big draw on tour source book

The Big Draw on Tour

at the University of Cambridge Museums

Source Book

By Anna Betts & Jenny Duke

With thanks to:

Arts Council England The Big Draw Romsey Mill Community Centre

Cambridge Central Library The Polar Museum Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

Kettle’s Yard The Fitzwilliam Museum Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Museum of Zoology Museum of Classical Archaeology Whipple Museum of the History of Science

The Museum of Cambridge Campaign for Drawing

Special thanks to:

Dr Kate Noble Pam Smy Courtney Dicmas

Rachel Sinfield Dr Liz Hide Anglia Ruskin University Illustration Student Volunteers

Alison Ayres Nathan Huxtable University of Cambridge Public Engagement Team

Introduction

Drawing is a way of looking and thinking. It helps us to find our place within the world. It is a challenging and absorbing activity. Observational drawing within museums encourages close looking and engagement with objects. This process embeds knowledge of the world and the ideas contained within our collections. This can then become a starting point for further imaginative creations and lead to new discoveries and inventions.

The Big Draw on Tour was designed to celebrate and make connections between the expertise and collections of the University of Cambridge Museums. The project was planned as part of the national Big Draw which is run by the Campaign for Drawing, whose mission is to raise the profile of drawing as a tool for thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement. The Fitzwilliam Museum has been working with the School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University to plan and run family Big Draw events since 2006. In 2012, The Fitzwilliam Museum became part of the University of Cambridge Museums Connecting Collections programme as an Arts Council Major Partner Museum, bringing together the extraordinary Cambridge collections. The Big Draw on Tour enabled us to visit these collections, the Central Library and a local community centre and to embrace a broader range of specialist skills and knowledge than had previously been possible.

We commissioned artists Jenny Duke and Anna Betts to work with University museum education staff to tailor a series of workshops that reflected particular areas of interest. Their task was to work with the individual enthusiasms, ideas, and expertise of museum educators and to create drawing and making workshops which responded to the individual collections of each museum, and were linked together through one central theme. The result was the Big Draw on Tour.

The aim of this book is two-fold. In the first instance it documents and celebrates the work undertaken by museum educators, artists, illustration student volunteers and the 700+ children and their families who took part in the tour. Yet it is also hoped that by sharing the ideas which were developed and tested in each venue these case studies might provide inspiration for harnessing the power of drawing in other museums and collections.

Pam Smy, Senior Lecturer in Illustration, Anglia Ruskin University

Kate Noble, Education Officer, The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Museums

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Contents

What is Drawing?

Project Planning

Workshop Planning

Pattern

Scale

Colour

Line

Space

Narrative

Invention

Family

Early Years

The Mini Museum and Wagon

Promotion

Volunteers

Shopping list

Take a line for a walk

Shading sheet

Taking things further

Case Studies:

Running the Workshops:

Resources:

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What is Drawing?

Drawing can be made from almost any kind of mark-making, and can be used in many different ways. Often when we talk about drawing we think of it in the sense of an artistic impression of something real or imagined, but it can also take the form of plans and maps, scientific diagrams, archeaological documentation and lots more besides.

When encouraging others to draw, it is vital to build confidence. Giving specific tasks for drawing can help encouage a sense of experiemental play with a new material, but it is also imortant to encourage participants to build on any existing experience of drawing no matter how unrelated it may seem to them. Since a child is more likely to respond to a drawing challenge if their parent gives it a try too, engaging adults who may have their own fear of failure is something to address. Lots of parents say “I can’t draw”, but when given a fineliner and asked to look at some repeat patterns in a collection of objects, it becomes a task in documenting and is altogether less intimidating. Parents and children looking together and having a conversation about what they see becomes much more achievable when they are equally involved.

The following workshops were designed to engage parents and children of all levels. Drawing encourages more sustained, careful looking and engagement with a collection, so the more people encouraged to take part the better.

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Collection Creative Process

Developing an outcome

Limiting Factors

Project Planning

To plan the workshops effectively there are a number of factors to take into account. The following is a way of making sense of all these.

COLLECTIONStart by looking at each individual collection, to try to identify its unique character and how to make best use of your time there. With such a lot of objects to look at, take cues from the Museums’ experienced education staff who might have particular themes they want to promote

CREATIVE PROCESSThink about ways of drawing that might compliment each collection, for example, focusing on line in the Museum of Zoology’s stunning collection of skeletons, and colour in Kettle’s Yard’s Winifred Nicholson exhibition of paintings

DEVELOPING AN OUTCOMEThink about how to turn observational drawings into something imaginative, whilst retaining a sense of the collection’s character, or by looking at it in a new way

LIMITING FACTORSFinally think about any limiting factors such as very young children being the likely audience, limited space within the museum, or working in community locations with a Mini Museum as opposed to a whole room full of objects (see page 32)

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Individual Drawing Task

Group Creative Task

Outcome

Workshop Planning

The case studies that follow are offered as examples of the planning process in practice. It is important to note that many different creative processes could have been adopted in each venue as all the collections were rich with inspiration for all kinds of drawing. The same creative processes could be easily adapted for different locations, and different audiences to achieve very different, and equally exciting outcomes.

