This week I write to you while I sit at my desk awaiting a workshop I am about to teach. I still get nervous ahead of a workshop, even after years of hosting them. I like to get in the right headspace, often students who take a one off workshop are new to taking classes from me and my hope is that they leave encouraged and perhaps feeling like there is room for them to be strange and make strange things.
I worry that too many of my students come to me with this idea that there is a correct way to make things and it gets in the way of them allowing themselves to make something unexpected, to do something new or weird or ugly. So, I find my job is to give them permission (and ideally for them to give themselves permission) to take risks and make mistakes.
When I first began to host workshops I would have a finished project that the students would mimic alongside me as a means of learning the material. It was a fun way to share the nuances of something like watercolor, and I had a lot of fun teaching those classes. Now when I teach workshops, I find I am called to do something a little different. I try to foster some trust in my students so that they feel comfortable taking risks with the medium they are using or the ideas they are working with.
There is a huge difference between the two when I view it from an educational standpoint. When I first taught those workshops focused on imitation- I would see students later on and ask them if they were painting or what they were making and they would often tell me that they hadn’t been. This is not their fault- and it should be noted that not everyone who takes a workshop wants to develop an art practice but I felt that my job was to encourage them to foster a new creative practice and perhaps I wasn’t formatting my workshops in a way that did that for them.
Additionally- I have spent some time questioning why so much new illustration and art work out in the world (and on social media) looks so much like the work of it’s peers and I have started to feel these workshops centered around imitation might be part of it. Unwittingly through creating imitation based workshops- are we not encouraging artists to find their own way to express themselves? I am certain it is more nuanced than that- but I have started to want to make my classes about fostering exploration and courage in finding one’s own way to make work- rather than showing students how they can make work like me.
I spend a lot of time thinking about how best to set up quick 2 hour classes in a way that encourages students to realize their own inherent creativity and continue to pursue it outside of class. Tonight’s class is a sketchbook class!
Drawing in my sketchbook is one of my favorite things, as someone who rarely uses photo reference, my sketchbook becomes my primary resource for ideas, compositions and feelings so in this workshop I share my sketchbooks, how they translate into paintings, or don’t.
We then do a timed exercise to push us into developing a drawing through repetition. Again, this isn’t imitation- I share a combo of words with everyone and then they come up with what that looks like for them. I do film myself while I do the same, but it’s really cool to see everyone come up with different things!
And then finally- I read aloud to them while they draw. This is my favorite part because it requires paying attention but also letting go of being correct. They make lists of words that stand out and begin drawing, I take a few breaks so they don’t get overwhelmed and then dive back into reading.
One of my favorite professors read for us when I was studying painting. It felt really special and caring, and my hope is to impart that while also pushing students to see that ideas and images take shape over time, through trying over and over to translate the image in our heads to paper.
Perfectionism is a word that comes up a lot when discussing art and art making- especially sketchbooks. This class is a messy class about recording ideas. My goal is to help people take that snapshot in their head and turn it into a pencil sketch. To make it easy, we keep the materials to pencils and paper and focus on just drawing!
The class is focused on the premise of- what happens if you just draw, If it isn’t perfect and it isn’t exactly what you were picturing, but you do it anyway. The only way to have a drawing practice is to draw. By the end of the class most students are surprised at what came up when they trusted that they could do it, regardless of how intimidated they felt. Over time, after the class, trusting themselves to make the work regardless of if they feel inadequate or nervous pays off!
Each time I teach a class, I am reminded of how rewarding it is to help foster creativity in others. Not foster my creativity in others- but their unique way of seeing the world.
Upcoming Workshops
I have a few upcoming workshops which I will list below, if they interest you and you have questions, let me know! I would love to talk to you about them.
In 2020 I started asking myself how I could impart knowledge of materials or process while also making space for something unexpected. I created Yellow Brick Road- a 5 week class focused on bringing your ideas to life with a painting (or whatever medium you are excited about). You can learn more about YBR here.
After teaching over a hundred Yellow Brick Road students, I found I was being asked for another class but this time focused on fostering a practice. So I created Night Class (a class that isn’t always at night) which you can learn more about here.
Other Links
Check out my work HERE
Sign up for 1:1 sessions with me- I love working with artists and I would love to work with you!
You can find work of mine for sale HERE
You can find recorded workshops by me HERE
follow me on the gram HERE
Loved the workshop yesterday Lindsay! Every time I have the privilege to learn from you I always come away not only with more trust in myself, but also some new ways of looking at my world ✨ I needed the reminder to look within and stay with my ideas instead of wanting to make “perfect” work like others. Thanks for always encouraging us to make weird stuff 👽
I love this perspective! Looking forward to someday taking one of your workshops even more now.