The Samson Sisters Life-Drawing Workshop

Joan Eardley (1921-1963) is one of Scotland’s most celebrated artists, best known for her depictions of Glasgow’s street children and of Scotland’s Northeast coastline. Among her most famous later works are her paintings of the Samson family, a group of twelve siblings who became the focus of many of the works she made from her studio in the Townhead area of Glasgow in the 1960s.

Image: ‘The Samson kids in Joan Eardley’s studio, Townhead (1962) © Oscar Marzaroli Collection, courtesy of Street Level Photoworks

The exhibition ‘Early Eardley: selected works 1940 – 1950‘ offers the opportunity to see early works for which she is lesser known to show the ways in which her formative time at The Glasgow School of Art and early experiences from 1940-50 informed the direction and development of her later work. This includes several figure studies and life-drawings made during her time as a student at GSA.

As part of the exhibition, we are pleased to present a special life-drawing workshop with two of the Samson children; Ann McKenna and Pat McLean (neé Samson), who Joan painted several times in her Townhead studio. This informal, two-hour class will include several short warm-ups poses followed by a longer, one hour pose.

Participants should bring their own materials – Please note that only pencil, chalks and charcoal are allowed within the gallery. There will be a break halfway through and refreshments will be provided.

You can listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with Pat and Anne here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kx8y

This workshop has been coordinated by Mary Harker, a Glasgow based artist who returned to her art practice after a career in the life sciences sector. She is currently studying painting and printmaking on the M.Litt Fine Art practice at The Glasgow School of Art.

This workshop is supported by The Glasgow School of Art Exhibitions