The two-hour workshops all follow the same outline:

INDIVIDUAL DRAWING TASK Based on careful observation of the collection

GROUP CREATIVE TASK Led by an artist, and tailored to the collection’s character, often consisting of smaller elements so that each child could make a contribution to a larger piece

OUTCOMEOften a display was left at the museum

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INDIVIDUAL DRAWING TASK:

THE SHAPE CHALLENGETo make visual connections within the collection, starting by looking in one museum cabinet

Resources:

Useful Tip:

Guideine:

2B and 6B pencils (see page 37) Perspex clipboardsPhotocopied shape sheet printed on cartridge paper (see opposite)

Younger children could have fewer shapes and chunky crayonsOlder children might like to use their pencils to add tone

You could use magnifying glasses and viewfinders to add to the idea of investigating

Search for these shapes in the gallery - what could they be? Are they a small detail or the whole object? Use the shape as the starting point for your drawing Look carefully and record as many details as you can

When deciding what to draw it can be difficult to know where to start. Among the collections at the Sedgwick Museum are tiny shells and fossils full of natural pattern. At the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology there are examples of intricate detail in beadwork, pottery and clothing. The theme of pattern worked for both collections but all sorts of alternatives could have been just as effective (see page 38).

With so much to choose from, a template shape sheet starts to focus the looking. The shapes work as a stimulus to hunting for patterns, then become a framework for sustained observational drawing. The idea is to encourage experimenting with different ways of using pencil. An outline of a circle could become a pin hole in the centre of a bead or the outline of a fossil, a rectangle could be a whole glass case or a tiny box. The drawings can be embellished and developed using further observations or added to with imagination.

You will find some examples of completed shapes on this page.

USING NATURAL AND MAN-MADE OBJECTS TO EXPLORE PATTERN

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Try photocopying onto cartridge paper, or anything with more texture than copier paper, as it is too smooth to get the best results from drawing pencils.

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BIG DRAW SHAPE CHALLENGE

Look at the museum artefacts, what can you see? Lots of differently shaped objects?These shapes could be the centre, outline or part of the objectsUse them as a starting point for your drawing

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Drawings expanding and growing from the shape sheets:

Once comfortable in the collection, children could explore their personal interests on extra sheets of blank paper. The shapes worked as a’way in’ to drawing.

Clipboards gave a good surface to lean on, as many museums’ display cases are old and fragile.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK x 2:

AMMONITE / BUNTINGTo develop an observational drawing into a decorative pattern tocontribute to a joint display

Resources:

Useful Tip:

Guideline:

OUTCOME x 2:

Pre-prepared giant ammonite, drawn onto brown paper, ORPre-cut shapes in brown, black, white and grey paper to be joined together as bunting, plus - hole punch, string and treasury tags

Black and white conte crayonsLuminous chalk pensWhite and black fineliners

The ammonite should be cut into segments at the last minute, and numbered on the back as you go, a piece for each childThe bunting shapes can be spread out on a table with luminous drawing materials and joined together afterwards with treasury tags

Using shape sheets as inspiration for pattern, repeat shapes and experiment with pens and pencils to create something imaginative and new on the paper shapes provided (either pieces of the ammonite or bunting)

At the Sedgwick Museum a giant ammonite became a huge patchwork piece of busy patterns that made an eye-catching wall displayAt the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, bunting made from contrasting paper shapes complimented the collection’s colours and echoed its man-made decorative objects

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THIS PAGE:

Bunting was hung with string in the gallery alongside the objects that inspired it.

OPPOSITE:

A giant ammonite is all the more exciting for being a mixture of people’s work - dots sit next to stripes and zigzags in a buzzing mix of pattern.

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POSTCARD CHALLENGETo create four postcards featuring objects of different sizes

Resources:

Guideline:

2B and 6B pencils (see page 37)Clipboards4 x postcard size pieces of a cartridge paper (or one A4 piece folded into four)

Create four postcards to send back home. They should show the recipient the size and detail of what you have seen. Use the limited space of the postcards to think about scale

1. ITEMS YOU COULD FIT IN YOUR POCKET - how many can you fit on your card?2. ONE ITEM YOU WOULD HAVE TO PULL ON YOUR SLEDGE - how much of a large object can you capture?3. SOMETHING YOU READ - type is part of the story of an object. Lettering can give clues about an object’s age or origin. Packaging, letters and diaries all have interesting lettering. Museum labels can also have their own character.4. SOMETHING YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW - this is an opportunity to use your imagination, while still thinking about size - is it enormous and close by, or small and far away?

