By Colin Dardis

“Process-shop” was an experimental drawing / making workshop that took place in PS Squared gallery in January ’14, with artists Cilla Wagner and Sharon Kelly.

The theme was to use words and materials as starting points to explore the notion that the “process is more important than the outcome”.

Participants were encouraged to experiment with charcoal sketching: loose and free form, no definite style or shape necessary. From that, artists had to “knock back” their work, effectively blurring out each image and rubbing the charcoal into an indistinct blur. From this act of destruction came new creation: partial erasing, the identification of new outlines, and shadows.

In the second part of the workshop, each artist was encouraged to select two words that explored part of the creation process. After making an initial image, the group swapped about, amending and attacking one another’s work, in relation to the selection of two further words. This process was repeated twice more, so that each artwork received the attention of four artists, each with their own ideas and associations.

Below, you can see details of the first charcoal piece. (The face image was quickly created to kill some time in the first half.). The last four pieces show the stages of the second half, the initial peg image being drawn by myself.

It was liberating to be actively encouraged to create something and then have the freedom to distort and destroy it; each participant had to give up their work to be ripped, cut, painted or papered over, and completely transformed. You can view photos of all the pieces on the Wide Skies Sketching Facebook page here and here.