Art need no longer be a drag

Intimidated by the art world? New evening courses fuse night classes with nightlife, writes Caomhan Keane, with everything from drag to burlesque on the menu

THEY say the best thing for a case of nerves is a case of Scotch. I settled for hot buttered rums prior to my first foray in ‘drag’. I didn’t dress in women’s clothing for burlesque performer Lucy Rhinehart’s class. I did something scarier. I painted a self-portrait of whom I’d like to be in drag and showed the results to a class.

Ever since a former teacher had criticised my portrait of Mary Robinson because her curls were bigger than her eyeballs, I’d been scared of picking up a pencil.