When you have done your drawings you could write a message on the other side as well as the name and address. You might like to design a stamp too

When faced with an unusual artefact or display, those children or adults who are unconfident drawers may resort to making small drawings that float in the middle of a blank page. Yet most museums display items of many different sizes. The collection at The Polar Museum includes an interesting combination of maps, journals, paintings and photographs, and clothing from polar exploration. There are sledges bigger than men and tiny matchboxes. With such a variety of man-made objects, scale can be used as way into drawing.

This activity challenges participants to consider the size of an object in relation to the size of a piece of paper. The group activity encourages the participants to develop their personal monochromatic drawings in colour - in this case: icy, cool shades of white, blue and grey on frosty tracing paper backgrounds.

USING HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS TO CONSIDER SIZE

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OPPOSITE:

Postcards of drawn objects of varying scales.

THIS PAGE:

Transluscent window display of imaginary vehicles and lettering.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK A LANDSCAPE DISPLAYTo develop an observational drawing into imagery that contributes to a joint display

Resources:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

White gel pensConte crayons in white and icy blueTracing paper and blue tissue paper

Use the postcard drawing to develop two imaginative images - one small and one large

1. Create an imaginary vehicle to transport people and luggage. The vehicle should be based on one of the drawings of an object, but you can add anything you like to make it move or carry things2. Use the drawing of lettering to create a large decorative word on tracing paper to describe the atmosphere of being somewhere very cold

At The Polar Museum the windows at the entrance of the gallery were ideal to mount the display of a transluscent landscape. Drawings of lettering were enlarged to create an iceberg of descriptive words, these became a foreground of overlapping shapes. The imaginary vehicles were designed with sub-zero temperatures in mind, and were smaller. They were placed at the back of the display to give a sense of space and perspective.

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Red, yellow and blue pencils ClipboardsCartridge paperLightboxRed, yellow and blue acetate shapes

Younger children can use the lightbox with coloured acetate shapes to explore how colours change when you overlap them

1. All colours can be blended from combinations of the three primaries: red, yellow and blue. Play with the coloured crayons to try to make secondary colours: greens, oranges and purples

2. Stand in front of a painting and take an imaginary line across or down the image. Try to choose a line which covers lots of different shades. Now use the coloured crayons to record the variations. You will need to blend the colours on top of one another. There are some examples on this page

Drawing in colour can be overwhelming and particularly challenging. The observational task here starts with a small exhibition of paintings by Winifred Nicholson and the approach could be adapted to use with other art collections. A colour mixing activity starts with using familiar media so that participants can remain focused on the task rather than the materials. Colour observations in the gallery are then taken into a studio space where families can experiment with a broader range of materials and are set challenges which relate to the paintings they have seen.


COLOUR MIXING CHALLENGESTo use paintings in a gallery to explore how all colours are based on the three primary colours

Resources:

Useful Tip:

Guideline:

OPPOSITE:

Colour studies, from looking at an imaginary line across a painting.

THIS PAGE:

Drawings on acetate for projecting, and resulting transluscent paper cutouts overlapping to make new colours.

USING PAINTINGS TO STUDY SUBTLE VARIATION AND COLOUR MIXING

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GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE WALL MURALEnlarge a still-life drawing to contribute to a wall display

Resources:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

More coloured crayons - including watersoluble pencils and paintbrushesStill life set up with objects related to the original images Coloured tracing paperAcetate and permanent markersOverhead projector

1. Draw from still life objects using coloured pencils, blending colours as practiced (and with water for soluble pencils)2. Trace drawings onto acetate with permanent markers3. Project acetates onto large sheets of coloured tracing paper taped to wall, and trace again to enlarge drawings4. Arrange over wall to create new layers, shapes and colours

At Kettle’s Yard parents and children drew favourite subjects of Winifred Nicholson including cyclamen flowers, jugs, stones and reflective objects. They then created new colours and abstractions of the still life objects by arranging enlarged drawings on translucent papers onto the wall.

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Perspex clipboardsWhite gel pens and black finelinersHard pencils (HB)Tracing paper and acetate

1. Experiment with the kind of line you make with your pens and pencils, eg dotted, jagged, curved, continuous or broken

2. Now fold your A4 sheet into four and use different lines to record the weird and wonderful heads, shoulders, knees and toes from the creatures inhabiting the glass cases

Prompts for older children: You could try drawing the same object first in line on acetate, then tonally with a softer pencil on sugar paper underneath (see page 37 for 3D shading tips)

LOOKING AT ORGANIC SHAPES OF BONES AND FEATHERS

The Museum of Zoology’s collection features many bones and feathers which were perfect for some delicate line work.

