drawing - Portfolio Oomph - Julie Read

drawing Tag

A couple of months ago (10 February 2015) artist John Byrne was very outspoken with his views on Glasgow School of Art and its students. Here at Portfolio Oomph we felt strongly that the views of John Byrne weren't a fair or honest reflection of what it really happening at GSA. So much so, that we wrote a letter in response that was published on 13 February 2015.


On Thursday evening we attended the Advanced Higher art and design exhibition at the Tramway in Glasgow. For those of you not familiar with the Scottish education system, the advanced higher art and design is the final award studied at school if chosen to. It's ranked slightly higher than A levels by UCAS and many students who study advanced higher art then go on to apply to art college. Having never attended this event before (it's been running for 4 years) I was quite excited to be seeing the best of the schools' talent. Also in a greatly inspiring venue, the Tramway Centre, Glasgow.

I've heard it so many times "but I just CAN'T draw". If you want to improve your drawing skills, read on. It's almost like someone has resigned themselves to not being able to draw or believes that you either can draw or you can't. I don't believe that anyone can't draw, learn how to draw or improve their drawing skills. It is a skill and like any skill it can be learnt. Being creative is perhaps someone a little more complex and I can understand more why some believe they aren't very creative. However, there are still ways that creativity can be encouraged and nurtured rather than just accepting that you're not a creative person.



Portfolio Oomph focuses very much the on the art education of the applicant (usually a young adult) when applying to art college but it can also be a tricky time for the parents of these applicants. If you have a child who is keen on pursuing an art education and is doing well in their exams, the whole idea of an art portfolio can be quite confusing. This is especially so if you haven't had an art education yourself or you're not connected in some way to the art world. It can feel like banging your head against a brick wall trying to find out information from a reliable, independent source.
