Movement, Drawing & Transformation

Explore the meeting point between body and image in this in-person workshop with acclaimed sculptor Vanessa da Silva, moving between guided movement and drawing alongside her artwork featured in the College's exhibition The Etheric Field.

Our bodies are always changing, adapting to new places, rhythms and experiences. Vanessa da Silva's sculptural practice explores the body in a state of transformation. Shaped by her own experience of moving between cultures, her sculptures take on hybrid forms that exist somewhere between the human body and the natural world, their flowing contours giving each one a sense of movement, as if it were a being in a state of becoming.

This workshop takes that idea as its starting point, exploring the relationship between movement and drawing. Through breath, gesture and rhythm, you will discover how physical sensations can become marks, lines and shapes on the page, and how drawing in turn can suggest new ways of moving.

Vanessa says: "Within my sculptural practice, I often think of a body in a state of transformation. My own experience of moving between cultures has made me think about how we change to adapt to new environments. My sculptures take on hybrid forms that exist somewhere between the human body and the natural world. Their contours give the forms a sense of movement, as if each sculpture were a being in a state of becoming."

What to expect

The workshop begins in The Etheric Field exhibition room with an introduction to Vanessa's practice and her sculpture Camaleoa, inviting you to look closely at its forms and sense of movement. The practical session then brings attention to the body through breathing and gentle guided movement, focusing on gesture, rhythm and physical sensation. You will draw in response to these experiences, then move back and forth between drawing and movement, discovering how each can influence the other.

The process is open-ended and exploratory, with space for both individual discovery and shared experience. You will be encouraged to follow your own ideas and see where they lead, and the session closes with an optional chance to look at each other's drawings together and reflect on the experience.

All materials will be supplied by the College.

This in-person workshop includes:

• An introduction to Vanessa's sculptural practice and her featured artwork Camaleoa in The Etheric Field exhibition room
• Arriving in the body through breathing and gentle guided movement
• Exploring gesture, rhythm, direction and pace through simple guided prompts
• Drawing in response to movement, translating sensations and rhythms into marks, lines and shapes
• Moving back and forth between drawing and movement to discover how each influences the other
• Looking at the drawings together and sharing reflections (sharing is optional)
• A closing reflection on the experience of moving between the body and drawing

Who is this workshop for?

• Anyone curious about the connection between body, movement and creativity
• Those who would like to explore drawing in a free, intuitive and expressive way
• Artists, dancers and movement practitioners looking for fresh approaches to their practice
• Anyone interested in embodiment, transformation and the body as a source of creative insight
• Those who enjoy open-ended, exploratory creative processes

Book your place now to step into the space between movement and mark-making, and discover what your body has to draw.

Meet your tutor, Vanessa da Silva

Vanessa da Silva is a Brazilian artist born in São Paulo who lives and works in London. She studied Industrial Design in São Paulo before completing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2017. Working across sculpture, drawing, printmaking and performance, she creates hybrid forms that sit between the human body and the natural world, often activated by dancers and performers. She has taught as a visiting tutor at Goldsmiths and the Ruskin School of Art. With her deep understanding of the body as a site of movement and transformation, Vanessa brings a rare combination of sculptural insight and embodied practice to this workshop.

More on the exhibitions: