14. A) Read the sentences below and tick five sentences which seem to you the most evident reasons for people taking up art. Compare your answers with a partner.

1) People want to do something creative in their spare time.

2) People find painting very therapeutic. Everyday worries disappear when they work on a picture. It’s totally absorbing.

3) Painting takes people’s mind off other things. And it’s a complete contrast with their working life.

4) Painting gives people a great sense of achievement.

5) People paint as a way to relax from the stresses of their day job.

6) People paint for money.

7) People want some kind of recognition for their work.

8) People have a gift for painting which makes them choose it as a career.

9) The suggestion to take up art comes from a friend or a relative who has a job in the same industry.

10) People take up art because their grandparents and parents have been in it for ages.

11) People start painting by chance.

12) People were so impressed by the quality of things they saw at the art exhibition that they decided to take up art.

13) People begin painting as an alternative form of self expression.

14) People paint because it brings them joy. They love telling stories with their brush.

b) Work in pairs to discuss why people take up painting. Use the Essential Strategy Language.

15. a) Listen to the interview with Lynda Buckland, a young artist, who is talking about her life and work. For questions 1-6 choose the answer A, B, C, D which fits best according to what you hear. (from Kenny N. Practice Tests Plus CAE. / Nick Kenny, Jacky Newbrook – Pearson Longman, 2008. – P 146.)

1) Lynda says that she chooses to draw river scenes because

A you find interesting characters there

B the surrounding landscape inspires her

C it’s a theme that’s instantly recognizable

D she likes their feeling of dynamic activity

2) What is Lynda’s attitude towards abstract art?

A She doesn’t want her work to go in that direction

B She regrets not having moved into it earlier

C She wishes she’d had more training in it

D She is looking forward to trying it out

3) Lynda says that she produces her final drawings

A while she’s sitting on the waterfront itself

B immediately after seeing the scenes which inspire her

C after combining ideas from different sketches she’s done

D on days when she’s able to rent space in a studio near the river

4) What was the disadvantage of Lynda’s previous workspace?

A It lacked atmosphere

B It was affected by traffic noise

C It was in an inconvenient location

D It was larger than she actually needed

5) How did Lynda found her new workspace?

A She met somebody by chance who had a studio to let

B She saw evidence of artistic activity in a nearby building

C She went to see it on the recommendation of a neighbour

D She was invited to join a group of artists working in her area

6) Lynda says that the drawings on show in her forthcoming exhibition

A took longer to produce than some of her earlier work

B represent a mix of her latest work and oldest material

C include features that reflect recent changes in her life

D contain signs of how her work will change in the future

b) Read the interview with Lynda Buckland. Match questions / remarks A-I with answers 1-9.

A Where do you work now?

B So it’s really worked out well for you.

C A real coincidence.

D Tell us about the exhibition.

E Why the river, where did it all start?

F Do you actually do the drawings down by the waterfront?

G And they have a wide appeal, don’t they?

H And what does the future hold?

I Is your workplace pretty important to you?

(1)______?

I feel energized by drawing a living, breathing thing. When I’m drawing down by the river, I much prefer it when there’s something going on, a ship’s docking or the cranes are moving. It’s easier to feel involved, part of the action. My paintings are all about life and movement as far as themes are concerned. I’m not interested in landscapes as such.

(2) _____.

Well, maybe that’s because I’m actually quite resistant to the idea of moving into abstract art because that’s what everyone, kind of expects you to do. The resistance stems, I think, from where I did my training. I was at a college where there was a very strong emphasis on figure drawing and traditional drawing skills generally. It’d be hard to shake that off even if I wanted to.

(3) _____?

Not much of the work is done in city, actually just preliminary sketches. Those then act as my source of inspiration. I then take them home and work on them and play about with them until I get an idea of how a finished drawing might look. The drawing often takes the form of composite images actually.

(4) _____.

It’s funny you should mention that because when I did those particular drawings, I was working in a rented studio in South London. It was a great space, with a nice atmosphere. It was big enough to have six or seven pieces of work on the go at the same time. But it was beginning to get me down because although it wasn’t that far away in terms of miles, it was a stressful journey to get over there. I often found that ideas that were fresh in my mind as I left the house in the morning were draining away by the time I’d fought my way through the traffic.

(5) _____?

Well, as I say, I’d had it in mind for some time to find a workplace closer to home, and then one day earlier this year I noticed an easel in an upstairs windows in one of the houses on the other side of the road where I live. I knew the girl across the road was an artist, but for some reason I thought she was a designer working in a potter’s studio or something. I’d never met her to talk to. So it was a pleasant surprise to realize that I have a painter living by.

(6) _____.

Amazing. Seeing the easel standing there was one of those eureka moments, you know. I phoned her later on and said that I had a show coming up, and if I could rent a room on a short term basis. As it turned out, she was happy for me to take over a room as a temporary studio.

(7) ____.

I’ve only been in this studio for a couple of months, but it’s already proved to be a revelation. There’s the obvious benefit of just having to cross the road to get here and at first I was concerned about whether I’d be able to completely detach myself mentally from the normal day-to-day routine, which is vital. I know I would be terribly distracted if I actually tried to work at home.

(8) ____

The work I’ll be showing at the exhibition in September is all new work, a lot of it produced in my present studio. Working there has had a real impact on my work. I think it’s got a lot to do with the fact that I can come in and work in short bursts – one of the effects of that has been that the work has been developing more quickly and I think the images are sharper as a result. But it’s not only that, the colours have changed, become softer, though I couldn’t tell you why. Overall I think the effect is a much stronger image.

(9) _____?

Although I have started to experiment with ...

c) In pairs discuss peculiarities of Lynda Buckland’s painting style? Why does she dislike abstract art? What inspires her? Would you like to visit her exhibition? Why?

16. Listen to the speaker talking about three women-painters and complete the table below. Write no more than three words or a number for each answer. (from Voice of America)

The exhibition Places of their own: Emily Carr, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo is displayed at the (1) ______. It focuses on (2) ____________ links among them.

Artist	Personal information	The subject matter of the painting
Emily Carr is one of Canada’s most celebrated artists.	She was born in (3) ____. She became famous for her paintings when she was more (4)_______.	Her works feature (5) _____ in her home province of British Columbia.
Georgia O’Keefe enjoys the greatest popularity in (6) ______ as a female artist.	Her paintings sometimes are shown along with the pictures taken by her husband, the famous photographer Alfred Steiglitz.	The striking land in the southwestern United States provided (7) _____ for her paintings. Many of her pictures show nature at its simplest, with few details.
The final artist honored in the museum show is Frida Kahlo.	Frida Kahlo was almost killed in an accident when she was a young girl. (9) ______ influenced her artworks.	Almost all her paintings are (8) _____. Mexico’s cultures affected the (10) ______ of her paintings.