Interview excerpts with Brian Voce
- Can you start by telling us a little bit about your work as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lincoln’s College of Arts?
I’m a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design where I am responsible for leading Year 2 BA (Hons) Graphics. I’m also involved with our outreach programme and help with workshops for schools and their visits to us here in the School Design. I also lead the Visual Expression Module for Year Two on the course. This module is very much about developing creative thinking skills, being brave in your creativity, and exploring a diverse range of approaches to solving visual communication problems. I also taught on Year One Creative Advertising. I’m not a Graphic Designer, (my practice is now print, digital and painting based), however one of the key strengths of our course is that our students are taught by Graphic Designers, Printmakers, Fine Artists, Photographers, Branding Experts, and Theorists, all of us continue with our creative practice and the consequence of this is that the students have a hugely diverse and enriching educational experience.
My area is really all about creative thinking, experimentation, getting the students to be comfortable with being uncomfortable (taking a few risks in their design practice). I focus on pushing the student’s creative thinking, this might be through experimental drawing, film, sound, print, or even creative cake making!
I’m also the contact person in the School of Design for schools and colleges wanting to visit or participate in workshops here.
Before I worked at the university, I was involved in Further Education, Community Arts, Schools Workshops, and Offender Learning. In all these situations drawing played a key role my approach to teaching art and design, forming the foundation from which students could progress.
- Hi Brian! Can you explain to our readers a bit about the University of Lincoln, its history and your work there?
In its current form with its ‘new’ main campus here in Lincoln the University is relatively young going back to October 2001 when the Brayford Campus was built. Originally part of a group of institutions forming Humberside College of Higher Education, in 1992 it became a full university as the University of Humberside. The university was renamed the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in January 1996. (Her Majesty the Queen opened the first University of Lincoln building on the Brayford Campus in 1996). However, its roots are rather deeper than that and in the School of Design we can trace our origins back to 1861 and the Hull School of Art. (The University also acquired The Lincoln School of Art and Design in 2001, which dates back to 1863). We have a long history with involvement in the creative arts!
- We believe that drawing is a medium for thought and action. It is a fantastic tool for communication, creativity and expression! What role does drawing play in your day-to-day life, and your work at the University of Lincoln?
Visual development (and to us in Graphic Design this means exploring research and ideas through drawing, drawing, and more drawing) is at the core of our course. It’s so important to us, we encourage and expect our students to work out all their ideas through drawing before they move to digital production. We believe drawing is THE way to explore and refine ideas. We’re not looking for academically accurate drawing from our students (although it’s great to see students with those skills) rather were looking to build up the confidence of our students to visualise ideas, and to this end we’re non-judgmental about the technical ability of our students to draw. It’s more important to us that they have the confidence to explore ideas through drawing and show us what they’re thinking, (refinement can come later). Some of our students are interested in illustration and we encourage all students to explore this in their work, here drawing is always the start of that process.
Personally, I use drawing as a research tool, as a way of looking (seeing to gain understanding), and to explore ideas. I also use digital drawing (sometimes combined with traditional drawing) to develop my own work. I don’t draw every day (although my wife does) as I’m often too busy with university work but nevertheless it’s an essential part of my practice.
- Here at The Big Draw we advocate the incredible influence of art and visual literacy in building bridges and communicating beyond language barriers. Why do you think that visual literacy is such a crucial tool for communication and expression?
Drawing seems to be a fundamental human activity, innate to even the youngest children. As such it’s a universal language, very young children across the Globe creating similar drawings regardless of their many diverse cultural backgrounds. This ability of drawing to transcend spoken language and culture makes it an extremely effective communication tool which we all respond to. Visualising ideas can communicate so much more than words alone, the choice of line, the medium, colours, technique all these things contribute to our ‘reading’ of the work and influence how we respond. So many times, I’ve listened to a student speaking about what they intend to do or make but its only when they draw out an idea that I really understand their intentions. Drawing out an idea firmly ‘nails it’ (after this we’re both ‘on the same page’)!
