Leading and co-developing an Art School: Draw session for Secondary and Post 16 @ The Whitworth

The night before the day of the drawing session, Sarah kindly sent me a document of the rough timetable for the afternoon and also an activity sheet that was to be handed out to students. The general outline of the session was as follows:

Time	Activity	What are students doing?
5 mins	Welcome	Setting students – showing them where they can put their things etc.
5 mins	Introduction ·         A co-development session ·         Aims ·         What would you like to get from this session? ·         We want you to try-out some of our ideas. ·         We would like to hear about your ideas ·         We want to hear if you like them or not.	Thinking about own projects how researching the Whitworth could help them progress etc. Thinking about sharing their ideas and feedback throughout the session
3 mins	Looking and warming up activity ·         Wonder around this gallery space-look all around you & get your bearings.  Note (in your mind) what you first notice!	Looking around thinking  Noting what they first see.
3 mins	Feedback Your in a new gallery space - takes a while to see everything don’t you think? What is it like just to look around? What sort of things can you find?	Telling us what they noticed Saying what their experience of looking was like
5 mins	Mark making activity in gallery space Warm-up doodle shapes – circles Doodle – different lines and shading Two pencils Drawing using someone else’s hand
10 mins	Drawing activities Left /right – object in gallery Blind Memory
5 mins	Annotate what you did	Writing
3 mins	Feedback
5 mins	Questions & discussion ·         So why do people draw? What’s it all about? ·         If you met and alien, and they spoke English, how would you explain what drawing is? ·         What is classed as a drawing – what do you think is labelled as a drawing in a gallery? ·         What would you expect to see? ·         What materials would you expect to find an artist use to make a drawing? ·         Why do you do it – Sam? ·         Why do you do it – Students?	Thinking Answering questions Listening to each other
3 mins	Thomas Schutte ·         Wonder around and look at what is here. On your way round note in your mind what you see.	Wondering Looking Noting
3 mins	What did you see? ·         Feedback ·         Did you see any marks? How many?	Looking Drawing Writing
10 mins	Drawing ·         Draw 5 different ways to make a mark looking at Thomas Schutte’s work. ·         Annotate your work – use formal elements to help you. ·         Think about when does a mark become a drawing?	Drawing
5 min	Sarah Lucas – exploring other ways of making drawing using new materials ·         Make a string drawing of her portrait – photograph ·         Think about what new materials you could use to make a drawing
3 mins	Feedback
20 mins	Cornelia Parker – light ·         Quick drawing - something shinny, wooden, red, green, square, round ·         Draw a view of this work- use a view finder
5 mins	Work with a partner and describe your drawing using descriptive language  Make notes here from what is said.	Discussing
5 mins	Using your notes now annotate your drawings Annotate your work – use formal elements to help you.	Writing
5 mins	4) Peer assess your partner’s annotations a) What annotations has your partner made that are good? b) What annotations could be improved or developed further? c) Explain your assessment to your partner, give some examples if possible
5 mins	5) Evaluate your drawing a) Say what you are pleased about in your drawing. b) Say what could be improved or developed further – think about your use of materials, processes and technical skills.
5 mins	If time go outside to make Andy Goldsworthy throwing sticks piece & Photograph
	6) Feedback from session a) What activities did you most enjoy from the workshop? b) If you could have changed an activity what would that be and why? c) What activities did we not include that you would had liked to have done
	End-thank you

Myself and Sam arrived an hour earlier than the start of the session so as to help with setting up the space and gathering all the materials we needed, such as the pencils, erasers, clipboards and string etc. During this time we were also able to finalize some of the ideas we had for the session and work towards a more rigid structure. We decided in the end that we would use the learning space as a meeting and departure point as opposed to working in the space. We thought it less restricting to work in situ in the exhibitions and work directly from what was on display.

          After meeting the students and giving them a brief introduction, we went straight into the gallery to begin the first session:

Warm-Up Activity: Looking

This first activity was designed to aid the students in getting their bearings in the gallery as a space. They were asked to note what it was they first noticed upon entering the gallery and seeing the space in an unconventional way, such as looking at the shapes in the architecture, the shadows, or even certain sounds they could hear. Many of the students first noted the expanse of the space and the way that sound easily carried. As myself, Sarah and Denise found out in this particular room, the way the sound carried, especially with the number of people present, made it an uncomfortable space for discussion and dialogue: you felt like you were constantly fighting against other noises, which were amplified and echoed by the room's large hard surfaces. It was also difficult to hold the attention of the students, as the room is somewhat of an assault on the senses and distracted the students from the tasks at hand. During the debriefing after the session, we all agreed that this room is not suitable for activities of that nature and will be avoided with such tasks in the future.

