It was a rare treat to work with a group of artists in the atmospheric surroundings of Swansea Museum. We were there to make drawings from some of their antique taxidermy with Edinburgh-based artist Kelly Stewart and then to spend a weekend with her at Swansea Print Workshop, developing our drawings into screenprints. This work is the subject of our online exhibition for April.
Swansea Museum has always been keen for us to work with their collections over the years, sometimes in the treasure cave of their stores, which house many of the exhibits that used to be in the National Waterfront Museum. It’s also home to their natural history collection, not on public display, which includes a wide range of birds and insects.
These museum collections can still play a role in education, giving insight into both animal and social history and providing a valuable resource for researchers, students, scientists and artists. It was great to have the chance to get up close and draw anatomically accurate specimens.
Visiting artist Kelly Stewart ran the Natural History workshops, her enthusiasm for direct observation made her the ideal tutor to lead us, encouraging us to paint and draw with a wide range of mark making materials to experiment with photographic screenprinting techniques.
Rose Davies / Rosie Scribblah
To see a featured article about artist Kelly Stewart click here
