Drawing as Thinking: A Marathon through Natural History

#finearts #drawing

During a five-day immersion into the natural history museum, we meet scientists and study various collection objects. With drawing-based research methods, we explore shapes and structures, and transform observations into artistic insights.

Drawing from nature remains a productive way to gain knowledge and cultivate awareness. In this five-day immersion into the natural history museum, we approach drawing not as meredepiction, but as a mode of thinking – an active, tactile way of engaging with the world.

Each day we enter a different collection – Palaeontology, Mammalogy, Ornithology,Entomology, Malacology... Among fossils, bones, dermoplastics, shells and pinnedspecimens, we meet scientists and encounter the questions that guide their work. We explore drawing techniques that sharpen the perception and enable a profound experience of previously unseen phenomena. You will learn to register minute features, to translate structures into graphic language, and let lines evolve from careful observation toward artistic transformation. Drawing becomes a method that opens the given form into new possibilities.

The workshop takes a dual perspective on collecting: We critically reflect on the downsides of the insatiable expansion drive of natural history museums in their unattainable pursuit of completeness. On the other hand, artistic practice needs an attitude of never getting enough – as a driving force for constant searching and questioning. Within this tension, we will explore how art from nature can be made today, look at contemporary examples, and discuss your works in the group. We will invite theorists to offer insights into the history of scientific collecting and drawing as a form of thought.

The course is suitable for artists who wish to work intensively with natural forms to inspire their creative practice. Amateurs and natural scientists who want to expand their drawing practice are also welcome.

Day 1 - Paleontology Department: Exploring dinosaur fossils in the bone cellar.

Day 2 - Mammal Department: Drawing in the skull hall.

Day 3 - Ornithology Department: Examining bird skeletons and taxidermy mounts. Theoretical colloquium: Drawing as research and the history of scientific collecting.

Day 4 - Entomology Department: Exploring butterflies and caterpillars.

Day 5 - Mollusc Department: Drawing snail shells, bivalves, wet specimens and fossil invertebrates. Final presentation.

(The order may vary.)

Knowledge requirements
Basic experience in drawing, concentration, curiosity. Suitable for anyone who wants to explore drawing as a research-oriented practice.

Equipment requirements
Basic equipment will be provided. You should bring foulders and clipboards and if you like additional drawing tools.

Oliver Thie is a visual artist and researcher from Berlin. In cooperation projects with scientistshe explores drawing methods as a way of knowledge production. 2024 he was in Indonesiato observe the movements of snails. In 2023 he examined bark structures in the SpreeForest. 2018 to 2020 he focused on a collection of minerals from the Seven Mountains. In2016 he accompanied a biological expedition in the USA to study the social behaviour ofaphids. From 2014 to 2016 he was artist in residence at the Natural History Museum Berlin,where he interpreted microstructures on the Hawaiian cave-dwelling cicada.

www.oliverthie.de