We began the day at around 7:00AM, leaving the school in a big coach. It took around an hour and a half to arrive at Falmouth university. The surrounding area was very pretty, with a large garden extending around the university. When we arrived, we walked down to the entrance area and had a quick briefing before heading to our workshops. The first workshop my group did was life drawing. We used large pieces of coloured paper and oil pastels to experiment with different techniques including continuous line and drawing with the non-dominant hand. I really enjoyed the workshop and the outcomes were really beautiful. It was very very relaxing.
The next workshop we did was a printing workshop. We put on aprons and were shown how to use the stencils and squeegees to produce a print on some tote bags. We were given the option to experiment with colour and layering, and there was a selection of designs. I really enjoyed the printing process and I liked that we got something that we can use every day. After that we ate lunch and headed on, back on the coaches to St. Ives. We dropped our bags off at the hostel and then left to go to the Barbara Hepworth museum in St. Ives. It was incredible to see all of her sculptures and artworks, in her own house as well. We did a small workshop with Greg Humphreys, where we used layering drawings of the sculptures from different angles to create a drawing, which we then cut up and created our own sculptures. I liked this workshop because while we worked, we were immersed in Hepworth’s own work all around us, it really helped to get into the creative mindset.
After that, we walked back to the hostel. Walking through St. Ives was really nice, the scenery and small twisting streets were so beautiful. When we got back we were given some free time to unpack and eat dinner. We had pizza, and genuinely I had never seen so much pizza in one place at a time. Next, we all sat down and started another workshop. We were told we had to get into groups and create a fashion design to walk in the fashion show. But there was one catch: we only had newspaper and tape! My group created a dress design based on jellyfish, along with jellyfish arm pieces and a head piece. We also had an ocean theme, cutting out any ocean-related things we could find in the newspapers. The fashion show was so funny, and everyone was laughing together. We didn’t win, but I think the people who did really deserved it. After that we were allowed more free time before bed. The hostel was very cosy, I felt at home even after just arriving.
The next day we were going to the Tate gallery in the morning, and going surfing in the afternoon.
The Tate gallery was really beautiful, not just the art but the architecture too. It was like walking through a piece of art. We had a few talks on the history of some of the artworks in the gallery, and then we were set some abstraction tasks and drawing tasks. We were meant to find a piece of art and then draw it as it was, and then make it abstract. I found this task very interesting to do because you had to think outside of the box. Then we were allowed to look around the gallery and take any photos we needed for our sketchbooks. I did a few live drawings of the gallery and some people.
Afterwards, we were allowed to look in the shop! It was very nice but also very overpriced so I didn’t buy anything. Next, we walked back to the hostel to have our lunch and change into our swimsuits underneath our clothes. We then had a bit of free time to explore St. Ives before our surfing lesson. It was really fun to explore all the little shops and go around with my friends. I ended up buying some sweets from the sweet shop.
The surf lesson started with us getting our wetsuits fitted, and then we had to get into them and the instructors gave us the correct surf board sizes. Then we walked down the beach to the surf area and we were told to form a circle with our boards. We all introduced ourselves and talked about our interests. Next we got to learn how to surf. I’d been surfing a few times before but it was still fun to get a refresh and also learn some new techniques. Then we got into the water! Luckily, we were blessed with the sun, however the waves were a bit flat, but they were easier for beginners, which was good. The surfing was really fun, it was nice to spend time with friends just messing about and learning to surf, everyone there was so supportive and kind. I really felt like I was in safe hands and it was a really sweet atmosphere, even people who weren’t close friends were hyping each other up. After we finished surfing, we were all exhausted and we took our board up the beach and took off our wetsuits. Everyone was very sandy, so we had some quick showers and got changed.
Then we were allowed more free time to explore. When we got back to the hostel everyone did some work on their sketchbooks or started packing their things for the return trip the next day. Then we had chilli for dinner (very yummy) and we had some quiet time to work on sketchbooks.
The next day, we were up early for breakfast and then we had another workshop with Greg. We had to pack our big bags on the coach first, and then we walked down to the harbour to meet Greg.
We were set some drawing tasks to draw the boats around the harbour, and then we had to re-draw them twice but make them abstract. I enjoyed this task and it was really fun to be immersed in what we were drawing. After this, we drew our boats- but on the sand! We ended up with a massive drawing of lines and circles in the sand. Then we went up to the pier and worked on some charcoal techniques. We drew the seascape and it all got a bit messy with the charcoal going everywhere. After this we went back to the hostel to eat and then we were on the coach on the way home!
Written by Caitlin M5