This activity encourages participants to use a variety of drawing tools to focus on different lines. There is a particular light in the museum which highlights both the outline and the decorative patterns of the collection. Light materials, translucent papers and perspex clipboards complimented the minimalist architecture of the space.


LOOKING AT LINEAR OBJECTS:Capture the weird and wondeful shapes of skeletons and delicate patterns

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Guideline:

Useful Tip:

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THIS PAGE:

Weird and wonderful dream creature made up of several different animals parts, and a young participant in the gallery space.

OPPOSITE:

Line drawing of animal skull.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE LUMINOUS MENAGERIETo develop observational drawings into dream creatures

Resources:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Tracing paper and acetateLaminator and matt laminating pouchesColoured tracing paperPermanent markersColour gel pens

Bring your drawings to life to create colourful dream creatures. Collect a matt laminating pouch as a background. Cut or tear coloured tracing paper to form the basis of an imaginary animal, it can be made from parts of as many different animals, fish, insects or birds as you have drawn. Use the gel pens to decorate them with different patterns. An adult can put your pouch through the laminator machine and you will have a beautiful transparent image

At the Museum of Zoology the windows at entrance of the gallery were ideal to mount the display of jewel-like creatures so the sunlight could shine though them.

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Perspex clipboardsWhite gel pensChalk and Graphite sticksTracing paper and acetateTonal papers in grey and brown Shading prompt sheet (see page 37)

Draw characters for your own story first in line, then (for older children and adults) in tone

1. Start with acetate or tracing paper on a perspex clipboard and move through the gallery recording the outlines of the figures. Sometimes you can include two on one sheet. Now look at sculptures from different angles, record how the shapes change. Try to fill the page - sometimes draw the whole character from a distance and sometimes close up to focus on part of their body, maybe their hands, face or feet

2. Following line work you can experiment with white and black materials on grey or brown paper to observe how the light falls down one side. Use the Shading sheet (see page 37) to help you, shade to create 3D effect drawings

Prompt particpants to concentrate on spaces between and around the objects to help get the right proportions(see opposite for photograph illustrating the idea of ‘negative space’)

USING A SCULPTURE COLLECTION TO FOCUS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBJECTS

Museums are often located in unique architectural spaces. Drawing activities can help participants to explore how the space and the collections relate to one another. The Museum of Classical Archaeology has a wonderfully bright and open atmosphere and so the starter activity here provides an opportunity to explore how light plays on the casts of classical figures. Participants are encouraged to use pencils and chalks to build up tonal shading, and observe the way figures interact with each other in the space. They can then bring these drawings together to create a narrative from the past.


THE FIGURE:To use line and tone to explore relationships between objects

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Guideline:

Useful Tip:

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OPPOSITE:

Careful looking and a mixture of dark and white materials help capture unique light at the Museum of Classical Archaeology.

THIS PAGE:

Above: Drawing with dark and light materials on tonal paper.

Left: An example of negative space helping to bring proportion to a figure.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE STORYBOOKTo develop observational drawings into a dialogue or ‘comic strip’ story

Resources:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Tonal paper made into a giant concertina bookExtra pages and sticky tapeWhite pencils and Graphite sticks

Imagine what happens in the museum at night. How might the characters move? What might they say to each other when all visitors have gone home? Choose two of your character drawings to add to the story. Consider carefully how you place the characters on the page - remember to look at the space between them

At the Museum of Classical Archaeology we made a giant concertina book that could open right out across a floor, and used a combination of text and images to tell a story.

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negativespace

Both objects and books are full of inspiring stories. This activity is just one of many ways that they can be combined to form an enticing new narrative. It was based around a pop-up Mini Museum of handling objects set up in a library (see page 32). This touring exhibition contained objects from the University of Cambridge Museums and the Museum of Cambridge. Displaying the objects on black fabric and offering participants white gloves and magnifiers adds a little drama. Storybooks can provide inspiration for story lines and characters, while archive images provide settings. This activity works really well for whole families - with parents and children choosing their own objects to draw.

CREATING STORIES FROM OBJECTS: A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES USING A POP-UP MINI MUSEUM

2B and 6B pencilsClipboardsMini Museum of handling objects displayed on table at varying heights and in unusual combinationsWhite gloves Magnifying glassesShading sheet (see page 37)Take a line for a walk sheet (see page 36)

Choose an object you think looks interesting, maybe something you’ve never seen close up before. Move around so you can view it from different angles, what makes the most interesting view?

You can touch but try to use white gloves as some artefacts are quite fragile!

1. Try to draw several of the objects on your whole page just using lines - try to make the lines touch the edge of your page2. Use a viewfinder to focus on one detail - draw the viewfinder on your page then fill it with the detail 3. Now use the shading sheet to help you create a tonal 3D drawing of one of your favourite objects


MINI MUSEUM (see page 32)To record visual appearance of objects

Resources:

Guideline:

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OPPOSITE:

Carefully observed drawings of Mini Museum objects made a great basis for character development.

