The Courtauld is thrilled to announce it is taking part in The Big Draw 2022! This event will be the first of its kind in the recently transformed spaces of The Courtauld Gallery.
This year, The Big Draw Festival #ComeBackToColour is a love letter to each other and the world around us. The theme encapsulates what we all hope will be a rediscovery of the vitality, health, care and vibrancy in everyone’s lives after what has been a challenging last few years. This is a great year to bring your community together to capture, celebrate and find joy in the colours that surround us in nature, in our family culture and heritage, through experimentation and more!
To #ComeBackToColour, the event will explore and celebrate The Courtauld’s most colourful objects. Join The Courtauld for drop in family friendly workshops focusing on all things collage, colour and Helen Saunders (inspired by our exhibition Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel), pop-up curator talks and back of house access to our prints and drawings study room. In this special Open House, attendees will be able to get up close to rarely displayed works on paper and hear from our experts on the techniques, materials and histories of these objects. This event is suitable for all ages and all materials will be supplied!
Book your ticket to the Courtauld Gallery on the 22nd of October, 11.00 – 3.00 and be part of The World’s Biggest community of drawing enthusiasts!
Get Involved!
Open House
- Prints and Drawings Study Room (East Wing), 1.00 – 3.00: Join our prints and drawings experts for this back of house gallery experience. Granting special behind the scenes access, this ‘Open House’ will allow rare in person object study sessions of little known works on paper housed in The Courtauld collection. Ask questions, get up close and learn more from about hidden details and techniques. Highlights will include works by the Bloomsbury Group and much more!
Drop in Activities
- Ticket Hall (Ground Floor), 11.00 – 3.00: Families are invited to make futuristic collages inspired by the ‘Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel’ exhibition. Working with artist Nadine Mahoney and art historian Fran Herrick, you will explore Helen Saunders’ bold use of colour and make your own colourful cityscape imagining what London will look like in the distant future. Cut, tear, layer and draw with the materials provided to create an exciting and energetic vision of how we might live.
- Room 6, Blavatnik Fine Rooms (Second Floor), 11.00 – 3.00: Visitors are invited to take part in a collaborative drawing experience. Add to our large-scale ‘work in progress’ with your own reinterpretation, additions or highlights inspired by the artworks on our ceilings.
Pop-up Curator Talks
- 12.30 – 12.40: Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel, Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery (First Floor)
- 1.30 – 1.40: Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel, Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery (First Floor)
- 2.30 – 2.40: Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel, Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery (First Floor)