Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) will host a season of events dedicated to drawing from March to June 2023. Drawn Together will explore and celebrate drawing through activities, trails, talks and events for all ages groups and abilities.
The drawing season will use the collection, the four exhibiting venues and conservation centre to investigate the art of drawing, running in consultation with the Drawing Correspondence art collective. The collective consists of Tania Kovats, an artist, sculptor and professor of Drawing and Making at the University of Dundee; artist, draughtsman, speaker and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at University of Dundee, Anita Taylor; and artist Chloe Briggs, a drawing instructor and Chair of Foundation and Online Foundation at Paris College of Art.
The season will run alongside the new exhibition The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea, opening in March 2023 at the Queen’s House. In the exhibition, the public will be able to discover how drawing was at the heart of the practice and process of both artists who once had a studio in the Queen’s House.
MARCH 2023
Circumnavigating: Drawing Around Experience
The drawing season kicks off with a day-long symposium focusing on how drawing sensitises us to the world around us, including a series of talks and activities across the National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House. The day will be curated and led by artists Tania Kovats, Anita Taylor and Chloe Briggs who all have drawing at the art of their practice. Audiences will be able to investigate and challenge the importance of the act of drawing within the collection and within their everyday lives.
Date: 11 March 2023
Time: 10.30 – 17.00
Suitability: Suitable for adults
Location: National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House
Admission: Free
SENsory Social Club: Drawing with Light
The SENsory Social Club will be investigating drawing as a form of expression and communication whilst developing motor skills. Join in a different drawing adventure each week inspired by the vast collection at the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre.
Date: 3, 10, 17, 24 February 2023 | 3 March 2023
Time: 11.00 – 12.00 | 13.00 – 14.00
Suitability: Suitable for adults with special educational needs and disabilities
Location: Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre
Admission: Free
Saturday Art Club: Drawing Takeover
Join us for a fun and experimental drawing workshop planned and run by the 20 young people from RMG’s Saturday Art Club. The workshop will explore what drawing means to the young people in the club and involve a takeover of the Great Map in the National Maritime Museum.
Date: 18 March 2023
Time: 11.00 – 12.30
Suitability: Suitable for all ages
Location: National Maritime Museum, Great Map
Admission: Free
Sound and Vision: London Fanfare Consort
Get creative with this unique drawing club hosted by Royal Museums Greenwich and online gallery Rise Art. Following the success of the online Sound and Vision series, it will be replicated on site for the first time. Come face to face with historical objects, art and live music from London Fanfare Consort.
Date: 23 March 2023
Time: 19.00 – 21.00
Suitability: Suitable for adults
Location: Queen’s House, Greenwich
Admission: £15
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/great-hall/sound-vision-drawing-club
Drawing Mars
Join our expedition to Mars and enjoy a thrilling experience where you’ll dive into the depths of seemingly bottomless canyons and brave the violent winds that sweep across the Red Planet’s icy dunes. But don’t forget your sketchbook, a constant in explorers’ kits for hundreds of years, so you can sketch your journey to the Red Planet during this unique experience.
Date: 26 March 2023
Time: 10.30
Suitability: Suitable for ages 7 and above.
Location: Peter Harrison Planetarium, Royal Observatory Greenwich
Admission: Adult £7 | Child £5
APRIL 2023
Ways into Drawing
Take part in creative workshops during the Easter holidays, play with mark-making and materials to turn drawing on its head.
Date: 1—16 April 2023
Time: 11.00 – 13.00 | 14.00 – 16.00
Suitability: Suitable for all ages
Location: National Maritime Museum, Learning Space
Admission: Free
Family Fun Weekend
Design a scrimshaw inspired piece of art mounted on a blank coaster, or card – ready to take home and display. Families will be able to learn different etching marks to create their own scrimshaw design using wax covered papers, taking inspiration from images of whale teeth and other ivory and bone items.
Date: 1—2 April 2023
Time: 11.00 – 13.00 | 14.00 – 16.00
Suitability: Suitable for all ages
Location: Cutty Sark, Greenwich
Admission: Included in the admission price for the ship.
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/cutty-sark/family-fun-weekend
Sound and Vision: Baroque
Get creative with this unique drawing club hosted by Royal Museums Greenwich and online gallery Rise Art. Sound and Vision returns to the beautiful Queens House. Come face to face with works by the Van de Veldes and respond creatively whilst your evening is sound tracked by live Baroque music.
