As we launch the theme for
The Big Draw Festival 2018: Play, we are pleased to be bringing you a series of interviews, blogs and pearls of wisdom from artists, architects, designers, scientists, educators and
Big Draw Organisers for whom drawing and play are key ingredients in their careers and lives.
First up, we are honoured to be chatting to artist, theatre designer, prop maker and creator of the brilliant, A Line Art, Anna Bruder.
The Big Draw is a big fan of A Line Art. For the past few years, we’ve collaborated and invited audiences to join in with free, ever popular, A Line creations, including: Ready Steady Colour, Ready Steady Go! and Fold Your City, at a number of Big Draw Festival launches all over the UK.
If there is a recipe for fun, consider A Line to be the holders of the secret sauce.....
BD: Hi Anna! Thank you so much for talking to us today. As you may know, we’ve just launched our new Big Draw Festival theme: Play. Evidence suggests play is vital for development and discovery and over the years, we’ve witnessed breakthroughs when people stop taking the creative process (and themselves!) too seriously. Having taken part in and hosted A Line events, we love how families respond to your ‘interactive drawing performances’, the laughter says it all!
What part does ‘play’ play (sorry) in the creation of your work and how participants react to your workshops?
AB: Hello! I am so excited that ‘Play’ is your theme this year. I believe that Play is one of the main ways in which children and adults can learn. It helps to build self worth by giving a person a sense of his or her own abilities and to feel good about themselves. Having time and space to play gives both children and adults the opportunity to meet and socialise with their friends, keeps them physically active, and gives the freedom to choose what they want to do. Research shows that play has many benefits for children, families and the wider community, as well as improving health and quality of life. Play is the main ingredient in all of our work. Both children and adults get to draw and create objects in our shows which can then be worn, interacted and played with through music, games, movement, dance, painting and generally through having fun! It is a wonderful site seeing 30 children running around in drawn cardboard box cars, or flying around in cardboard rockets whilst singing along to our songs! The fun and playfulness can be seen on people’s faces.
Images L-R: A Line creations and workshops: 'Fold Your City' (2017) with The Big Draw Festival 2017: Living Lines and Dance Umbrella, Ready Steady Colour and Ready Steady Go!v at The Big Draw Festival Launch 2016, Whitworth Gallery Manchester.
BD: How did you come to do what you do today? What routes has your career taken?
AB: I trained in Theatre Design/Design for Performance at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and graduated in 2004. I was fortunate enough to assist the brilliant theatre designer Ian MacNeil whilst I was at college and for several years after I left college, assisting on shows at The Young Vic theatre and The Barbican theatre.
Art college was a wonderful place to experiment and play with your ideas, however it was great to work alongside Ian MacNeil in actual theatres as you get to learn first hand. Whilst assisting I met various directors, production managers, producers, other makers etc, so I was able to build up my contacts and start making props and designing sets at several theatres. In 2011 I designed a show called My Dad’s a Birdman at The Young Vic Theatre. This design was really the beginning of finding my A Line Art aesthetic. It was the beginning of my hand drawn style which most of my work revolves around now.
Images L-R: 'My Dad's a Birdman', Young Vic Theatre (2011). Designer: Anna Bruder
BD: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given with regard to your work?
AB: My art teacher always used to say “Always do things in your own way and in your own time” and “Dare to Fail!” I still keep this with me now and with every project I do.
BD: Did you find Art School a useful step in your career progression?
AB: Yes, I loved Art School! It was wild! We were based in the centre of London surrounded by Soho life and inspiration! I spent the 4 years experimenting with ideas and hanging out with an eclectic group of friends. It was really where I began learning and playing around with performance and having fun with it.
BD: To date, what are you most proud of creating?
AB: I’m really proud of our ‘Ready Steady’ series, which we (myself and my partner Arji Manuelpillai) started by ourselves in 2014 with Ready Steady Colour, the colouring restaurant. Followed by Ready Steady GO! the driving school. And, we have recently created the third and final in the series Ready Steady Lift Off! the space adventure, which we are touring this year. I’m so proud of the fact that we started this idea in a tiny abandoned shop in Camden, with our own money and no staff and now we are touring across the UK and Europe, performing to over 30000 people.
Images L-R: A Line's 'Ready Steady Colour' 2014 - Present
BD: What role does drawing play in both your career and life?
