Three years ago, Sophia Nicholson had the idea of forming a creative community in Cascais. A graduate in Arts, the British national moved to the town after meeting her Portuguese boyfriend. She has been living here for six years now. During the pandemic, forced to spend a lot of time at home, she sought to do something as productive as it was artistic.
"I started giving online life drawing classes," she says, referring to drawings of human figures, usually nude models, where the forms and silhouettes of a vulnerable body are explored. "Then, I decided to start organizing some classes in Cascais when I found a space. And it quickly became popular; we had a lot of people interested, so I started doing regular classes."
The challenge was having a space always available for the sessions, so Sophia began to visit other venues – and she liked this itinerant model. "It helped me to network and grow the community, to meet other spaces that were interested in hosting these events. So now I always do it in different places and, more than classes, they have become networking meetings for artists, where different creators can meet. At the same time, it's a great way to highlight cool galleries and spaces that people might not know."
At this stage, Life Drawing Cascais operates during the Winter and Spring, with monthly sessions. Anyone can participate, regardless of experience. However, there are several artists with some work done who use this project to refine and train their technique.
Sophia provides advice, and the idea is that it's a relatively flexible format. But usually, the sessions start with some quick exercises to "unblock the drawing muscles," followed by a short break where participants can get to know each other, before finally having an hour to draw a model. On some occasions, they even serve a glass of wine to accompany.
"People's phones are turned off, there are no distractions, there is silence, it's very much a process of being in the moment, I think that's also what people enjoy," explains the entrepreneur. "It's a great time of the week when you're resetting. You have a quiet moment before the start of the next week. At the end of each session, people usually show their drawings, and we help and see everyone's work."
"I love going to the drawing sessions," shares one of the regular participants, Madelene Lundh. "I even call them my sacred Sundays. It's a safe space on all levels, with professional models and excellent organizers." Another participant, Cláudia Ferro, explains what it was like to draw a live model for the first time. For her, it was a process full of "strokes, corrections, adjustments, breaks from poses and the session, savoring the wine, and an exchange of glances and impressions with drawing partners, with great complicity." In the end, she was curious to observe the drawings of the other participants: "The personal touch imprinted on each one, the choice of diverse materials, the colors and the shape of the body portrayed, the model's own poses altered by the perspective of the viewing angle... The same body and several realities created on paper."
Sophia Nicholson provides basic materials, such as pencils, charcoal, and paper — as well as easels — but everyone is free to bring their own materials. And many do.
The next session is already scheduled for this Sunday, 18 February, at 18:00, at the gallery of Gizela N and Cláudia Afonso, located in the Cascais Citadel. Tickets cost €25. The March meeting is also scheduled for the 14th, at the same time, at the House of Zen. It will intersperse drawing with moments of meditation and stretching. In that case, registration is €22.57. The participant limit is always subject to the capacity of each space.
Sophia's idea involves organizing an exhibition with some of the works of regular participants at the end of this cycle of sessions, somewhere in the summer, likely in partnership with one of the galleries that hosted them. Moreover, she says she would like to, eventually, conceive a "structured course," with a more active teaching aspect. For now, it continues to be mainly a hobby, by and for those who love to draw.