To celebrate the Royal Drawing School’s 25th anniversary, Phoebe Stannard—an alumna of the School—was asked to create The Drawing Luminary Medal.
The medal is a statement of the School’s continuing commitment to drawing as vital, living art. Its inspiration lies in two defining reflections on the nature of fine art. In 1859, John Ruskin asserted that:
“Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.”
Over 160 years later, David Hockney restates this in almost identical words:
“You need the eye, the hand, and the heart. Two won’t do.”
These three elements—eye, hand, and heart—are drawn into the structure and concept of the medal. The finely delineated iris is the artist’s eye, the central aperture of the pupil invites you to peer through and engage with the world beyond. The reverse of the medal shows a hand drawing a heart based on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical studies in the Royal Collection, which Stannard had the rare opportunity to study on a visit to Windsor Castle when she was a student on The Drawing Year.
Both contemplative and playful, the medal is designed to function as a drawing automaton: when a pencil is inserted through the central hole, it becomes a spinning top, scattering lines across the surface beneath—an elegant, kinetic homage to the imaginative and ever-unfolding nature of drawing.
Watch the short demonstration film to understand how to add kinesis to the medal.
