Arcadia England

In his first guest blog, CU Boulder student javi Morales talks about engaging with british artists. 

During my stay in London I have made it a personal goal to meet as many people as possible. I
absolutely love to engage with other people in a casual senses and am always fascinated by
our conversations. During my stay in Brighton I had the pleasure of talking to a woman from
South Africa and listened over coffee as she explained to me what she had learned about
London from her 6 or so years of being here. It was an enlightening conversation, but I moreso
enjoyed the novelty of talking to a stranger about who they are and where they come from, and
listening to their views on the world.

While questing to meet local Londoners and people from around the world, I stumbled upon an
event for an artist meetup at the Victoria and Albert museum. As an artist and illustrator I was
very excited to meet other local artists and spend some time drawing and getting to know
people. When we arrived at the V&A we were greeted by a lovely artist who gave us some
instructions. We were to be given two hours to pick any statue in the Cast Collection to draw
and then reconvene and show each other what we made. So me and two other Arcadia students found statues we wanted to draw, sat down, and spent the next two hours making art.

The experience was so lovely, especially as one who pursues art professionally and has done
client work before coming to London. Making the change to create art solely for the purpose of
making art was quite wonderful, and a very liberating experience. I highly enjoyed the afternoon
of making art and meeting people, and am looking forward to going back.

The next artist meetup took place east of Liverpool Street with a separate group. In this one, we
took turns sketching each other, and drawing the people sitting across from us. While a little
awkward at first as you had to lock eyes with a stranger to be able to draw them accurately, it
immediately established a sense of belonging and community. Our session lasted 2 hours and
we took turns drawing each other and showing one another our work. And it was truly amazing.
Again, just creating art on a whim and without the need for perfection or validation. Artists from
all skill sets were there so there was no pressure to create the next Mona Lisa either.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go back and continue to explore the
local art scene here in London.