THIS PAGE:

A strange world of historic photographs provided the backdrop for even stranger imaginary characters.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE IMPOSSIBLE STORYTo develop an observational drawing into a characterto contribute to a story

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Useful Tip:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Dotty pictures for background (see page 25)Overhead projector to enlarge drawings with the help of an adultA4 tracing paper or white paperBlack felt tips and fine linersAcetate and permanent markersGlue sticks and scissorsPaper speech bubbles

Do the objects’ shapes naturally lend themselves to a human or animal-like form? What would happen if you added an arm/head/tail/pair of eyes here? Trace drawings onto acetate and project onto larger paper with overhead projector

Imagine what would happen if the museum objects came to life at night. What would they do? What would they say? We are going to make a story. Use one of your drawings as a starting point for an imaginary creature to add to our story

With black felt tip and fine liners add as many details as you can : eyes, nose, hair, legs, arms etc - what else?

At Cambridge Central Library we enlarged archive images from the Cambridgeshire Collection to poster size. Illustration students from Anglia Ruskin University helped the children with their drawings and to compose an engaging and surreal narrative mural with speech bubbles.

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How to make Dotty Photos

To make these simple yet effective images that cut down on ink and make old photos look contemporary and fun, all you need are a few simple instructions for Photoshop.

1. Open photo, Image - Mode - Greyscale to discard any existing colour

2. Layer - New layer from background

3. Select - Colour Range - select white with eyedropper tool, and delete selection

4. Filter - Sketch - Halftone Pattern (play with size, make it highish contrast and select a dot pattern)

5. Select - Colour Range - select black with eyedropper tool

6. Using large paintbrush, paint selection in desired colour

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The Whipple Museum holds a wonderful collection illustrating the history of science. It had recently opened a new globe gallery, but also holds a collection of electronic calculators, horses teeth and astronomical models to name a few. With so much to choose from, we thought it best to let participants make their own Dream Machine from elements they saw in the museum. The audience here tends to be older children although there is plenty of room for buggies. The results were fantastically imaginative.

USING INVENTIONS FROM THE PAST TO FEED YOUNG IMAGINATIONS

2B and 6B pencilsPerspex clipboardsHard pencils (HB)Shape sheets (see page 9)Tonal drawing prompt sheet (see page 37)

1. Use the shape sheets from previous workshops, the flat shapes can become a starting point for 3D drawing

2. Use different drawing materials to capture the range of materials in the collection, for example, fineliners for smooth metals, and softer pencils for wood

3. Think about type. Many machines have buttons or instructions. Are these interesting words, and what does the style of lettering tell us about the object, its age and function?


MAN-MADE INVENTIONSLooking carefully at machines made by eccentric inventors throughout history

Resources:

Guideline:

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OPPOSITE:

Careful observational drawing of museum objects.

THIS PAGE:

The Dream Machine - a large-scale collaborative piece based on museum objects and a lot of imagination.

GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE DREAM MACHINEUsing observational drawing as inspiration, make a collaborative Heath Robinson - type machine

Resources:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Roll of black paperFluorescent chalk markers and gel pensWhite gel pens

This museum is full of knobs and dials, handles and levers, just imagine what would happen if they all got mixed upWhat kind of machine could we invent? What might it make? What might it do? What noises would it make?Draw a starter button in a bright colour with fluorescent chalk pen then use your drawings to grow a dream machine You can add text and labels too. Use the white fineliners to add details

At the Whipple Museum we used the teaching room to lay out a roll of black paper on the floor. The children enjoyed working at this level and moved around adding different elements to the machine. Older children were particularly interested in adding details and text and discussed how the machine might work.

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Romsey Mill is a community centre in the heart of the Mill Road area of Cambridge. The launch event of the University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas took place here, and for our part of it we took over a large gymnasium and made two enormous banners of drawings. The scale of the venue required something striking, and whilst the banners were impressive, participants could also enjoy a close look at the objects in our Mini Museum. We also had a badge-maker to help stagger the number of people wanting to draw on the banner at any one time.

BRINGING DRAWING INTO THE COMMUNITY


MINI MUSEUM (as page 22)

GROUP CREATIVE TASK THE BANNERSUsing observational drawing as inspiration, make banners of drawings

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Useful Tip:

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Fluorescent and white chalk pens and finelinersRolls of black and tracing paper hung as bannersStrings, weights, bamboo cane, strong tape

You will need time to prepare the banners. We attached small weights (several rubbers tied together) to long pieces of string and threw them over a rafter. It is certainly worth trying beforehand, and buying thinnish paper that won’t be too heavyOnce we threw two strings over, we attached them to either end of a bamboo cane that we had taped to the end of the roll of paper. We could then pull the paper over the rafter. Finally we made a huge loop of paper by cutting a length off the paper roll and sticking the two ends together. This could be refreshed as it filled with drawings, rather like how a hand towel in a public loo works!

