Big News: National Gallery of Art & DrawTogether

Launching Sunday!

Hello my fine DrawTogether GUT friends and beyond. 

GREAT BIG NEWS:

A few months ago, The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC called and said, “You DrawTogether/Grown Ups Table folks are doing such cool, creative stuff every week. Any interest in collaborating with us?”

That’s a YES.

And that’s how I became the National Gallery of Art’s first Storyteller in Residence, and got to spend several days digging deep into the National Gallery of Art’s collection and speaking with their curators and conservators.

Starting this Sunday, I’m sharing all I learned with you: lessons on the artists I learned about, artworks I visited, and how all that is inspiring my own drawing and creative practice. Then I’ll give GUT members drawing assignments based on each piece.

Getting up close and personal with artworks in the National Gallery's collection, with BTS stories from their brilliant curators and conservators. And big love to GUT member and NGA staff member Annie (that's her on the right in the first photo) who is a huge part of making this magic happen! All photos by David Saraiva

The National Gallery will co-publish these lessons with us here at the GUT. And then hopefully we’ll have some fun community cross-pollination as we all share our National Gallery of Art-inspired drawings in the chat.

The DrawTogether community art share/chat is for subscribers, so be sure to sign up now and not miss a moment. If you’re experiencing financial hardship, scholarships are available. No artists left behind! Click below to join in on the art share and encouraging creative community.

What’s on The Agenda

This Sunday we do a deep dive into an audacious piece by Christo & Jeanne Claude. The next week we’ll look closely at an insanely awesome Romare Bearden collage. Then we’ll play around with creative collaborations, including work by Kerry James Marshall. We’ll wrap up with some tips from the National Gallery’s world renowned conservators on how we can care for art we’ve made at home.  

For those first three lessons, we’ll learn from two amazing pros from the National Gallery’s drawing and prints department: Caitlin Brague and Angélica Becerra.

Here’s something I learned upon arriving at the National Gallery:

WE ALL HAVE FULL ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY PRINTS AND DRAWINGS. That means YOU, friend. 

Want to spend QT with a Hockney or an Asawa in their collection? You can. The National Gallery’s print and drawings collection is open to all of us. We just have to request what we want to see (you can do that here.) If it’s available for viewing, they’ll pull the work and show it to you in person, answer your questions, etc. The National Gallery is an honest to gosh art candy store. Next time any of you are in DC, reach out and ask for a private tour of your favorite work of art.

Our collaboration launches on Sunday, so keep your eyes on your inbox.

And again, don’t forget to become a subscriber-member to get the drawing assignments and be part of the growing creative community.

And be sure to tell all your art-inclined friends!

Everything is better when we DrawTogether (with the National Gallery of Art.) 

xoxo,

wendy

I ❤️ Museums & Museum People. Photo by David Saraiva