“The real voyage of discovery is not to seek new landscapes but to look upon the world with fresh eyes.” Marcel Proust, Writer
When pupils are on their sketchbook journey, how does the facilitator “hold” the sketchbook space?
Look out for signs that a pupil has made a small leap or might be about to start a small personal exploration, so that you can help the pupil recognise it too, and remind them they have permission to follow.
How best to spot those small branches in a journey? By talking and tuning in.
Recognise these moments (of creative instinct) are often fragile and easily ignored or destroyed.
Sensitively encourage, by “suggesting” more materials, ideas, prompts. Never control or “tell”.
Gently keep pushing the pupil to look “outwards” (by looking at other stimulus or externalising by drawing, painting etc) so that what is happening “inwards” can be fed.
Talking and Recognising
Key Questions to Ask During the Sketchbook Journey:
What do I already know?
What do I want to know?
How did that idea come into my mind?
Can I trace back where it came from?
What was I thinking about when I was working?
What strategies are working well for me?
What do I like and why?
What worked less well and why?
What would I do differently next time?
Where might my journey take me next?
What do I want to know? What can I explore?
This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.
AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.
We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.
The AccessArt Sketchbook Journey is a series of resources designed to help teachers, pupils and learners of all ages navigate their way towards a greater understanding and experience of how sketchbooks can develop our creativity. Paula Briggs, Co-founder and Director of AccessArt explains the thinking behind the project.
AccessArt has been an advocate of the use of sketchbooks as a tool to nurture creativity for many years. Our aim is to enable as many teachers and facilitators as possible (including non-specialist teachers) to feel able to explore the use of sketchbooks with their pupils.
For over 20 years AccessArt has been asking the question:
What kind of mechanisms do artists use to enable their creativity to flourish?
The answers to that question contain clues; clues that might suggest to us new ways we can enable creativity in children and teenagers.
One of the ways many adults develop their creativity is through the use of sketchbooks, and we see that in schools where sketchbook use thrives, creativity thrives too.
The AccessArt Sketchbook Journey aims to share sketchbook knowledge and experience through the following steps:
Step 1: Understand. What is a sketchbook? What happen’s inside a sketchbook? Let’s lift the lid and better understand the potential.
Step 2: Practice & Explore. Make time for sketchbooks and exploresketchbook activities. Experience what a sketchbook journey might look like.
Step 3: Reflect & Discuss. Use sketchbooks as an opportunity to understand more about our creativity, and as a tool for sharing the creativity journey.
Step 4: See Sketchbooks in Action. Be inspired by the sketchbooks of artists, teachers and children.
Throughout all the above stages, the journey for teachers is simple:
We give permission. We show pupils what sketchbooks can be in the widest sense, and we give permission for pupils to embrace that potential in an aspirational way.
We create opportunity for pupils to practice sketchbook skills and explore exciting projects
We nurture ownership, by reminding pupils that they can take control of their journey in and through their sketchbooks.
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