My good friend--and one of my favorite artists--Eleanor Crook just brought to my attention a fantastic looking art and anatomy intensive course taking place this summer at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. At £950.00 its a bit on the cost-y side, but what a great looking week of classes! By the end of the 7th day, you will have learned the skeleton and musculature and you will leave the course with your own hand-crafted wax model of the head and neck and ecorché (muscle figure) and, as the copy puts it, "a portfolio of new work, a much wider understanding of the subject explored and a wealth of ideas for future artistic development." Plus you get to learn from such wonderful artists as Sarah Simblet, Brian Catling and Eleanor Crook.

There are two sessions to choose form; the first is Sunday 4th August - Saturday 10th August
and the second is from Sunday 1st September - Saturday 7th September. Full details follow; You can find out more here and book a place by clicking here.

Art and Anatomy Course
Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford
With instructors Dr Sarah Simblet, Brian Catling and Eleanor Crook
Session 1: Sunday 4th August - Saturday 10th August 2013
Session 2: Sunday 1st September - Saturday 7th September 2013
(Please note, both courses offer the same programme)
The fee for each course is £950.00; Places can be booked here.

I found this course a unique opportunity as it is taught by artists that have learned directly from dissecting bodies. Also, the tutors present the subject with an exciting approach as this is what they are passionate about.’
--Jaime, Summer School Participant 2011

‘Such intensity of learning the musculature was really interesting, now fully appreciate how intricately the tissues intertwined.  I’m fascinated!’  -- Summer School Participant 2012

Dr Sarah Simblet continues to offer her highly successful Art and Anatomy course in 2013. Based around Dr Simblet’s best selling book, Anatomy for the Artist, Dorling Kindersley,this year we have extended the course to 7 days. The course continues to cover aspects of human anatomy, its drawing and history.For the third year, the Ruskin will be offering two non-residential courses on Art and Anatomy. Human anatomy is explored through intensive workshops, lectures and group discussions, with time for personal studio work. Participants need to bring their own drawing materials and the Ruskin will provide easels, paper and life models. No academic or artistic criteria is required for attendance at either course although all participants must be 16 years old and over.

Participants can expect to leave our Summer School with a portfolio of new work, a much wider understanding of the subject explored and a wealth of ideas for future artistic development.

To book a place on either of these courses, please go to the University’s online booking page for Short Courses: http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk

Programme
Day 1         :    Structural Drawing
Day 2         :    The Skeleton
Day 3         :    Musculature
Days 4       :    Wax Modelling Head & Neck
Day 5         :    Wax Modelling Ecorché (muscle figure)
Day 6         :    Personal studio time with tutor
Day 7         :    Life Drawing

COURSE TEACHING STAFF

Dr Sarah Simblet
Sarah Simblet is an artist who writes and draws. She is also a broadcaster, lecturer and anatomist with broad research interests in the relationship between art, science and history. She has published three major art reference books with Dorling Kindersley: ‘Anatomy for the Artist’, ‘The Drawing Book’ and ‘Botany for the Artist’ and exhibits her drawings through her books. Sarah contributes to contemporary art shows, festivals and live events and her work is held in national and private collections. She contributes regularly to British, American and international television and radio programmes about science and art, and consults on national exhibitions. She is Tutor in Anatomy at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford, a freelance lecturer at the National Gallery London, and Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and is an academic member of Wolfson College, Oxford.
http://unitedagents.co.uk/sarah-simblet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/sep/25/arts.artsnews
http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780751334418,00.html

Professor Brian Catling
An academic, poet and contemporary artist who has had a life long fascination with the visualisation of human anatomy in everything from wood blocks to science fiction.  Brian is a Professor at the University of Oxford, on the teaching staff at the Ruskin and a Fellow at Linacre College.
http://briancatling.com/

Eleanor Crook
Eleanor Crook is one of the world’s leading anatomical modellers in wax: a contemporary artist who uses traditional and newly invented techniques to express and explain the drama of the human body.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVL7nE4UiIs

Image: Side of Head Without Skin, from Anatomia Humani Corporis or Ontleding des Menschelyken Lichaams, Govard Bidloo, 1690Source:
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2013/08/art-and-anatomy-intensive-summer-school.html