- In the UK, the EBacc has had a devastating impact on the endorsement of creative subjects (which include Art, Music, Media, Design & Technology); in the past year alone we have seen a 10.2% decline in the uptake of these subjects. Yet recent research and opinion pieces published by Forbes and The Washington Post suggest that creativity will be the most vital skill of the future. What role do you think that Universities should be playing in the access to arts and creative learning? Why do you think the next generation of makers and creators are so important?
Talking to applicants and parents at Open Days I often hear that pupils can only make one creative choice at GCSE or A level where they would often have liked to choose more, the creative arts (across the board) are certainly getting squeezed by the EBacc. (Not the case for my son who only a few years ago chose two creative A levels and who’s GCSE choices included Art, Drama, Music, and Design Tech).
Universities have championed the importance of the Arts and a Creative Curriculum (for example in the 2015 Warwick Commission Report which highlighted the value of the creative and design industries to the UK Economy). I think universities must continue to pursue academic research of this kind to keep up the pressure on Governments to give more prominence to the creative arts. As institutions Universities can support the creative arts by creating spaces and opportunities for young people over a whole range of activities through workshops and summer schools, (this is something we already do through our Saturday Art Club, Summer School events and of course The Big Draw). Supporting Schools directly is also important, at Lincoln we run school visits and presentations, host taster days, workshops, and faculty tours. Additionally, we work with Design teachers across our County to host the Lincolnshire Young Designer of the Year Competition.
It’s vital that we all work hard to encourage and develop young people’s creativity for a number of reasons. One of our nation’s greatest strengths is our innovative creative talent (our designers and design schools lead the world here), it would be catastrophic for our economy if we were to lose our pre-eminence in this area by letting the creative talents of a whole generation ‘slip by’. I often think that our approach to design education parallels what happened to our car industry in the 70’s. We were good at making cars, became complacent and other nations overtook us, it’s the same situation with the creative industries today, as a nation we’re not just good we’re great at creative design, but I think the importance of design and training new designers is overlooked and undervalued, (somehow it will take care of itself). Other nations are catching up, if we are to retain our position as a World leader in design and design education than we really need to encourage this and give it more prominence in the school curriculum.
We’re also going to potentially end up with a lot of creatively frustrated and unfulfilled individuals, in terms of health and personal fulfilment the creative arts are so important.
- We believe that drawing can be life changing; it is an amazing tool for creativity, invention and discovery. We hope that The Big Draw Festival gives people an opportunity to embrace their mistakes, and not be afraid of imperfections in the creative process! Do you believe in such a thing as a ‘happy accident’, and the power to learn or develop from our mistakes?
In Graphics the core of ideas development on our course is visualisation ‘thinking with the pencil’ (as one of my colleagues succinctly put it). We embrace risk taking, mistakes, and the ‘happy accident’ across all three years, although our students often take some convincing of this! In Year 1 (and also sometimes even in Year 2) they often have a preoccupation with neatness and creating presentation books rather than just ‘pouring out’ ideas onto the paper with a pencil ‘warts and all’. I think it’s hard for them to shake off old habits formed through their previous educational experiences. Mistakes are an essential part of the creative process, if you’re not making them then you’re probably playing far too safe. Inspiration will often ‘pop’ into your head as a consequence of visual risk taking and experimentation, quite often something you’d never have thought of without being brave enough to try things out and being unafraid of making ‘mistakes’. (They will be made but that’s okay, learn from them, if they’re not quite right for ‘now’ ‘bank’ the better ones for another time, then move on). My module is really all about creative thinking, experimentation, getting the students to be comfortable with being uncomfortable (taking a few risks in their design practice). I focus on pushing the student’s creativity, this might be through experimental drawing, film, sound, print, or 3D. I’ve been using the analogy with my Second Year Students that solving a creative problem (in whatever discipline) is a bit like untangling a great big ball of messy string. It seems impossible at first as you don’t know where to start, you have to try and work things out, try things, sometimes making mistakes and going back on yourself, but as you slowly untangle it the way forward becomes clearer, and by the end the answer is clear. Creativity often comes from chaos, embrace it.
