm to 9pm, all welcome.

This will be our first event after our August break and we are sure that it will be perfect introduction to our Autumn programme, you may remember Jason from our Drawing Matters show at Easter.

Jason has kindly agreed to give a talk about his work before the preview on the 4th September at 5pm, if you are interested then please do just come along to the school then, admission is free.

For full details about the show, click here


Inishfree Bay, Co Donegal


Inishsirrer, Co Donegal, Etching


Staffa, Etching

We will also be running a etching workshop on the 27th September with Jason, if you are interested in this then contact us on 0845 680 1409 or by email to info@drawingschool.org.uk

You can see more examples of Jason's work by visiting his website: www.jasonhicklin.com

Half Term Childrens Workshops

This half term we are continuing our series of childrens workshops with artist Rose Popay

Charcoal drawing, canvas painting, mark making with music, dressing up in outfits, inventing characters and fantasy worlds, creating artworks to take home.

Fun and excitement for ages 5 to 8 and 8+, prices start from £12

Click here for more details

Some images from the last ones...

Drawing Matters: Comments

"Looks fantastic!" - TW
"Fab show - fab idea - thank you and well done" - EM
"I've learned a lot of things and am looking forward to experimenting with drawing further using the inspiration from here" - DS
"Very inspiring - opened my eyes to more possibilities than I imagined - thanks" - ML
"A wonderful range of work - very inspiring!" - VL