- Tuesday, 15 July 2025
- Wednesday, 16 July 2025
About
Taking inspiration from the frieze-like compositions in the National Gallery, from the paintings of Pesellino, Mantegna, Titian, and Paula Rego, to the relief sculpture in the architecture of the gallery, this summer school invites you to develop and reimagine your rendering of the human figure. Through hands-on studio sessions, and close looking in the galleries, you will build your confidence in working with volume, modelling, and composition in both two and three dimensions.
Working directly from life models across the two days, you will create observational drawings and sculptural studies that culminate in your own relief ‘frieze’ in clay. By the end of the course, you will take home a series of drawings and a larger relief composition that reflect your modelling of the human figure.
This summer school is designed for learners and artists of all levels. All materials are provided for the summer school, and you will take your artworks home with you. Handouts with extra resources will be provided as part of the summer school. All sessions will take place in our brand new, state-of-the-art Clore Art Studio in our Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Learn more about our other Summer Schools in the Clore Art Studio.
Day 1: Drawing and carving in relief
The first day begins with observational drawing from a nude life model, focussing on line, volume, and negative space. These drawn studies of the human figure will prepare you for sculpting, helping you consider how drawn marks translate into three-dimensional forms.
In the afternoon, you will begin working in clay, by learning key principles of carving and building up the figure in low relief directly from a life model.
Day 2: Creating a tableau
On Day 2, you will work from two life models in longer, sustained poses in clay to create more complex compositions. Emphasis will be placed on scale, arrangement, and the interplay of figures within a shared space. You will develop individual panels or combine them into a unified frieze-style composition, drawing on historical and contemporary references introduced throughout the course.
Your tutor
Emily Motto is a London-based artist. She works between sculpture, installation and drawing – often creating playful forms, arenas and mazes. Her work plays with what can happen when shapes and lines are extended into palpable forms in space, with dependencies on weight, material reactions, and physical limits; she is fascinated how sculptural forms can share in a bodily sense of space, command attention, and hold presence. Motto’s work has been featured in exhibitions globally, included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries at the ICA London and the Liverpool Biennial, and the Saatchi New Sensations; and received awards including The Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship at the British School at Rome, The Gilbert Bayes Award, and The Red Mansion Art Prize. She often works collaboratively and was commissioned to deliver a series of workshops for British Art Show 9, and an evolving work 'The Obstacle Course' for Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer.
Modelling the figure: From drawing to clay relief
- Tuesday, 15 July 2025
- Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Tickets
This event is open for Members priority booking until Friday, 23 May 2025. Members please sign in to book.
Standard: £360
Concessions: £324
Please book a ticket to attend this course which will take place in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Tickets include entry to the National Gallery. Please arrive in good time to access the building and find the event.
Bookings close 10 minutes before the event begins.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.