Artist, educator and co-founder of AccessArt Paula Briggs describes how she enables an exploration of drawing as an activity to support other artforms, in this case sculpture.
This project was shared with AccessArt as part of the 40 Artist Educator Project, funded by Arts Council England, aiming to highlight and celebrate artist-led teaching and facilitation.
Drawing as a Support Activity
This resources shares a workshop which took place with children at Bourn Primary Academy, Cambridgeshire. The aim of the workshop (which was a day long session) was to give children the opportunity to explore plaster casting to make relief sculptures, but before we embarked upon the sculptural journey I wanted to help the children focus and explore their subject matter through a series of drawing exercises. The idea was to help them collect information (through looking, drawing, reflection) that would feed their sculpture. When an artist works in a studio, they surround themselves by their subject matter, building themselves a space which nurtures their creativity. In a small way I wanted to show the children they could create a similar space (albeit a table not a room) which was rich and inspiring.
The drawing exercises themselves were ones I use time and again in my teaching, but what was different about this session was the set up and the emphasis on decision making led by the children themselves. These two key components helped make the session particularly rewarding for both myself as facilitator, and for the children too.
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