Wolfson artists featured in new exhibition

After a year of sketches and smudged canvases, artworks completed by members of the 2014/15 Life Drawing classes are now on display in the Private Dining Rooms. The Wolfson College Arts Society provides materials and support for the classes, which are run by painter/printmaker Kassandra Isaacson.

Weekly Life Drawing classes started at Wolfson in 2000, the initiative of the then Creative Arts Fellow, Margaret O'Rorke. Classes have continued with a number of different tutors for 15 years, including Sarah Simblet from the Ruskin School of Art.

The classes are made up of a wide range of participants, from beginners to old hands, and members of Wolfson (fellows, students, members of Common Room) as well as local residents. Different life models are arranged each week and the classes usually involve a mix of short and long poses, using a variety of media such as charcoal, pencil, pastel and ink.

Dr Orlando Ciricosta has been attending the Life Drawing classes for three years. He explained what drew him to try Life Drawing in the first place. “I've always liked occasionally drawing simple subjects from a photo, so when’ my eyes met the ‘Life Drawing' notice on the Wolfson newssheet I thought ‘Why not?'.

“Of course I was terrified at first’ but I was wrong on so many levels: barely visible, insecure pencil lines soon evolved into bolder defined shapes, charcoal and pastel slowly started giving solidity to the forms, until I actually stopped using an eraser, and now drawing pen, inks, crayons and acrylics are just the best companions of many after work hours.

“Most importantly, I soon found out that the 2 hours a week spent on focusing on the model's body were an oasis of peace, where me, the model, and the developing sketch were thousands of miles away from the whirlwind of papers, conferences, experiments and similar things that burden the life of a scientist.”

Thanks to Jan Scriven and Orlando Ciricosta for their contributions to this article.