Perienne Christian
- Faculty
- Bespoke Courses Faculty
- Alumni, 2007
Biography
Perienne was awarded a scholarship to study for a Master’s in Drawing at the Royal Drawing School in 2006, where she received the Chairman’s First Prize for her end-of-year exhibition, which included images that were to be the sparks for the work she creates today; a bridge between the observed world, dream and imagination. Alongside her studio practice, she works as a teacher and creative mentor. She is a senior teaching faculty member at the Royal Drawing School, where she runs courses that emphasise this cross-over from observation into imagination.
Christian has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Royal Academy of Arts, Buckingham Palace, and Christie’s in New York. Her work is held in many public and private collections. She has worked as a freelance art tutor at many different art institutions, including the V&A, the Tate, and the Art Academy in London.
From 2009–2011 she sat for a painting for the artist Lucian Freud, the last he completed before he died, in 2011; an experience she has found enduringly beneficial to her own art practice.
She is the host of the Art & Story Podcast: conversations on creativity and healing.
On drawing
For me, the act of drawing has a primacy to it, giving me a connection to what I am depicting, in a way that is unlike any other medium. When drawing, I feel as though I have plugged into a life force that could be described as the creative impulse. It is a fundamental part of my practice and I am often to be found drawing out in nature, or making annotated drawings in my sketchbook of dreams or fleeting visions before they leave my consciousness. Through drawing, I feel I am able to convey multiple worlds, stories and ideas within the one picture plane. As a drawing tutor, I have noticed that when students are able to make that connection between what they are seeing in space and the two-dimensional paper and combine this with intuitive mark-making, a wonderful shift occurs.
