See Me Differently: Our session in alternative life drawing…

How the workshop went…

Imo Sophia is a textile soft sculpture artist, whose work evolves as an extension of the body whilst imbuing radical modern strands. We asked Imo to bring in some of her wearable soft sculpture costumes, whilst inviting the audience to draw from what they could see, we also asked them to draw from what they learnt.

Judging by what we first initially see, we came up with three words which can best reflect Imo’s artwork, then these were left aside for the time being.

We began with doing some timed warm-up exercises, blind drawing, continuous line and non-dominant hand drawing, then moving on to some more retrospective drawings as Imo turns for a new pose every couple of minutes. We began to ask Imo in a sort of interview-type scenario, and what the meaning behind her soft sculptures were. These influenced our drawings, drawing on their themes of female empowerment, magic realism and body confidence.

Next up we looked back on some of the words we wrote down at the beginning, things like: strength, empowerment, bright, whimsical, colourful, strong, red, confident… And we reflected on those, to how we see Imo’s work now we’ve thought and studied it.

After this, we took them into the other room to think over, as this was happening we switched to collaborative drawing using a long roll of paper across the table, getting the attendees to switch places with the person on their right encouraging them into interact with the previous persons drawings. How could you think differently about your drawing? Why not change it up a bit and explore how you can incorporate different ways of abstract thinking into your work?

About The Queer Infoshop

Launching in July 2022, The Queer Infoshop is a regular strand for Crescent Arts programming and hosting LGBTQ+ events.

The Queer Infoshop is a stand alone, self managed, pop up radical community space, accessible for all ages and all members of the queer community. A space to get involved in a wide range of diverse workshops, or a space for queer individuals to meet, share and exchange ideas, or even just to relax!

We want to begin an open and honest queer dialouge in Scarborough that’s severely lacking in opportunities for LGBTQ+ folk of all ages. To appeal to all ages, we’ve programmed three workshops of a stripped back DIY nature so anyone at any skill level can come along.

-Joel Hague, 2022.