In this wide-ranging conversation, Royal Drawing School Founding Artistic Director Catherine Goodman CBE LVO joins artist Sir Christopher Le Brun PPRA and neuroscientist Dr. Ash Ranpura to discuss the relationship of drawing to the body, brain and soul, and its role as an essential and healing tool for the digital age. Bringing together diverse perspectives from the worlds of the arts and sciences, they discuss the evolutionary reasons behind human creativity and the idea of drawing as an act of discovery, alongside their thoughts on the importance of drawing in arts education. In a time where more and more artists are embracing digital tools, the panelists argue that nothing can replace the material act of putting pencil to paper.

This conversation formed part of our Drawing Weekender, which took place over the 18th and 19th of July 2026 in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth at their Somerset gallery.

Catherine Goodman CBE LVO

 Catherine Anne Goodman CBE LVO (born 1961) is an artist and co-founder with King Charles III of the Royal Drawing School. For more than four decades, Goodman has developed a unique visual language that communicates a powerful visionary response to her lived experience and memory. Goodman’s intensely expressive painting process uses strongly pigmented oil paint, brushwork, oil sticks, drips and washes to create atmospheric and immersive paintings which explore both figuration and abstraction.

Central to Goodman’s artistic process is the act of drawing directly from life, her intimate knowledge of the old master painters and drawing from film, where she immerses in the legends of the modern cinema age. In Goodman’s words, “drawing can bring about a sense of unity and create a portal into other realms of consciousness”. This daily practice roots her mark-making in observation and informs and enriches her paintings.

Catherine Goodman’s role as an educator is integral to her artistic identity. Since graduating from art school, Goodman has been organising drawing classes for the homeless and other community groups, demonstrating a longstanding commitment to social justice in art education.

Goodman studied at Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts, London, and the Royal Academy Schools, London, where she won the Royal Academy Gold Medal in 1987. In 2014, Goodman was awarded Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, for her services to arts education. Since 2019, Goodman has served as the Artist Trustee at The National Gallery, London. In 2024, she was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to art, UK.

Her paintings are held in significant private and public collections including Female Artists of the Mougins Museum, France; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK; The Green Family Art Foundation, Texas, USA; The National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; The Olivia Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico; The Rothschild Foundation, Waddesdon, UK; The Royal Collection Trust, London, UK.

Sir Christopher Le Brun

Sir Christopher Le Brun (b. 1951, UK) is one of the leading British painters of his generation, celebrated internationally since the 1980s, making both figurative and abstract work in painting, sculpture, and print. He was an instrumental public figure in his role as President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2011 to 2019. Since 1990 he has served as a Trustee of major British institutions at Tate, National Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and was a founding Trustee of the Royal Drawing School. He was awarded a Knighthood for services to the Arts in the 2021 New Year Honours.

Le Brun trained at the Slade and Chelsea Schools of Art, London. In his early career, he was a double prize winner at the John Moores exhibitions (1978, 1980), also showing in the Venice Biennale (1980) and the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Zeitgeist’ (1982) at the Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin. His work is in many museum collections including Tate, London, UK; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; British Museum, London, UK; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Le Brun’s public sculptures include ‘Union (horse with two discs)’ at the Museum of London; City Wing on the site of the original London Stock Exchange and ‘The Monument to Victor Hugo’ in St Helier, Jersey.

Recent solo exhibitions include Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France (2025), Lisson Gallery, Beijing, China (2024); Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2023); Lisson Gallery, London, UK (2022); Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2021); Lisson Gallery, Shanghai, China (2019); Southampton City Art Gallery, UK (2018).

Dr. Ash Ranpura

Dr. Ash Ranpura is a neuroscientist and clinical neurologist who has been active in brain research for over 25 years. He completed a clinical residency in adult neurology at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he maintains research interests in mood disorders and epilepsy.

Ranpura holds a BA from Yale University, a M.D. from the Medical College of Ohio, and a PhD from UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. In addition to his clinical and research work, he co-founded Café Scientifique at the Photographers’ Gallery in London, and was the founding editor of BrainConnection magazine in San Francisco.

Ranpura is a prolific public speaker, having given addresses to audiences including the American Medical Association and the British Army. He has written for and hosted radio shows for BBC Radio and more. In 2018, he co-authored the book How to be Human: The Manual with Ruby Wax.