Mark-making Activity in Gallery Space

To further encourage and warm up the students, we set them a simple drawing task that encouraged them to think about drawing as a form of mark-making. We gave them different methods of drawing to try, such as using two pencils simultaneously, drawing with the opposite hand, drawing from memory and making blind drawings. At this point, 20 students had been divided into two groups of 10, one under the supervision of Denise and Sam and the other of Sarah and I. I generally alternated between the groups as I was asked to take photographs of the session, but found working with both groups doable. I would talk to the students and ask how they were finding the tasks, and generally sparking up a conversation about drawing, as it's something that is very important in my own practice.

 

Questions and Discussion

During this activity, we handed out an activity sheet that contained the following:

1) Work with a partner and think about the following questions

a) Why do people draw? What’s it all about?b) If you met and alien, and they spoke English, how would you explain what drawing is?

c) What is classed as a drawing – what do you think is labelled as a drawing in a gallery and what would you expect to see?

e) Why do you do it?

2) Work with a partner and describe your drawings using descriptive language 

Make notes here from what is said. 

3) Using your notes now annotate your drawings

4) Peer assess your partner’s annotations

a) What annotations has your partner made that are good?

b) What annotations could be improved or developed further?

c) Explain your assessment to your partner, give some examples if possible

 5) Evaluate your drawing

a) Say what you are pleased about in your drawing.

b) Say what could be improved or developed further – think about your use of materials, processes and technical skills.

Once the students had completed the sheet, we brought the two groups back together to discuss the questions, stressing that there was neither a wrong nor right answer. The students found the questions particularly challenging, some even calling them "pointless" questions, but I felt that this was a good trigger to spark a healthy dialogue about what drawing is and what it could be. I was sincere with the students in my conversation with them and in my answers and found that I could explain certain questions to them in simpler terms or in ways that they would understand, and I felt that by the end of this session, even though they may not have particularly understood it, the horizons of drawing as a practice had broadened for them.

Thomas Schutte and Sarah Lucas

For this activity, the groups were divided once more into two groups of 10: one group participated in an activity in the Schutte exhibition and the other in the Lucas exhibition and switched after approximately 20 minutes.

          I was able to move from one room to the other, observing how the students responded to the tasks. These two rooms were far better for both discussion and for working in, and it was palpable that the students felt far more at ease in these rooms.

          I believe that the string activity in the Sarah Lucas exhibition was the most successful. The task was to recreate the portrait drawing with cigarettes but with string, and I found that the students engaged with this task far more than in any other. They began describing what they had done with the string, the form they had created on the floor, as a drawing, and I personally find that to be a great success as it shows that the students began thinking outside the box with regards to what a drawing can be and what materials can be used to create a drawing.

 

As you can see in the image above, some of the students played around with the activity and responded to it in a different way, which produced some really successful work.

         The task set in the Schutte exhibition was to observe all the different marks that the artist had made in his prints, and to note down some of these marks. This activity was more discussion based in some aspects, because it was again challenging their preconceptions about not only drawing, but art as a whole. While some students found it more engaging provoking these kinds of discussions, others found this time to do some independent drawing and really engage with the prints in the room, which was lovely to see.

Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter - An Exploded View, 1991

For the final practical task, we had the students produce quick drawings based on this piece, whether that be round or square objects, shiny objects or shadows. We also encouraged them to use a viewfinder to locate interesting compositions. This was another successful task, and I found that the students really applied themselves and not only completed the task, but enjoyed participating in the task. It seemed that with every task or activity we gave them, they would engage more and more with what was in front of them and the drawings they were producing even more.

Feedback From Students and Debriefing

During the debriefing with Sarah and Denise, we looked and discussed some of the feedback we got from the students: we received mixed responses from the students, although more positive ones than we had anticipated. As I had predicted, the most popular tasks were the Sarah Lucas string drawing and working with the Cornelia Parker piece. While a great deal of their feedback was positive, they also had some fair criticism: they didn't enjoy sitting on the floor and found it uncomfortable to work that way. Additionally, they would have preferred to have spent more time on some tasks than others, but appreciated the fact that lots of different activities kept them on their toes.

     Based on the discussion that I had with Sarah and Denise, we found the source of a number of problems that we had with the session. We decided that the clipboards that we offered out simply didn't work, and that it would be far better to have students bring their own sketchbooks in the future. By conducting this session, the first to be had in the newly renovated space, we were able to get our own bearings in the gallery and decide what worked and what didn't. For example, the large gallery with the wall of windows is not suitable for group discussions and drawing activities: your senses are bombarded with sounds, light, the view of the park, the constant stream of visitors to the gallery and just the general buzz that permeates the whole room. We agreed that the Sarah Lucas and Thomas Schutte were great spaces to work and discuss in, as they were a great deal smaller and something as simple as the ceilings being lower made all the difference to the general atmosphere of the tasks that took place there.

          We concluded that while the session did not run smoothly, the space was very challenging at times and some students were, at times, difficult to work with, the session was in fact a success in the way that illuminated all the issues that come with working in a new space and gave us something to work and build upon for the next drawing session.