Artist Ian Murphy gives IGCSE and IB pupils a fresh perspective
29 Oct 2018
A fresh perspective is a healthy part of learning any subject and this applies doubly to art. On 22-23 October, IGCSE and IB pupils were treated to the insight of professional artist Ian Murphy during their respective day-long workshops. Ian’s workshops were designed to quickly put the pupils through their paces, familiarising them with the techniques and processes for creating art in his signature style which focuses on bringing buildings and architectural scenes to life by drawing with layers.
“For any artist, starting out with a blank piece of paper or canvas can often be a slightly daunting prospect. Ian teaches pupils about ‘attacking’ the surface, to quickly capture the basic frame around which the drawing or painting will take shape. As soon as that’s in place, adding or taking away new elements and layers is no longer so scary!” – Abigail Beastall, art teacher Both days saw pupils from years 10-13 create a hive of activity as they rapidly sketched their ideas, annotated key features, physically layered their surface with torn strips of newspaper and strategic creases, added paint and ink layers and removed other layers with precise applications of bleach. The rapid pace of Ian’s workshops is an important part of the process, as Mr Murphy explains:“It’s common to see pupils overthinking the beginning of their drawing, because they often want to try and make it ‘perfect’ from the start. It’s a natural inclination, but the emphasis here is on learning the techniques, which is why I encourage them to be confident, get stuck in quickly and experiment without hesitancy. It’s about allowing them to be bold and take risks. Each new technique is a new layer that builds the piece incrementally but relatively quickly. This way, the pupils can grasp the techniques in a very condensed timeframe and then later they can polish and reflect on their work as much as they like. I was very much impressed with how quickly and willingly they all dived in!” 
If you go down to the art and design technology department, you’ll see that in just two days of workshops, the pupils have produced a great deal of outstanding pieces. But how did they respond to this fast-paced style of creating art?“I really enjoyed learning Ian’s techniques, knowing that these are processes that he’s developed himself made it a unique experience. One thing I will definitely take away from the workshop is the idea of having multiple sketchbooks in different sizes, giving me the option of shape and scale when working.” – Sofia, year 13
“Working with Ian really helped us think about how we can be more confident and efficient. We are creating many pieces at the same time, but can always go back to them later. In one day I finished almost three pieces which made me feel amazing.” – Diana, year 13
“I enjoyed the sketching part of the workshop most of all. It has helped me understand that you really don’t have to spend hours trying to recreate exactly what you see. In fact, it’s often better to quickly get the outline of what’s in your mind onto the paper and take it from there.” – Jacob, year 11
“It has been a fascinating day, not only are the techniques great to try, I’m also experimenting with media that I don’t normally use. The ink and bleach technique was the biggest eye-opener for me, normally I’m quite precise and measure everything but this is much more instinctive.” – Yolanda, year 11
“Working with Ian really helped us think about how we can be more confident and efficient. We are creating many pieces at the same time, but can always go back to them later. In one day I finished almost three pieces which made me feel amazing.” – Diana, year 13
“I enjoyed the sketching part of the workshop most of all. It has helped me understand that you really don’t have to spend hours trying to recreate exactly what you see. In fact, it’s often better to quickly get the outline of what’s in your mind onto the paper and take it from there.” – Jacob, year 11
“It has been a fascinating day, not only are the techniques great to try, I’m also experimenting with media that I don’t normally use. The ink and bleach technique was the biggest eye-opener for me, normally I’m quite precise and measure everything but this is much more instinctive.” – Yolanda, year 11
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