Date: 20 April 2023
Time: 19.00 – 21.00
Suitability: Suitable for adults
Location: Queen’s House, Greenwich
Admission: £15.00
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/great-hall/sound-vision-drawing-club
Drawing the Moon
Grab your sketchbook and pencils as we go exploring the moon. Join artists and astronomers as the take you on a journey to our nearest companion in space. Like all good adventurers you will document your journey through sketches in this family fun activity.
Date: 23 April 2023
Time: 10.30
Suitability: Suitable for ages 7 and above.
Location: Peter Harrison Planetarium, Royal Observatory Greenwich
Admission: Adult £7 | Child £5
Delve Deeper into Drawing
Drawings are a window into the artist’s process and one we all enjoy seeing when displayed in the museum. Unfortunately, due to the nature of paper, they are inherently delicate and susceptible to wear and aging, thus requiring careful storage and care. Delve deeper into the drawings and sketches in the Royal Museums Greenwich collection.
Date: 25 April 2023
Time: 19.30 – 20.30
Suitability: Suitable for adults
Location: Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre
Admission: £20
MAY 2023
Lunar Sketch Along
Drawing can be a key observing skill for astronomers. Explore the use and significance of drawing within astronomy through a unique, live online ‘sketch along’ session with astronomer and astro-photographer Mary McIntyre, and members of the Royal Observatory team.
Date: 24 May 2023
Time: 19.00 – 21.00
Suitability: Suitable for ages 13 and over
Location: Online via Zoom
Admission: Pay what you can
Behind-the-Scenes Tour
The best way to access our collection and see conservation in action is through one of our behind-the-scenes tours. On these exclusive tours, visitors will explore the drawings within the collection at our state-of-the-art storage facility. See how the conservators clean and care these fragile works on paper including maps, plans, sketchbooks and even globes.
Date: 11, 25 May 2023
Time: 13.30 – 15.30
Age: Suitable for ages 16 and over
Location: Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre, Kidbrooke
Admission: Adult £16 | Members £12
Sound and Vision: Contemporary Netherlands
Get creative with this unique drawing club hosted by Royal Museums Greenwich and online gallery Rise Art. Sound and Vision returns to the beautiful Queens House. Come face to face with works by the Van de Veldes and respond creatively whilst your evening is sound tracked by live contemporary Dutch music.
Date: 25 May 2023
Time: 19.00 – 21.00
Suitability: Suitable for adults
Location: Queen’s House, Greenwich
Admission: £15.00
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/great-hall/sound-vision-drawing-club
JUNE 2023
Families Drawn Together
Families are invited to take inspiration from the Van de Veldes and work together to produce their own collaborative masterpieces.
Date: 3 June
Time: 11.00 – 16.00
Suitability: Suitable for all ages
Location: Queen’s House
Admission: Free
World Oceans Day
Take part in a day of workshops, talks and opportunities to talk to ocean and climate experts. The event will be co-curated in collaboration with artist Tania Kovats, encouraging visitors to draw inspiration from the oceans and celebrate our blue planet.
Date: 10 June 2023
Time: 11.00 – 16.00
Suitability: Suitable for all ages
Location: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Admission: Free
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/national-maritime-museum/world-oceans-day
Throughout the Season of Drawing
‘Create’ Family Trail at the Queen’s House
Pick up your own ‘Create’ family trail as you enter the Queen’s House. Use this trail as a guide to explore the magnificent artworks inside the House.
This trail will encourage your family to explore mark-making, creating light and shadow, as well as prompting everyone to look closely at artworks to think about pose, landscape, symbolism and much more.
Dates: Daily
Times: 10.00 – 17.00
Age: Recommended for ages 7 and over, but available to all
Location: Queen’s House, Greenwich
Admission: Free
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/queens-house/queens-house-family-trail
The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea
Willem van de Velde the Elder and Willem van de Velde the Younger were the most important and influential marine painters of the seventeenth century. In the home of their original studio granted 350 years ago by Charles II, this exhibition will reveal how the family’s legacy as renowned émigré artists transformed British visual culture and inspired future generations of artists including J.M.W. Turner.
Date: 2 March 2023 – 14 January 2024
Time: 10.00 – 17.00
Age: Suitable for all ages
Location: Queen’s House, Greenwich
Admission: Free
URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/van-de-velde
For more information visit: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/national-maritime-museum/drawn-together-season-drawings