AB: I love drawing! Drawing has moulded my career, it’s been at the centre of my work and life for many years. But it isn’t just about me drawing. For me, the most fun is getting people of all ages to draw themselves. No matter who they are or how good they are I love to see people just having a go. There’s too many rules these days and that’s what I don’t want, I just want people to express themselves and have fun, which is why I love the Big Draw so much. We all truly believe that there’s an artist in all of us. For me, I like drawing very quickly and very large! However, I have to be careful that our home doesn’t get taken over by my very large pen!
Images L-R: Kids and big kids getting stuck into 'Fold Your City' with The Big Draw Festival 2017: Living Lines and Dance Umbrella, Anna and Arji and that big pencil, 'Ready Steady Colour' at The Big Draw Festival Launch 'Drawing the World, Kings Cross, 2015.
BD: Walk us through a typical day for you (if there is such a thing)!
AB: I don’t really have a typical day, however most days generally start with porridge and emails! From there on, I can be found in my studio in Woolwich next to a pile of children’s books, stacks of cardboard cars & rockets, and piles of drawn food! I’m fortunate because I’m surrounded by lots of amazing artists and usually I have people to share my ideas and thoughts with. I am often drawing, making models and organising shows/workshops/tours, mixed in with meetings. If we are touring, which is usually around 3 months of the year, we will do 3 performances in a day. And, then at the end of the day I’m pretty shattered! When I’m home I like to listen to the radio, flick through picture books and do some gardening. No one day is the same as the last and that’s something that all artists have to get used to, for me, it’s part of the fun.
BD: What advice would you give to someone who would like to give drawing / art a go, but doesn’t feel they have the confidence?
AB: Everyone can draw. The main thing is to enjoy and have fun and try things out. Explore different materials… paints, pens, collage, stickers, inks, crayons, movement, any kind of mark making. Don’t try to be too serious, and don’t worry if it doesn’t go quite to plan!
Image: 'Fold Your City' designs by Anna Bruder
BD: Our education system is increasingly dissuading young people from embarking on creative careers, do you have any advice for those who want to work in the creative industries despite this?
AB: Oh, we must keep pushing forward in the creative industries. Yes, it is getting harder to be involved in the creative industry, especially as funding is constantly a problem and constantly being cut. However, exploring, inventing, experimenting and sharing is thrilling, fun and exciting. It can even be life changing. If you are curious and brave, and you trust your own instincts, and hold your nerve, then you might even make history!
BD: What advice would you give to someone thinking about organising a Big Draw Festival event in 2018?
AB: Do it! THINK BIG! Invite everyone and have fun!
Image: Ready Steady Colour for The Big Draw Festival, Granary Square, King's Cross.
BD: Lastly, what do have in the pipeline for 2018?
AB: We are thrilled to be touring our new show
Ready Steady Lift Off! throughout the year and around the UK performing in theatre spaces, shopping centres, outdoor venues and schools. We are also performing Ready Steady Colour’s Christmas Feast at The Unicorn Theatre as part of their Christmas season, which is very exciting for us too.
A Line Art: 'Ready Steady Lift Off', launched 2018, view the video here!
I also recently created a very large outdoor game at The Southbank Centre, which people could come and play and interact with. I absolutely loved it and I want to push this work further. So, I am hoping I can create a few more giant games over the year.
Image: Anna Bruder for Imagine Children's Festival at The Southbank Centre, London (2018)
I’m also in the process of creating and printing some picture books and looking for a publisher. I would really love to be published and start creating some picture books to go alongside our shows and activities. Hopefully one day they will end up on shelves in book shops! Fingers crossed!
Thank you Anna and thank you for reading!
Take some of the A Line Art fun home! We are happy to stock A Line Art's
'Ready Steady Colour: The Colouring Book '
as part of our '*Play' collection in The Big Draw Shop.
Click below to take a look!
*Remember, among
many other perks, Big Draw Festival Organisers receive 25% off in The Big Draw Shop as well as free Power Drawing books and much more...
PLAY YOUR PART in #TheBigDraw #Play2018 >>>
Registration for The Big Draw Festival Festival 2018 is now open!
Inspired by this interview? Interested in getting involved in the world's biggest celebration of drawing in 2018? Take a look at our
organisers' page here or click below to register.
Schools signing up before 30 April 2018 receive 20% off their subscription with our Big Draw Schools Early Bird offer!