Drawn to Life
The University of Lincoln’s ‘Big Draw 2019’ celebration of drawing and creativity. This year’s theme was ‘Drawn to Life’ (Creativity and Wellbeing), which we interpreted both literally (drawing from life and nature), and broadly as ‘drawing makes you happy’.
On Tuesday October the 15th the Lincoln School of Design hosted four workshops for sixty primary school children, (every child had a go at each activity). There were Kaleidoscope patterns and drawing workshops, Body Snap (a huge hit from last year so we reprised it. Think ‘Twister’ with drawing thrown in). A print and tissue paper collage activity where the children drew images into polystyrene sheet and then printed from this, and a fourth workshop insect drawing workshop, where we bought locusts and crickets from a local pet shop which the children observed and drew up as ‘giant bug’ drawings. (The insects were all ‘re-homed’ and lived happily in an aquarium).
Following this on Wednesday the 16th we had 28 Yr. 12 and 13 pupils who came to visit for Life Drawing and Product Drawing workshops. (A fabulous opportunity for them to experience specialist teaching here at the university and maybe get a taste for a career in design).
All our staff worked really hard to deliver the best possible experiences for our young guests but he stand-out moments for us were the responses we got from schools after the event, for example:
‘Just a quick note to say how much the children enjoyed The Big Draw on Tuesday. They had a great time expressing themselves freely. One thing which I didn’t really think about was the discussions we had throughout the day about what a university is, how it all works, where do you live, what do you study etc, etc. Thank you so much for the invitation, I’m sure it’s something the children will remember for many years to come.’
and
‘It was so rewarding to have the opportunity to take our students to the university. We teach a lot of students for whom university is not even a consideration when they are thinking about progression to opportunities after sixth form. It means a great deal to us to be able to show them something that is outside their normal field of experience, so to speak.
The students have been talking about their experiences and it has begun to broaden horizons for some. They were impressed by the day and really enjoyed themselves.’
Our Big Draw Celebration is part of the University’s philosophy of promoting schools and public engagement. Encouraging young people from all over our county to aspire to Higher Education is part of our community mission and naturally we would like the University of Lincoln to be their first choice. As England’s second largest county (and also being sparsely populated and largely rural) we have areas where there is historically a very low application for and progression to Higher Education. The Big Draw is a great way to attract children from across the county to participate in a University hosted event ‘introduce’ young people to the University and to sow the seeds of ‘aspiration’.
At Lincoln we want to enthuse and inspire the younger children about the creative arts. For the older participants we hope they’ll take inspiration from the day and the career possibilities open to them through Higher Education here at the University. Therefore, for us The Big Draw is a fabulous opportunity for us to ‘open our doors’ and reach out to young people who perhaps lack the confidence to aspire to university.