Jenny Smith Primary/ S1 and S2 Schools workshop
Negative and Positive space in drawing workshop.
The relationship between negative and positive space is a crucial element of all drawing.
Without the negative space around something we wouldn’t have the positive, but we are
much more used to seeing positive shapes than negatives ones.
This short workshop is an experiential way for students to see and understand the
relationship between negative and positive spaces. It will involve drawing two simple
overlapping shapes and then cutting the negative spaces out and re- assembling the
positive from the negative.
At the end of workshop the students will have two cut of drawings and a heightened
perceptual understanding of this element of drawing.
Materials needed (per student)
2 x A4 coloured sugar paper in two complementary bright colours
pencil
sharp scissors
pritt stick
Pre and post visit activities for Primary/S1 and S2schools
1. Pre School Visit
Exercises looking at line: draw your hand without looking at the paper and without
taking your pencil off the paper. Try and spend 10 mins on this exercise and not
look at the paper for the whole ten minutes
2. Post School Visit
Frame a cheese plant or a chair in a view finder, so that the object you are
drawing touches the edge of the viewfinder in at least 3 places. Uses the edge of
the view finder as the edge of your paper close one eye and look at the spaces
round the object. Draw these negative spaces, instead of the positive spaces, you
will now have a negative space drawing.
Remember a negative space drawing has no shading, no detail and no positive
overlaps.
Talks for Senior Secondary schools and further Education Colleges
This will be a 30 min talk with time for questions. I will talk about
1. Techniques I use in my work
2. Where my inspiration comes from, how I translate the original image into the final
piece,
3. My career path, the different spaces I work in, my WASPS studio, Edinburgh
printmakers workshop and recently my computer
4. How I promote my work, the different spaces I have shown it in.
5. How I make my living: teaching, freelance education work, exhibiting and selling,
undertaking commissions.