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Take part in this special half-day object drawing & painting workshop in the Freud Museum, inspired by Sigmund Freud’s vast collection of antiquities.
Max Pollak, Portrait of Sigmund Freud and his antiquities (1914), etching
Sigmund Freud was an avid collector of antiquities from ancient civilizations from all over the world, which would go on to influence and inform his most important theories of psychoanalysis. After looking at the objects that make up his 2,500-piece collection as a starting point, we will learn some basic drawing concepts and begin to draw and paint some objects ourselves.
All participants are requested to bring an object along with them to draw. This object might evoke memories and thoughts such as a family memento, a holiday souvenir or childhood keepsake. The Museum will also provide some replicas of Freud’s own antiquities to draw on the day too.
Fay Ballard, who has previously exhibited her drawings at the Freud Museum, will guide you through the workshop inspired by our current exhibition Freud’s Antiquity: Object, Idea, Desire.
Art materials, including watercolours, pencils and hot-pressed watercolour paper, will be provided for attendees to use but please bring your own if you wish to! There will also be tea and coffee provided on the day. Space is limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Please note: this event is scheduled to take place upstairs.
Testimonial for drawing classes with Fay Ballard at the Freud Museum:
As an artist, I found the whole day very inspiring, collaborative and inviting. The combination of handouts, supplies, examples and conversations as a group around the work in the collection help direct and gently guide the art produced. Loved it!
About the tutor:
Fay Ballard’s work centres on drawing, underpinned by an interest in psychoanalysis. Her early work focused on plant portraits and she was selected to draw and paint the flora growing at Highgrove and in Transylvania for The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation. From 2010 to 2018, Fay made autobiographical work that explored memories of her childhood growing up after her mother died in 1964. These were shown in the exhibition ‘Breathe’ at the Freud Museum (2018) taking the theme of art as reparation, in ‘Travelling Companions’ at Cambridge University (2020) which explored the notion of personal belongings being companions to our journey through life, and in the current exhibition ‘Mending the Psyche: Art as Reparation’ at the Peltz Gallery Birkbeck, University of London. Since 2019, she has been on a new journey drawing circles that now total 50 and were presented at Handel Street Projects in 2021.
Fay was a visiting artist at Hammersmith Hospital in 2017 and 2018 making art with patients at their bedsides. She sits on the Arts and on the Covid Legacy Committees for Imperial Health Charity (NHS).
Fay has spoken at conferences and seminars at the Freud Museum, British Library, King’s College London, Birkbeck University of London, Cambridge, Leicester, Leeds and Anglia Ruskin Universities. She has taught and spoken at the RCA, Camberwell, Wimbledon and Chelsea Art Schools, Birkbeck, the Royal Watercolour Society and Charing Cross Hospital. Fay studied History of Art at University of Sussex, completed MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s Art School and a Diploma in Botanical Art at the Chelsea Physic Garden. She was a trustee of Camden Arts Centre.
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Bursaries – A very limited number of £10 bursary places will be available for those under financial hardship. Priority will be given to UK unemployed and PIP/ESA claimants. Click here to fill out a bursary application form.
