Reimagining Medieval Art: Watercolour and Gold Leaf Workshop
When: Tuesday 07 July, 14.00-16.00
Where: University House: St George Room
Open to: IMC Delegates
Price: £25.50
How to Book: Advance Booking Required via IMC Registration
Embellished linocut by Marie Sophie Besson
Directed by Marie Sophie Besson and Brooklyn Arnot
To create the colourful images in manuscripts, medieval illuminators utilised a wide range of materials from around the known world, such as lapis lazuli, azurite, vermilion, saffron, indigo, and cochineal. Applying gold leaf added an additional element of luxury and brilliance.
This workshop takes these alluring vibrant colours and brilliant gold leaf and re-appropriates them for modern material practices. Participants will learn techniques in watercolour, such as wet on wet, wet on dry, and colour theory, which will allow them to replicate the ways medieval illuminators used pigments, but with a modern twist. Following this, participants will learn skills in gilding with gold leaf, allowing them to explore and reimagine what the medieval mind considered radiant and valuable.
Participants who attended the 'Reimagining Medieval Art' workshop on the previous day can work on the linocut image they produced, while new participants will receive a printed linocut to illuminate.
Marie Sophie Besson is a PhD candidate in Icelandic and Comparative Literature at the Háskóli Íslands and the Université de Strasbourg. Her work revolves around the role of rewriting in feminist forms of magical realism. Brooklyn Arnot is working towards a DPhil focussing on Christian themes in the fornaldarsögur at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include monstrosity, Christianity, illuminations, and women in Old Norse manuscripts and sagas. After graduating from art school, they both became active artists in various professional settings, who now use practice-as-research (linocuts, scrapping boards, digital drawings etc.) to strengthen their literary work and support their university teaching.
This workshop can only accommodate a limited number of participants. Early booking is recommended.