Use the the fluorescent pens to enlarge and embellish initial observations onto banners - using your imagination to connect objects

At the community centre the banner provided a visual focus for a busy afternoon of drop-in activities. Parents with young children could draw together whilst adults and older children found space and time for sustained drawings.

THIS PAGE:

From top:Observational drawing of handling objects, and setting up the banners.

Opposite:Banners in situ, and particpants working on observational drawings at the Mini Museum.

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OPPOSITE:

Young children engaging with light and pattern, developing drawings onto wall to form a collaborative mural piece.

THIS PAGE:

‘Blob’-shaped printouts act as a starting point for imaginative drawing, and are embellished with flourescent pens and pencils.

The Fitzwilliam Museum runs regular sessions for Under 5s groups and their carers. The downstairs collections are particularly well-suited for working with the very young as many objects are displayed from floor height upwards. There are lots of interesting animals and strange creatures in the Ceramics Galleries and so this tied in well with the University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas theme of Dreams and Nightmares. The galleries are also situated at street level so are accessible for pushchairs and young families.

The starter activity had scope for older children to go and explore the collections but had enough structure to enable the very young to make their own drawings. The gallery activities were then extended in the education studio to allow more exploratory and multi sensory play with light, movement, line, shape and colour.

DRAWING WITH VERY YOUNG CHILDREN

Perspex clipboardsBlack ‘blob’ silhouettesTracing paper Flourescent colour pencils

1. Start with black ‘blob’ shapes made from silhouettes based on objects in the collection

2. Explore the museum and transform these blobs into creatures. These drawings might be based on something they find on their explorations in the galleries or something new that they have seen and remembered


SHAPE DRAWINGSAll-ages drawing activity staring with ‘blobs’ that can be manipulated into many different creatures or objects

Resources:

Guideline:

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GROUP CREATIVE TASKS LINE AND SHADOWTo create large collaborative line drawings using shadow and shapes.

IN THE GALLERY:

Resources:

Guideline:

IN THE EDUCATION STUDIO:

Resouces

Guideline:

OUTCOME

Rolls of tracing paperColoured, neon and white pencils

Families were encouraged to add and embellish observational drawings onto rolls of tracing paper in the Islamic Galleries. These drawings were layered on top of each other to create dream-like landscapes of magical creatures

LightboxesOverhead projectorLarge sheets of coloured paper taped to walls and floorsColoured acetateChunky pens and crayonsString, ribbons, textured materials

As appropriate with this age group the explanations in the studio session were mostly visual and were acted and demonstrated by the artists and volunteers. Participants discovered the properties of the materials and light through play and were encouraged to think about the different shapes and lines in relation to the speed and nature of movements. They enjoyed experimenting with overlapping colour and texture in the projected light of the overhead projectors

The experimental play encouraged in the studio resulted in some bright wall displays, but it was the coloured light and projections that were really visually exciting. Documenting this was important, and photographs became a valuable outcome. Parents enjoyed taking photos of their children getting involved.

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The Mini Museum & Wagon

The Mini Museum was a collection of wonderful handling objects that were lent to us by the University of Cambridge Museums and the Museum of Cambridge, to take on our tour. We had a host of inspiring items, ranging from tiny shells, a Victorian leather shoe and delicate African beadwork, to a fossilised fish and plastic globes covered in star charts.

The objects came together to form a table display at our two non-museum workshops (The Central Library and Romsey Mill) giving a tantillising glimpse of what the museums themselves had to offer. They provided a real focus for detailed drawings, that were later developed and transformed with imaginatieve outcomes. White gloves and magnifying glasses added drama to the experience, encouraging careful looking and handling.

The Wagon was an idea we had to visually connect all ten venues to promote the idea that the Big Draw was on the move! We bought a flatpack garden trolley and customised it to be able to carry art materials. It provided an exciting focus and helped ‘brand’ our activities. It also created a physical base at each event, where clipboards and materials could be handed out. We photographed the wagon along the way, and used its interaction with its surroundings to generate publicity on social networking sites.

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Promotion

Making sure we had a good turnout at each workshop was a task that we addressed early on in our planning. We knew from the outset that we were likely to get repeat visitors from previous years of The Big Draw in Cambridge, but there was the added promotional potential of running the series of events as part of the University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

The University of Cambridge Public Engagament Team who run the Festival of Ideas helped us reach new audiences by including our schedule in the Festival programme. The two community centres (Cambridge Central Library and Romsey Mill) promoted our events to their key audiences, attracting fresh faces. The association with the Festival helped our web presence grow, by enabling an online dialogue between the Festivals Team, the University Museums themselves, and local arts and community groups about each day’s activities, often with in-progress photos. Twitter and Facebook were used throughout the weeks of delivery, and in the weeks after we uploaded photos to Flickr.

