This October, The Big Draw is teaming up with a record number of partners to create an extensive programme of free drawing events as part of our annual international festival, The Big Draw.
From 1 to 31 October, The Big Draw festival is celebrating its 15th year with a month-long programme of activities on every continent, including hundreds of free events for all ages created by an extraordinary range of organisations UK-wide – from nursery schools to national museums.
Highlights include:
- The Big Draw 2015 public launch with Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell illustrating live a Philip Pullman story read aloud by the celebrated author as part of a free all day event in the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford. Other contributors include internationally exhibited artist Patrick Tresset and his three talented drawing robots; artists Adam Dant and Tamarin Norwood. Additional activities across nine partner venues include an invitation to sign-in with a drawing to the world's longest visitor book, master classes, 3-D drawing, a loop the loop wall to ceiling drawing, animation, and even drawing with bows and arrows. A free drawing trail will connect all participating venues (19 September, Oxford).
- The Big Draw’s first Architecture Drawing Day will be launched in partnership with the RIBA (10 October, London) and supported by an exciting series of workshops to encourage different approaches to drawing buildings and places, including RIBA Explore and Draw, Drawing through a lens and more. An evening event, Picture This!, will see special guest hosts architect Will Alsop and artist Patrick Vale challenge their audience to a BIG architectural sketch-up (6 October, RIBA, London).
- Drawing the World with UAL’s Central Saint Martins, Quentin Blake’s House of Illustration and King’s Cross will take over Granary Square with an epic drawing of the world made by 30 postgraduate students and directed by Stephen Farthing RA via droneand mobile phones, a ‘Ready Steady Colour your dinner’ tent with singing waiters and more (11 October, London).
- Light Fantastic: Adventures in the Science of Light at the National Media Museum is a free half-term extravaganza exploring art and light as the culmination of the Light Fantastic season. There will be Light Drawing, Digital Doodling, opportunities to Draw Differently - Ask the Experts, with top tips from Aardman Studios storyboard artist, Jay Clarke (24 October – 1 November, Bradford).
- Seeing Closer with The Royal Society is where art and science overlap to enable fascinating invention and discovery. With talks, historic engraving demonstrations and free activities for all ages, from making takeaway smartphone microscopes to creating microscopic drawings with the Gurdon Institute team (17 October, London).
The arts education charity – The Big Draw – is the creator and driving force behind the annual, international Big Draw festival. Launched in 2000, the festival promotes the belief that drawing changes lives for the better, and its mission is to give everyone an opportunity for self-expression through the universal language of drawing. The charity champions visual literacy and highlights the importance of creativity in education, literature and society. In 2014, 414,000 participants took part in over 1800 Big Draw festival events in 26 countries.
Sue Grayson Ford, Big Draw Founder and President, commented:
“Drawing allows us to interpret, invent and communicate; it helps to develop individual creativity and breaks down cultural and generational barriers. The Big Draw festival celebrates drawing’s social, economic and health benefits, and our highlight events demonstrate drawing’s vital role across all disciplines. The festival is an open invitation to get everyone drawing!”
The 2015 Big Draw Festival provides a unique platform for people to explore, discover, take part in and organise creative activities throughout the UK and abroad from 1 to 31 October.
Register your own Big Draw event.