- We want to encourage people to shed themselves of that fear so often associated with the creative process, and just ‘do’! What are your thoughts on the importance of creativity for our overall wellbeing? How does this theme resonate with the University of Lincoln’s programming and Big Draw events?
I think that if you’re a creative person and you have no outlet or opportunity for this then you’re going to end up a frustrated, unfulfilled and potentially unhappy individual. All of these things can contribute to a whole range of health problems. For my own well-being it’s essential that I maintain my creative practice, I rent a studio space from a local farmer where I paint and make prints. If I’m away from it for too I start to feel frustrated and tense, so I completely understand how creativity is linked to wellbeing. I’m also well aware of the fear of the empty white space, it’s easy to procrastinate but you have to just get stuck in and make a start, things usually turn out okay in the end.
Our Big Draw events have focussed on creativity self-expression and being open about the outcomes. We want the young people who come to our events to feel unpressurised, free to explore their ideas without the fear of judgement. It’s of paramount importance to us that our Big Draw visitors feel a sense of engagement and fun, we want them to embrace the opportunity and in a wider context to aspire to what we can offer them as a university as part of their future education. What really noticeable is how confident and uninhibited the Primary School Children are in comparison to their older Secondary School Peers. The need to closely follow curriculums and exam pressures seems to have knocked the confidence out of the older children who are often very self-conscious about their work. (I think as we get older, we all suffer creatively (myself included) from the fear of being ‘judged’)).
- What advice would you give to someone who would like to pursue a creative career, but fears it isn’t the ‘sensible’ option?
I’d say follow your passion, do what you love… If your passionate about creative arts but go to study say for example Business Studies instead, just because you think you’ll get a job at the end, you’ll be an unfulfilled accountant always thinking, ‘if only…’ There are lots of employment opportunities in the arts for Graduates. If you love what you do that passion will shine through and you’ll find a creative job you love.
- You ran two days of fun-filled Big Draw workshops with Primary & Secondary schools on the 15th and 16th October 2019. Can you tell us a little bit about what the students got up to? Were there any standout moments for you?
This year I instigated and co-ordinated The Big Draw Event here at the University but because of my teaching commitments I couldn’t actually get involved in anything on either day! (I was really looking forward to running the ‘Bug’ drawing workshop but in the end, it wasn’t possible, so I had to ask another staff member to run it for me).
On Tuesday the 15th we hosted four workshops for sixty primary school children, (every child had a go at each activity). There were Kaleidoscope patterns and drawing, 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. The fourth workshop was the insect drawing workshop, I bought Locusts and Crickets from a local pet shop which the children observed and drew up as ‘giant’ drawings. (The insects are now all living happily in an aquarium at my house)!
Following this on Wednesday we had 28 Yr12 and 13 pupils who came to 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.
We had hoped to run an additional day on the Thursday with Drawing machine workshops and a Dance and Draw Activity, but the participating school pulled out at very short notice. However, we are looking to reprise these as ‘The Big Draw Lincoln-2’ early in the Spring next Year. (We’ll keep you posted).
All our staff work really hard to deliver the best experiences they can, it would be unfair to pick one activity as a standout event. I think the stand-out moments for me were the responses we got from schools after the event, for example:
‘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’.
and…
‘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’.
- With four years’ Big Draw experience under your belt, could you dispense any top tips or words of wisdom to someone (particularly another higher education institution) considering organising their own Big Draw event?
Firstly, I’d say to anyone in Higher Education thinking about running a Big Draw Event (especially if you’re looking to involve schools), get a good team around you, there’s a lot to organise. This year I couldn’t have done it without the tremendous support I had Polly Lancaster who processed all the equipment orders, and of course all the staff who came forward to run the workshops.
Secondly if you’re participating in running a workshop yourself then have another member of staff as a co-ordinator on the day, (you will need someone to keep the workshops on time and ensure everyone goes where they’re supposed to)!