The promotion was underpinned by a strong visual branding, and the use of particular colours which were inspired by the materials we were using in the workshops, a flourescent orange, black and white. The poster we designed was also brought to animated life with the use of a mobile app called Aurasma, which provided exciting pre-event content for our Twitter and Facebook feeds, and built anticipation. We are also grateful to Cambridge City Council who agreed to our posters going up at key sites across the city in the weeks before the events.

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Volunteers

The combination of a starter activity which could accommodate large numbers of visitors at once, and a group outcome that could be added to gradually, made for a good flow of participants at our workshops. We were also very grateful for the support of skilled volunteers from The Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University.

Though we are keen to emphasise that these workshops could have been done on a smaller scale with fewer staff, many participants commented on what a difference it made having a trained volunteer to help them see things differently, or advise on the best way to use certain materials.

Using volunteers effectively no doubt added enormously to the outcome of each workshop, but created a significant amount of extra work in planning and liaising. We were lucky to have a very experienced university lecturer and a dedicated MA student to coordinate over forty students who helped during the two weeks of delivery.

Since the Big Draw on Tour, many of these volunteers have made closer connections with the Museums, with some already continuing this work with new audiences. As project managers we have benefitted from similar work, having volunteered in previous years for the Big Draw and Fitz Family days at the Fitzwilliam Museum. We hope that this cycle of volunteering turning into employment for artists will continue, and that year after year of Big Draw particpants will continue to enjoy the support of the talanted bank of volunteers Anglia Ruskin University provides.

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Shopping list

OUR BIG DRAW ON TOUR ‘MUST-HAVES’ FOR EACH EVENT

The Big Draw on Tour Wagon (see page 32)Risk AssessmentPhoto Release forms and camera Signage - We used a wooden easel and hand-lettered each activity’s themeName badges and aprons for volunteers - We chose aprons over t-shirts to stand out from Festival volunteers

USEFUL MATERIALS

Different drawing tools work differently on different papers. Experimenting to see what works well is fun and educational!

Cartridge paper is much better for drawing than photocopy paper as it has a more textured surface - or ‘tooth’ - which offers more opportunities for varied textures from the drawn line

Selection of black materials:Selection of white materials:Flourescent/Colour materials:Chunky pencils for little hands:

SPECIALIST ITEMS AND SUPPLIERS

We found much of the equipment in local art materials outlets and on large online book and stationery suppliers.

Rolls of tracing paperRolls of black paper

Perspex clipboards (useful support for drawing in a gallery, and added another dimension to drawing when looking through them to record outlines and shapes)

A4 Cartridge, tracing paper, sugar paper in grey, brown and black, A4 acetate

HB, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils, fineliners, chunky black markers, graphite sticksPencil leads range from H (hard) to B (black) (see page 37)

White gel pens, chalk, conte crayons, chalk markersFlourescent and white chalk markersFlourescent pencils and coloured gel pens

*Some museums and galleries restrict the type of materials that can be used due to conservation and safety issues so always check what the guidelines are*

HB, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils, fineliners, chunky black markers, graphite sticksWhite gel pens, chalk, conte crayons, chalk markersFlourescent chalk markers, flourescent pencils and coloured gel penseg Stabilo Woody 3-in1, or Lyra Ferby

Tindalls art shop Amazon Office supplies website

ESPO

ESPO

ESPO Tindalls art shop Staples

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EXPERIMENTING WITH LINE

1. Start by selecting a hard drawing tool: HB Pencil / Biro / Fineliner / Gel Pen

2. Try recording a whole object with a continuous line

- TRY NOT TO TAKE YOUR PENCIL OFF THE PAGE -(you can go over lines again if you need to)

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LINE

Use viewfinders to select an area of an object to record patterns, using only lines:

Then, with 2B or 4B pencil / Graphite try to:

1. Change the pressure of your line:Make it LIGHTER then DARKER, THINNER then HEAVIER

2. Look carefully at the textures and patterns:Use repeated shapes to record, try DOTS, DASHES AND CIRCLES

3. Look at the object from different angles: From ABOVE and BEHIND, and IN FRONT

EXPERIMENTING WITH LINE

1. Start by selecting a hard drawing tool: HB Pencil / Biro / Fineliner / Gel Pen

2. Try recording a whole object with a continuous line

- TRY NOT TO TAKE YOUR PENCIL OFF THE PAGE -(you can go over lines again if you need to)

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LINE

Use viewfinders to select an area of an object to record patterns, using only lines:

With 2B or 4B pencil / Graphite try to:

1. Change the pressure of your line:Make it LIGHTER then DARKER, THINNER then HEAVIER

2. Look carefully at the textures and patterns:Use repeated shapes to record, try DOTS, DASHES AND CIRCLES

3.Look at the object from different angles: From ABOVE and BEHIND, and IN FRONT

Take a line for a walk

These sheets are designed to be photocopied and handed out to get particpants started with line drawing, and pencil shading (see opposite).

