Award-winning artist delivers workshop to OA Valley GCSE students

Students studying GCSE Fine Art at Outwood Academy Valley spent the day under the tuition of award-winning artist, Paul Brandford.

The full day ‘Drawing into Painting’ workshop took place on the 21 September and was delivered to a total of 55 year 10 and 11 students. The workshop started with quick fire drawing tasks using charcoal and over the course of the day, students progressed on to completing a series of acrylic paintings. The paintings produced were of natural forms and portraiture which means the pieces can go on and be used to form part of students’ Art GCSE portfolios.

Paul said:

“I very much enjoyed working with all of the students at Outwood Academy Valley. Without doubt the group had some supremely talented and hardworking individuals; a gift to this kind of workshop.

“What really pleased me were the large numbers of students who might not have found each task particularly easy or obvious, but were more than willing to give the activity a go and see where it took them. The workshop, ‘Drawing into Painting’, is designed to be both challenging and enjoyable - taking a lot of students outside of what they might normally produce. I was genuinely pleased for the students themselves. The whole day reflected incredibly well on the school and the Art department in particular.”

Paul studied at the Royal Academy Schools and has over 25 years teaching experience. He won the 2003 Jerwood Drawing Prize and has previously delivered workshops at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Royal Drawing School and Somerset House.

The workshop was coordinated by Outwood Academy Valley Art Teacher, Laura Longden, who added:

“We are extremely proud of the resilience and enthusiasm shown by our students when engaging in what was an exciting but challenging experience. Paul encouraged students to take risks and be experimental with their outcomes. We are excited to share their fantastic artwork with the wider school community.”