Spontaneity in Portraiture 1W25
Age Group:
Adults
The course blends portrait techniques and self-exploration exercises, such as visualization, group discussions, body awareness, and journaling. Since 2020, it has been taught in Brazil and Japan, using drawing activities to help participants relax, explore their creative styles, and build new confidence. The playful exercises will strengthen spontaneity and foster artistic freedom.
Participants will walk away with insights from the self-exploration activities. Participants will develop attentiveness to figures' details and to themselves while drawing. Their final self portraits will represent surprising progress for their creative voice and build more foundation for their self-confidence.
*The makeup date for this class is Saturday 3/8/25
Murilo Mascarenhas
Murilo's first time outside their home country, Brazil, was in 2021 to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. For their interest in art-therapy, they transferred into the Human Development department at Tufts University, where they will get their M.S. degree.
In Brazil, Murilo’s students ranged from kids to the elderly. Teaching drawing and painting workshops in social centers, hospitals, NGOs, and online, Murilo's favorite topic became people's self-expression. Murilo doesn't care if one's art is muted with few elements or colorful with many elements - all they care is that art making feels good and spontaneous to their workshop participants. Practicing that sense of freedom is their point of interest, and turns out that tapping into this creativity brings about potent artworks!
Since 2017, Murilo's art studies center body practices (dance and performance), which were translated into painting and drawing as Muri started teaching in 2020. Always bringing matters into the body and posing feel-good prompts, Muri bridges technique and intuition. Performance-wise, Murilo currently performs their drag persona around Boston every month.
Recently, Murilo taught adolescents in Tokyo and young adults in Boston, and is excited to bring these perspectives to Eliot School drawing courses, including a course taught in Brazilian-Portuguese.
Website:
Specialty:
Drawing and Painting
Materials to bring to class:
Students are welcome to bring their own materials including sketchbook or drawing utensils, but the Eliot will provide paper, pencils, and markers as needed.