It can be a bit daunting trying new materials for the first time, but with a few experimental methods in mind, and a few verbal cues (see opposite), it is amazing what can be achieved!

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H means HARDH pencils are usually used for technical drawing. The higher the number of H, the harder the lead, because there is higher clay content - strange but true!

B means BLACKB pencils are great for drawing. The higher the number of B, the softer the lead, and greater number of dark tones can be achieved.

GETTING A RANGE OF TONES

1. Start by choosing a soft drawing tool: 2B or 4B Pencil / Pastel / Graphite2. Try shading light to dark, softly to heavily, to make a range of tones.

Now choose an object to draw:

1. Half close your eyes and shade the dark parts first2. Now look for the middle tones3. Finally a very light touch to shade the rest

TAKING DRAWING INTO 3 DIMENSIONS

Look at these shapes and see how using light and dark helps make drawing appear 3D:

Shading sheet

USEFUL PHRASES AND QUESTIONS WHEN HELPING OTHERS TO DRAW:

1. What have you been doing? Can I have a look?2. What might this look like from another angle?3. Try looking at ‘negative spaces’ - the gaps between things (see page 21)4. Try drawing with tone instead of lines, look for the darkest parts, and the lightest parts and the bits in between5. (With your own sketchbook) Can I see what you’ve done if I show you my drawing?6. Let’s have a drawing race / competition to find the most of a certain pattern, shape etc.

H means HARDH pencils are usually used for technical drawing. The higher the number of H, the harder the lead, because there is higher clay content - strange but true!

B means BLACKB pencils are great for drawing. The higher the number of B, the softer the lead, and greater number of dark tones can be achieved.

GETTING A RANGE OF TONES

1. Start by choosing a soft drawing tool: 2B or 4B Pencil / Pastel / Graphite2. Try shading light to dark, softly to heavily, to make a range of tones.

Now choose an object to draw:

1. Half close your eyes and shade the dark parts first2. Now look for the middle tones3. Finally a very light touch to shade the rest

TAKING DRAWING INTO 3 DIMENSIONS

Look at these shapes and see how using light and dark helps make drawing appear 3D:

Individual Drawing Task

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Taking things further

There are many workshops you could run with different combinations of individual drawing activities and collaborative group tasks. Having the flexibility to adapt to your surroundings is key, and sometimes you need a few ideas up your sleeve. Here are a some extras you might try.

TEXTURE

Using tone, make objects appear soft, spiky, shiny, crumbly etc

FACES

Try looking at and comparing eyes,noses, mouths, hair. What do they say about the character?

TYPOGRAPHY

Try drawing the letters on the labels and cases in the museum. Often the way objects are described is as important as the objects themselves

BLIND DRAWING

Without looking at your paper, make a drawing of the object. Don’t cheat! Then look at what you have done, it will surprise you!Great for ‘loosening up’ and putting pencil to paper for the first time PANORAMA

Look at the space around you and make a 360o

drawing. Take care to fit everything in. You may need to stick sheets of paper together. Pay close attention to perspective, ie how big objects are in the foreground, and how objects far away look smaller

PERSONAL COLLECTION

If you were to curate your own museum case, what would you fill it with? What are your favourite items? How would you arrange them? By size / colour / subject?

PAIRS

Choose two contrasting objects you like. Draw one using only line, and the other using only tone. Then try the other way round

Group Creative

Task

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CHALK DRAWINGS

If you have a carpark or playground to work with, large chalk drawings can be a great way to experiment and collaborate

UV PENS AND BLACKLIGHT

Wall murals are an obvious way of making a large collaborative display, but to make things more excting, why not try using UV markers and shining a blacklight onto a wall in a darkened room?

AN ACCUMULATION OF SMALL ITEMS

This idea works well when you are dealing with large groups. Think of quick ways of applying marks to a surface ie stickers, stamps etc that can be customised to reflect an aspect of the collection.

Be creative with the base of the display. Try decorating a tree, or filling a pond with hand-drawn boats, rather than sticking to flat walls and floors.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Giving each child a ‘face’ of a cube or pyramid to decorate is an effective way to combine work for a large 3D display

CREATIVE PLAY

This idea works well with younger children. Encourage an atmosphere of creative play with colour, light, and experimental drawing. Documenting the experience is key, as photographs become the outcome.

EPHEMERAL DRAWINGS

Not all drawings have to last forever. Try drawing with water on dry concrete, or drawing with sand or salt on rolls of black paper

big draw on tour source book

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