The most relaxing and creative afternoon of the Cabaret Festival, under the expert guidance of Adelaide artist Ruby Chew
Presented by: Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Reviewed: 8 June 2025
If you’re a fan of those paint and sip workshops, Cabaret Life Drawing is the perfect Cabaret Festival experience. Located in the ArtSpace with its huge windows and intimate vibe, Cabaret Life Drawing gives artists and novices alike a chance to unleash their inner artist while sipping a beverage and listening to live music.
Artist and educator Ruby Chew makes this workshop incredibly accessible and judgement-free. Her explanations are clear, giving options of techniques while always encouraging individuality and creativity. Patrons are provided with paper, charcoal, pencil, eraser and measuring stick. The workshop started with several short warmup activities, in which Ruby briefly looked at different techniques using both charcoal and pencil. The warmup activities moved through quite quickly, giving the impression that perhaps this is a longer workshop compressed into 1 hour, but clearly Ruby wanted to give us as many tools as possible to use in our drawing.
Posing as a model for this workshop was the gorgeous Luka Sandeo, singer/songwriter for Openfire, whose mesh blouse and black and gold embroidered pant and jacket set made for wonderful opportunities for texture and detail in the drawings. Luka mingled with patrons before the start of the workshop, bringing a warmth to the room that helped set novice artists like myself at ease.
Accompanying the hour of art was a talented jazz duo consisting of Milush Piochaud on double bass and Tyler Venter on guitar. Their unobtrusive background music was the perfect addition to the afternoon.
Cabaret Life Drawing was such a relaxing and creative afternoon. It lends itself so well to more experienced artists as well as beginners, with Ruby Chew’s guidance allowing freedom while giving the tools to create something to be proud of.
Reviewed by Kristin Stefanoff
Photo credit: Claudio Raschella
Venue: ArtSpace, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: ended
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