The Last Art Class

Today was my last art class with my teen class. For the last four weeks, I’ve been teaching art classes to some of the teenagers and they have shown great improvement!! It’s been so exciting. Today was an especially good class. We worked on figure drawing with charcoal, and I was showing them how to do 15 and 30 second gesture drawings. As they got more comfortable doing them, they started to really enjoy it. It was great fun to then see the improvement when my co-teacher, Willem, who is a masters student at the University of Johannesburg, did a twenty minute pose for them.

Still life from second class.

It was really awesome to work with these students over the past couple of weeks. It started out rough, as they were not used to having roll taken at an after school activity, or being expected to be on time. Nor were they used to committing to a 1.5 hour pose or still life drawing, they’d previously only really doodled or drawn sketches from memory.

Willem posing for the final pose of the day.

But, I think they are finally getting into the rhythm. I’m really thankful that Willem’s commitment is until the beginning of September. He and I have already planned and talked about what we want these teens to explore and learn and on Monday we are going on a great big shopping trip right before Robyn and I fly out. That way, he will have all the necessary tools to continue to do drawing, as well as start painting (his real forte) in a few weeks, and then do some sculpture.

The class, focused intently on Willem's pose.

There is some real talent in the group, and I am so excited that they are now in a solid, consistent class. I’m just hoping someone will step in in September and continue the class.

The best two drawings from each student from the last two weeks.

Though it was our last class, I get to hang with my class again on Saturday when we head to not one, not two, but three galleries! I’m hoping they won’t be overloaded, as this will be their first gallery experience, but thankfully, the first two are very small galleries. I’m extremely excited. It will be really interesting to see their reactions to the work that will range from contemporary South African art to permanent collections that include Monet, Degas, Picasso and many other big names of European art.