Art with an Artist seminars

Sketching with both hands

Meyer began the first session with an introduction of van Gogh's short yet legendary life. She then showed works from different periods of his career and photos of the area where he spent a large part of his time. Meyer's talk also included interpretations of the source of van Gogh's power and ability to focus, particularly in the last two years of his life. After this, it was time for participants to create sketches and drawings using their dominant hand, non-dominant hand, and finally both hands, while being inspired by Van Gogh's landscapes and pictures of southern France.

Students recreating scenery of southern France with crayons

Same model picture, very different results among participants

Critique by Meyer (right) of each piece of work

After two hours of drawing time, the room was a different place. None of the participants could believe the unique creations that had emerged. "Art is not like the Olympics. It is fine if everyone's creation is different. Every piece of art has its good sides," Meyer concluded. By viewing each creation as a group and listening to Meyer's critical commentary, the participants were able to realize the rich, individual diversity existing in each piece.

The satisfaction of the participants was evident from the comments left during the post-event surveys.

• I gained a lot of confidence in my own style.
• The flow of things — learning various things first and then actually trying things out myself — was great.
• The seminar involved the continuous use of both hands and my brain, and I learned to use both sides of my brain simultaneously.
• Everyone participated actively throughout, and many beautiful piece of art were born.
• It was fantastic to see the different types of art that emerged despite everyone working on the same task.
• Before the seminar, I was worried that I was poor at drawing. That all changed. Ms. Meyer was extremely friendly, and my perception of art completed transformed.
• The way I view new things expanded, which was great. I really appreciated being critiqued by an actual artist.
• This was a completely new experience for me!
• I discovered new ways of thinking and approaching challenges.
• As time passed my perception changed, which was great fun.
• Bringing out our creativity by doing rather than planning was amazing!
• I am grateful that I was able to express my own creativity thanks to this art seminar.
• Using various methods, the instructor encouraged us to create art freely, which was very pleasant.
• This was an important occasion for me to feel and think about art.
• It was very interesting to see how differently each person expressed himself or herself.

Van Gogh seminar participants

Picasso seminar participants