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						JO BROCKLEHURST Portraitist of the London punk
				Her output of work was vast, with shows in Germany, New York, Amsterdam and London. Experimenting with colour and the body in movement, social environment, real and theatrical situations, the drawings are always powerful. Her drawing style was original, strong and in your face. Take it or leave it, there it is. I think what it is is gutsy but, as with all good drawing, with a feeling of a different reality. That is what draws one in. I admired her commitment and discipline to draw every day, to keep the flow and quality of line - difficult to maintain but, nevertheless, she did it. It was because of this kind of attitude and passion that, a decade ago, I asked her to teach our students at Central Saint Martins and she became a Visiting Lecturer in the School of Fashion. She was completely generous and encouraging as a teacher, passing on a unique experience that will live on through her students, I hope. Jo Brocklehurst was a tough taskmaster and I would often have to warn the models of her expectations. We lost a few, but all said afterwards they were glad to have had the experience and the results that had come out of it. She had boys in dresses and feathered masks or not very much at all. The girls worked just as hard playing out fantasies for all to draw. She taught the students the traditions of life drawing, imparting her knowledge from what she had been taught herself, but allowed them to be inventive and original, not imposing her own style. I often thought she lived in a kind of wonderment of the world, in another dimension - it was natural for her and we all looked on slightly stunned and just going along for the ride. I sometimes realised how lucky I was to be caught up in her spell. Her recent work on Through the Looking Glass came out of her wanting to return to her English roots after a period in New York. What better way to pass an afternoon than in her studio installation of the Drawing Room, sipping tea from bone china and surrounded by walls dripping with her take on Alice, the White Rabbit and the Red Queen? Great fun. ( ART GALLERY MENU )