Instructor: Catherine McCarthy
Monday - Friday
June 9 - 13
9am - 12pm
5 sessions
Open studio: Mon - Thurs, 1pm - 4pm

If you are brand new to drawing or you are a seasoned professional who want to rekindle their drawing and sketch book discipline join me to see the world in a whole new light! This workshop will give you the tools to find your voice to translate the world onto paper. Initially we start our inquiry realizing the power of line with pencils then move through charcoal as an additive/subtractive medium to create mass and finally work with oil stick and washes and beyond. Our subjects will begin with still life, work through distance and perspective and end with the human form. A command of perspective will be woven into lessons. We will discover the act of drawing as a deep meditation. There will be an emphasis on nurturing each’s unique drawing style, by discovering your natural inclination; are you and line/edge or a mass/shape person? The discovery of our natural inclination becomes a building block of rendering.

Lessons have been designed to feel organic and exploratory. We will remove language from the act of seeing and discover drawing as deep meditation where we are engaged in mark making to translates observed reality. Skills are rapidly acquired and can be used immediately into any problem solving activity. Historical and contemporary drawing practices will be examined and utilized.

By the conclusion of the week participants will be empowered-to continue this practice to maintain a sketchbook. Overall the lesson learnt will strengthen painting or sculptural practices.

Materials List To Come

Catherine McCarthy is a Boston based painter with an extensive exhibition history. She has been featured in 24 solo exhibitions including at the MFA in Boston, the Kemper Art Museum in Kansas City, the San Jose Art Museum, and the Knoxville Art Museum. She has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions including at the Harvard University Museum and the Rose Art Museum, among others. Her paintings are in the collections of the MFA, Boston, the Kemper Art Museum, the Rose Art Museum, the DeCorodova Sculpture Park and Museum, the Phoenix Museum of Art, the Worcester Art Museum, as well as many corporate and private collections. In 2024 her work will be featured in shows including at the PAAM, as a Lillian Orlowsky William Freed award winner, and at the Fitchburg Art Museum in the exhibition “In Her Own Terms: Feminine Power Embodied. Catherine’s work has been reviewed by Art In America, Artforum, The Boston Globe, San Fransisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, and The New York Times as well as featured in Oxford American, Arts and Antiques, Audubon, Boston Magazine, The Denver Post, and Art New England. She studied at The Ruskin School at Oxford University and received her BFA from Mass College of Art.