Learning to See (with Ruskin) online sessions 2025

6^th September 2025, 4^th October 2025, 1^st November 2025, 6^th December 2025

What happens when we pause long enough to truly see the world around us?

This gentle, monthly workshop series, at 2pm (UK time) on the first Saturday of every month, from September 2025 to May 2026, invites you to slow down and look closely—at leaf and lichen, cloud and stone, light and shadow. Guided by the spirit of John Ruskin and his belief that learning to draw is above all a way of learning to see, Learning to See offers a welcoming space for anyone, regardless of skill level, to deepen their connection to the natural world through careful observation and creative practice.

Inspired loosely by Ruskin’s The Elements of Drawing, the series will blend drawing with a wide range of creative responses, which might include walking, watercolour and colour mixing, photography, mapping, and reading.

Sessions will run on the first Saturday of each month, with artist, writer and Companion Kateri Ewing opening the series in September and October, setting the tone for an experience rooted in reverence, presence, and accessibility. We will announce further guest session leaders shortly.

Together, we’ll explore how attentive seeing can rekindle our sense of wonder—and how wonder can lead us toward care.

Join us for 90 minutes of shared observation, practice, discussion, and community each month, and discover how small, mindful acts of attention can become a daily rhythm of creative noticing.

All are welcome; if you would like to join us, please register for these free sessions via Eventbrite (link to be added soon); you will receive a zoom link ahead of the sessions.

We suggest that attendees have the following materials to hand:

1. Ordinary A4 plain white printer-paper or similar (5 sheets perhaps) or a drawing notebook if you have one

2. Black 0.5 mm roller ball or felt tip pen (ref. eu.winsornewton.com/collections/fineliners/products/fineliner-black)

3. A4 tracing paper (2 sheets perhaps)

4. A sharp pencil (or two!)

5. An eraser

Sessions will usually run for 90 minutes.

READING THE TEXT OF THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING

If you would like to read The Elements of Drawing, it can be found online HERE, and you can find a facsimile of George Allen's edition of 1904 HERE.

The Ashmolean Museum's Elements of Drawing website contains eight short instruction videos from artist Stephen Farthing RA, who was the Ruskin Master of Drawing at the University of Oxford from 1990-2000, which you can watch HERE.