Category Archives: Events
OBSERVATIONS – a student exhibition
We are delighted to announce that the students of l’Observatoire have been invited to exhibit their works at the French Bookshop in Tiong Bahru this June.
Join us for our vernissage on Sunday 8th of June, 12noon – 2pm, meet some of the young artists, and sign our book!
OBSERVATIONS – a student exhibition
Drawing Dinosaurs!
Docent drawing of displayed ammonite (graphite and pencil on paper)
Sculpted ammonite (Docent artwork)
I am happy to announce that I will be running Drawing Workshops at the ArtScience Museum for their Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction exhibition which opens later this month!
If you are interested, you can get your ticket early to visit the exhibition and make sure to choose one of the dates where I will be running the workshops:
Dates: Sunday 2, 9 & 23 February, 9 & 23 March, 6 & 20 April
– Sketch-a-Fossil:
Bring fossils to life by drawing them in detail. Observation drawing . Make your piece stand out by placing it in a pre-historical landscape (optional collage). Ammonite or Fossilized wood will be our inspiration.
Timing: 45 minute workshops at 12.30pm and 1.15pm
– Sculpting Fun: Shells and Bones:
What better way to understand a fossil than to feel it in 3D? Carve your own sculpted shell or bone out of soap, and bring your replica home. Children under the age of 8 require adult supervision. Ammonite or T-rex claw will be our inspiration.
Timing: 45 minute workshops at 2.30pm and 3.15pm
Students participate in the production of the hoarding for the new Jurong Hospital
A new hospital is being built in Jurong. And I was called in to help produce an artwork for the hoarding lining the new Jurong Gateway Road (don’t look for it, the street is not yet on the maps. Hint: it’s opposite the IMM building) while the hospital is being built.
This hoarding was a perfect setting for a community project. So, students from several Jurong primary schools as well as secondary schools and JC were involved, as well as people from St Luke’s Old Folks’ home. To fit with the building, the theme of “Build a Picture of Health” was proposed.
How do you make over 80 participants help in a large drawing?
I decided I would draw a setting, representing different parts of everyday life, from Home, to Outside (in Town or in the Forest), the Community Park and the Hospital. And then, I would ask the participants to produce drawings relating to “Picture of Health”. My job would then be to fit their pictures in my drawing.
During the workshops, after an introduction on the hospital, I conducted a brainstorming session on the theme of “Picture of Health”. This was to get the participants to expand on the meaning of health… and we did get beyond the “eat an apple” to stay healthy. I wanted the students to walk in unprepared. I did not want them to do research ahead of time. This was a spontaneous exercise. Students were invited to use their favorite medium. Some like to paint big pictures. Some are more comfortable with a small pencil sketch. All was possible, but the theme was defined, and I walked among the students, helping them decide what they would do. In the end, some students produced some of the backdrop, some produced inspiring images that end up being hung on the walls of the different rooms I drew. Some wanted to paint “beautiful images that they would want to see if they are sick and need to get better”. Some drew settings that allow for healthy lifestyle.
Finally, some of the images were selected to be finished by the elderly from St Luke’s Old Folk’s. For those images, the participants were given the choice of coloring the vignettes either with paint, or with seeds, producing a beautiful effect.
The students from my workshop at l’Observatoire also participated. And after a time of discussing all the elements that fit into a Picture of Health, they took to painting a number of pictures too.
In the end, I had to put this outpouring of over 80 images into a 50m-long image. Needless to say, there was a lot of back and forth deciding what the background would be like, and then where each image should fit.
Finally, here it is, as it was sent to the designer at the beginning of the month… they have made it into a very long sticker, interspersed with text and other images relevant to the hospital.
At the Community Park
At Home
at Hospital
Outside
Here, I would also like to add a few of the pictures contributed by the different participants of the community. Can you find them in the picture above? If you find the picture is too small, why not go and check out the hoarding in person? It measures 2.5m in height and is 50m long… surely there, you can spot your picture!
Daytime Drawing Classes for Adults
Always wanted to try drawing but think you can’t? Here’s the news: if you can write, you have enough control to draw. If you can see, you can learn to see to draw. Drawing, together with writing and counting is a tool for communicating and understanding the world around us. Come give it a try over the next 5 weeks. First class is on the 23rd of September, at the brand new Observatoire at the Blue House. Full details here.
We moved to the Blue House!
We are now part of the Discovery program of the Blue House International School! With a new space and a new studio, it means that Isadora’s Workshop is becoming l’Observatoire, an Art and Science place. Head over to the new website (still in construction, but with basic info) if you want to sign up for Drawing Classes, Tinkering Sundays or the famous Holiday Camps (Next one is coming up at the end of October).
We will be located near Turf City in a fantastic environment. Do come and check us out!
I will still be the main instructor for all the classes, but artists, engineers, tinkerers and scientists will be regularly invited to contribute.
Isadora's Workshop 