Supporter case study: Bridget Riley Art Foundation
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A highly successful partnership at the British Museum and beyond.
In 2013 the Bridget Riley Art Foundation granted support to an ambitious new three-year programme designed to inspire art students and art lovers across the UK to engage with and learn to draw from their local and national drawing collections.
Lines of thought: drawing from Michelangelo to now
Lines of thought: drawing from Michelangelo to now
This partnership with the Bridget Riley Foundation has proven highly successful, not only engaging with thousands of students through workshops at the British Museum, but also reaching a far larger audience through a UK touring exhibition.
Beginning with a series of drawing workshops for art students in the Prints and Drawings Study Room, the programme has since expanded rapidly to engage with independent artists, art collectives, and the general public.
Delivery of these workshops informed the development of a related exhibition, Lines of thought: drawing from Michelangelo to now, which travelled to Poole, Hull and Ulster. By opening up the British Museum's collection to audiences across the UK, the exhibition aimed to help visitors understand drawing and inspire them to draw from the works on display.
Workshop attendee quote
Today I have changed the way I think of drawing.
Lines of Thought workshop attendee, Hull University Art Gallery
Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now
Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now
In 2016, the Bridget Riley Art Foundation generously committed to supporting a new phase of activity, from 2017 to 2020. Following the success of Lines of thought, in this new project the British Museum has partnered with four regional museums and galleries to curate a touring exhibition examining contemporary drawings, Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now.
The core programme of drawing workshops also continues to grow, with increasing numbers of students and artists coming back to study from the collections after their workshop experiences.
The British Museum is extremely grateful to the Bridget Riley Art Foundation for giving this drawing programme such substantial long-term support.
