During Children’s Mental Health Week, we were delighted to invite former War Artist & Professor of Illustration, Xavier Pick, to lead a virtual talk with our Year 11 students and Art Scholars. As well as an experienced professional artist, Xavier is an active educationalist, teaching and lecturing at various schools and colleges across the UK. He currently lives in Hong Kong, where he has been Professor of Drawing, Design and Illustration for the last 7 years.
Xavier considers his practice as a “bridge between journalism and fine art”, documenting real life situations through visual storytelling based on unique personal experiences, most notably as an Official War Artist for the UK Ministry of Defence. His work demonstrates a diverse range of creative disciplines, tying these together through his celebrated sketchbooks.
Most recently, Xavier filmed himself sketching Amanda Gorman reciting her performance poem at Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony and added the soundtrack of her recital over his sketching of the poem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHnGY2b4swQ&t=1s
Xavier spoke to our students about the practice and philosophy of keeping sketchbook journals and how these are used to develop larger artworks.
“The daily practice of keeping a sketchbook helps to keep us sane, happy and grounded by giving us order. A sketchbook will never let you down, it allows you to embrace mistakes and explore infinite possibilities privately contained within the covers of a book.” (Xavier Pick, August 2020)
He provided an impressive insight into his experiences as a journalistic artist working in the UK, Asia and as a war artist. Xavier’s talk was both inspirational and informative and we are delighted that our students enjoyed his talk as much as they did.
We highly recommend you check out Xavier’s work:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/xavpick
Instagram: @xavier_pick
Facebook: @xavier.pick.artist
Website: https://www.xavierpick.com
