Join two of our public artists, Alex Ekins and Fem Sorcell to create interactive street art inspired by the paintings of Tintoretto. Get your photograph taken in our pop-up studio, paste it onto the hoardings outside Exchange Place Studios and then embellish it with paint, spray cans and stencils. All ages welcome - open to everyone.

An example of Fem Sorcell and Alex Ekins' previous collaborative work

2019 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Ruskin, one of the greatest thinkers, writers, art critics and philanthropists of the Victorian age. His gift to the workers of Sheffield, the Ruskin Collection, is now permanently displayed at the Millennium Gallery. It is supported by the Guild of St George, who apply Ruskin’s ideas to help make better lives today.

As part of this year of international celebrations, on Friday 18th October 2019, Yorkshire Artspace and the Guild of St George are co-creating a Big Draw Festival based along Exchange Street in Sheffield, in connection with a simultaneous event in Venice. Our partner in Venice is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which houses over 60 masterpieces by the great Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto, born 500 years ago. This is the first time the Scuola has invited members of the public to come and draw and make inside and around their remarkable 16th Century building.

Considering Ruskin's huge admiration of Venetian painter Tintoretto, the aim of our Making Masterpieces programme is to celebrate connections between Venice and Sheffield; exploring our medieval pasts, urban waterways and our aspirations for happy and unsinkable futures.

Tintoretto's Moses Drawing Water from the Rock

This event is supported by The Guild of St George, Yorkshire Artspace, Church Burgesses Educational Foundation, Sheffield Grammar School Exhibition Foundation, Sheffield Bluecoat and Mount Pleasant Educational Foundation, The University of Sheffield and The Big Draw.