Poppy Green

Make your Mark - Experimental drawing

 

Drawing can often be the barrier that inhibits people from exploring their creativity. With this in mind, we spent some good time thinking about the best approaches to drawing, and our Make your Mark project is the culmination of this thinking. 

 

Working in partnership with the Bow Arts Trust, and children from St. Luke's CofE Primary School and Cubitt Juniors, Blank Canvas posed a series of questions designed to challenge participants to rethink what a drawing could be. By broadening out the concept of drawing, we hoped to touch on ideas or skills that our non-drawers could access and enjoy. Likewise, the diversity of our approach challenged the more able participants who were used to achieving in a very prescribed way. Participants who completed this project all passed their "Explore" level Arts Award.

 

 

Workshop 1: How do I make a drawing using something I can't see?

 

Participants explored light as a material for drawing. They used SLR cameras to create long exposure images, and experimented with a range of lights to create drawings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used solar print paper and created collage sculptures that we pinned to the paper. We then left these on a window sill. When we removed the sculptures the sun had made "drawings" on the surface of the paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop 2 : How do I make a drawing of something I can't see?

 

We asked our participants to work in pairs. One would be the "sitter" and the other the "painter". The "sitter" was asked to dance, and the "painter" created a large drawings of these movements from observation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop 3: How do I make a drawing without using my hands?

 

We tasked our participants to design and make wearble drawing machines which would create automatic drawings as they moved. They worked with performance artist Mary Hurrell to perfect their move for a "performance". Click on an image below to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we explored the potential of our body, as a tool for drawing. Students created large drawings using only their feet.