Rotherhithe students inspired by life drawing

Rotherhithe students inspired by life drawing workshop as part of British Land’s local art initiative 

Since 2016, British Land has worked with Bacon’s College, a local secondary school in Rotherhithe, to support their creative curriculum and inspire student creativity.  

As part of this creative support, we invited Charlotte Steel to lead a Life Drawing Workshop for sixth form students at Bacon's College in December. The purpose of the workshop was to inspire local students, introducing them to new forms of creativity and expression. 

Reflecting on the experience, students commented that the techniques and observational skills gained during the session would be valuable tools for their forthcoming projects. One student said, "I really enjoyed the class. I liked how the model was able to do different poses in the same place. We created a collage from the different movements she created". 

The collage below showcases the amazing talent and creativity of the students. Later this year the students will also visit one of London’s art galleries, and more guest workshops with well-known artists are also planned. 

Charlotte Steel is an illustrator and was one of the original Royal Academy Outreach Programme tutors, creating and delivering inspirational drawing workshops for A level, GCSE, and Primary students in schools. Until last year, Charlotte was with the Royal Academy of Art Learning Department, leading and creating schools' workshops based on Royal Academy exhibitions and creating a variety of workshops for teachers, adults and families. To find out more about her work, you can visit her website. 

British Land supports the creative curriculum at Bacon’s College to create a connection between the Canada Water Development and the school through art. We loan artwork from our collection to the school on a rotating basis and arrange for artists to provide workshops for the students, as well as providing funding for students to visit exhibitions. Students’ work is also regularly exhibited in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre.