This masterclass will explore how drawing can be used as a tool for thinking and act as a trigger for ideas. Participants will learn to draw lines with different properties, rhythms and weight. Exercises with tone and texture with an emphasis on expression will also be touched upon.

Gerda’s approach to drawing has always viewed the processes of thinking and drawing as comparable, and concerned with the question of how to translate and visualize processes both conscious and subconscious. Like the British artist Avis Newman, who asserts a connection between drawing and thought, stating that the process of drawing operates as a “record of the workings of thought”, Gerda is interested in the processes of constructing meaning by means of all the senses.

Gerda Teljeur will also present an overview of her practice and career to date. She is a familiar figure in contemporary Irish art having come her from the Netherlands in 1967.Her large-scale, abstract ink drawings, frequently in black on white paper mix concentrated energy with a profound sense of the importance of each mark. She has worked with community groups and in care settings and as a teacher and artist-in-residence in schools and other education centres, where her ability to draw out essential qualities in both the artist and the materials are particularly valuable. Her work is eagerly sought after in drawing exhibitions, notably the show All About Drawing – 100 Dutch Artists in the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in the Netherlands. She is a fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation and participated in national and international exhibitions.