Berlin, Germany

Drawing as a Way of Knowing - Plants

The workshop's participants will study historical plant samples, explore the Botanical Garden and discover structures with the microscope. The gathered knowledge they will develop into a graphical interpretation of the plant world.

In our workshop you will have the opportunity to deal intensively with botanical phenomena. We start with drawing explorations in front of nature. In the studio we translate these into free artistic expressions.

With three excursions we visit special research sites in Berlin and study the plant world in different ways: Systematics and stylization based on historical models in the archive of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK); surface structures in the Microscopy Center of the Humboldt University of Berlin; richness of form and complexity in the Botanical Garden. In this first phase of the workshop we will teach drawing techniques that allow you to look more closely and accumulate a broad understanding of natural forms.

During the second phase of the workshop we will meet in the drawing lab of the UdK. In individual supervision you will further develop the inventories. Playing with translation and abstraction, you will expand your graphic vocabulary and transform it into your own interpretations.


Schedule

Day 1:

Archive of the Berlin University of the Arts

Drawing from historical templates, models and plant samples


Day 2:

Botanical Garden Berlin

Graphic field research


Day 3:

Microscopy Centre of the Humboldt University Berlin

Graphic examination of plant specimen material


Day 4+5:

Berlin University of the Arts Laboratory for Drawing

Free working and individual consultations

Course leader

Kerstin Hille www.kerstinhille.de

and

Oliver Thie www.oliverthie.de

Target group

Invited are visual artists, architects, designers, as well as self-taught artists with previous knowledge of drawing, who are interested in deepening their study of nature and who want to collectively open up perspectives for their respective artistic practice.

Fee info

EUR 580: course fee