Picture Perfect: Portraiture at Christchurch Mansion

A new season of Brave Art opened with a fantastic session led by professional artist Shelly O’Brien.

Our Brave Artists will spend eight weeks exploring the many portraits on display at Christchurch Mansion. Curator, Emma Roodhouse, gave us a tour of the gallery and told us about many of the fascinating pictures on display.

We learned all about the various families who lived in the Tudor mansion over the years. Students had fun recreating the pictures and poses.

Back in the Tudor Room, which is our studio classroom for the duration of the course, we dressed up in hats, ruffs and costumes and took turns posing while everyone had a go at creating their own portraits using watercolours, pencils and oil pastels.

Over the next few weeks, we will be using paint, clay, costume, poetry, drama, photography and textiles to explore the theme of portraiture and create our own unique works of art.

Suffolk Artlink’s Brave Art programme offers creative sessions for adults with learning disabilities in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Lowestoft. For course dates and details visit https://www.suffolkartlink.org.uk/project/brave-art/