Black History Celebrated

Recently a group visited the prestigious National Portrait Gallery in London for a ‘Tour and Draw’ workshop. Andrew Lidstone recounts the day.

For the workshop we were delighted to be led by professional artist and educator Angela Wright with whom we have worked with many times before.

To celebrate Black History Month the workshop focused in part, on the artworks within it's collection by black artists

We were introduced to a portrait of Baron Ali Waheed, the T.V producer and politician. Angela pointed out his scarlet cloak and and fur adorned clothing. A recent bronze sculpture of Nelson Mandela by Ian Homer Walters was unusual because the portrait was from the waist up, not just a bust.

The next portrait on our tour was simply entitled 'Soldier' It depicted Victoria Cross holder Johnson Gideon Beharry, who saved 30 soldiers while under enemy fire, sustaining serious injury in the recent conflict in Iraq. He is the first person since 1965 to be awarded the Victoria Cross medal, Britain's highest award for gallantry, while still living. He is now unable to work. His biography is called 'The Barefoot Soldier'. Angela encouraged the group to look and think about the medals worn by the portrait sitter. The group were invited to respond to the painting by creating their own medals out of metallic card.

Angela also introduced us to the Julien Opie exhibit of the Britpop band Blur. The group were invited to draw their own portraits of the band in a similar stylised way. Some had more hair than others! Staff supported those members of the group who were visually impaired by using hand-over-hand techniques.

We completed our day with two further artworks. Angela agreed to do a follow-up workshop back at our Centre, Gordon Road Day Services in Bounds Green. We are very grateful for this as funding for these sorts of specialist workshops is in short supply. We all thoroughly found the workshop informative and enjoyable.