Thirdly I’d say start planning your Big Draw in February have everything in place and the schools ‘signed up’ before their summer break. That way there not such a rush in September to get everything in place October’s Big Draw. (Make sure you don’t plan to run your Big Draw in the school half term, as responses from schools are likely to be low)!
Finally have fun… Don’t make it too serious (especially for younger kids). 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.
- The Big Draw Festival has been celebrating the power of play in the creative process, and its role in innovation, well-being and development – research has shown that play is not only a vital tool in child development but also essential for well-being and discovery through to adulthood. Do you believe that a playful approach is important in an educational setting?
Absolutely… Play (and feeling free to play) is an essential element of creativity. We refer to risk taking, (not playing safe) with our students. Playing with ideas, (trying stuff out, testing out ideas, materials and techniques) is essential to risk taking and originality. Our First-Year students are often very conservative in their approach to ideas, and expect staff to tell them what to do, and what to make. In Higher Education the creative arts have an emphasis on exploring ideas and finding a personal solution, this often comes as quite a shock., especially to students where their previous creative education has been quite formulaic. Building their confidence to play with ideas through drawing is an essential part of our curriculum.
- Here at The Big Draw we promote the importance of visual literacy in all aspects of life, not just within the realm of visual arts; The Big Draw Festival is a fantastic opportunity to spread this ethos far and wide! Do you agree that being ‘visually literate’ is key to a number of industries and disciplines?
I’m not quite sure how you are defining visual literacy… I think everyone can draw but not everyone has the confidence to draw or can interpret a drawing. For me it’s not about being a ‘good drawer’, not everyone can draw academically well, (I speak from my experience of teaching Adult Education drawing classes for over ten years), but about being confident in your drawing and enjoying drawing. As a method of communication drawing is indispensable in terms of getting ideas across to others, (I’ve lost count of the times a student has described in detail what they are going to do, and then found that their final work looks nothing like the ‘picture’ I had in my head! A drawing, however crude communicates clearly and ‘nails’ this every time). In this context I think drawing would be a powerful tool to communicate concepts in lots of areas if everyone drew more and were more confident in their drawing skills.
- ‘… what inspires the University to take part in the Festival? Moreover, what are some of the biggest challenges have you faced/overcome in organising these events?’
The Big Draw is a natural ‘fit’ for us within the College of Arts as drawing is fundamental to everything we do. We believe that everyone can draw and enjoy drawing, and through activities like the Big Draw we hope to encourage and inspire young people to become the artists and designers of the future.
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 to sow the seeds of ‘aspiration’.
My biggest challenge in organising the Big Draw has always been getting our message and event details over to the right person within schools. Primary schools always respond well (we could fill our event with pupils from a single school)! However Secondary Schools often don’t respond at all! Building personal relationships with art and design teachers within schools, (visiting schools, giving presentations, inviting them to visit the university, etc) is key here otherwise our emails often seem to ‘get lost’ in their systems.
- What are some of the reasons that the University of Lincoln take part in The Big Draw Festival, and what do you hope to achieve?
The University of Lincoln has an active outreach program and a philosophy of community engagement, The Big Draw neatly ‘dovetails’ with these intentions. With the recent decline of the creative arts curriculum in schools where they are ‘squeezed’ by the focus on STEM subjects and the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) we consider it’s vital that we all work hard to encourage and develop young people’s creativity if we are to maintain our international reputation as a creative leader in the arts. (It would be catastrophic for our economy if we were to lose our pre-eminence in this area by letting the creative talents of a whole generation ‘slip by’. Other nations are catching up, if we are to retain our position as a World leader in design and design education then we really need to encourage young people to consider creative careers, Big Draw is part of our Outreach Program from the School of Design where we support schools through the creative arts).
As a university we’re also very keen to widen the uptake of Higher Education with our local community and the wider surrounding counties. Historically many young people from our area haven’t seen university as an option, many going into employment after school or college. (We’re all missing out on a lot of talent that simply passes us by because these they don’t come from backgrounds where university is an option). 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.
