Sketchbooks in Schools - Funding applications now being submitted

Hi, just to let you all know that AccessArt is now in the process of submitting its funding applications for the Sketchbooks in Schools project. If you’d still like to be involved or have something to say, pls email us.

Fingers crossed we can make the project happen!

This blog will now be transfered to our other main project: The AccessArt Family Learning Project.

Sketchbook Speed… Or how to overcome preciousness

Brand new sketchbook, first clean page… I’m sure many of us know that feeling (right back to childhood?) of wanting to do your best, the challenge of a clean start, not mucking up… to the point that you freeze?

Which brings us to how to overcome “preciousness” - how to discourage preciouness… which is tricky given that we often spend so much time encouraging pupils to do their best. But sometimes great ideas and creative thinking doesn’t come in a straight-line-path as a result of best, sometimes it comes from a humdrum place, mediocre thoughts, repeated actions… and even the depths of boredom… which are all tricky things to validate (especially in schools).

Preciousness as a state can’t always allow time and space for disconnected thought, accidental leap, and jumps of inspiration. So we can’t push for sketchbooks to be always full of great drawings and interesting thoughts. We have to take away that preciousness. Maybe Speed can help.

Speed can be a technique brought in via exercises to stop too much thinking, to take away the pressure. We also need to think about how long a sketchbook takes to be filled? A term, a year, a week? How flexible can we be? We’re not talking about encouraging books to be filled up with carelessly turned out content, but we are talking about making a connection between the speed with which we think and the speed with which we act…

P.S. see Shy Drawing, Loud Drawing on the AccessArt site for some speed exercises.

“To sketchbook” - as a verb?

Rather than being an object, can we use “sketchbook” as a verb?

Not trying to turn this into being about linguistics, but rather to think about sketchbooks as a frame of mind rather than an object. Just to see what would happen.

What would the verb “to sketchbook” mean?
- to collect,
- to think laterally,
- to try out,
- to juxtapose,
- to see and act,
- to try different materials,
- to make concrete a thought process?

If we create an environment in which these actions start to flourish, then does it matter where they take place. Sketchbooks work well because they contain. But the same actions could be applied to a whole days worth of work, executed on sheets of paper, rolls of paper, or even walls.

To sketchbook - or get into the sketchbook frame of mind, maybe a day off curriculum is needed. A whole day to immerse yourself in the notion of looking at the world and responding.

Once you are used to the action of working in a sketchbook it does become part of the way you see/make sense of the world.

Change the name… widen the approach?

What should we call sketchbooks? Sketchbooks? Journals? Notebooks?

Does changing the name from sketchbook widen their appeal or take us away from our intention?

Lets go back to the (suggested) original intention: to get children and teachers to see the value in having a book which enables the child to think creatively, laterally, experimentally. To give the child (or teacher) a place where he or she can experiment with how to express themselves in a safe place, where they will not be judged (I think that last bit is really important - but how does that work in schools? - lets think about that in another post).

AccessArt talks a lot about how we learn best. Individuals obviously learn best in different ways: visual, spatial, aural, kinesthetic - or a mixture of ways.

If the owner of the sketchbook is to feel like the book is a useful creative tool for them, and therefore their learning style, perhaps we need to make sure she or he is enabled to express themselves in ways which suit them. Generalising massively - a visual person might feel able to draw, a spatial person might take photos of the world, an aural person might actually prefer to use his or her ipod as his notebook - recording thoughts directly.

Is getting the children to keep a sketchbook less about them learning “to draw” and more about enabling them to express themselves - however that might be? Does that alienate any of you? Do you think sketchbooks SHOULD be about drawing?

So back to a name. Does the name matter once we’ve changed the perception of what a sketchbook might be? Does “journal” feel more appropriate?

Thanks all to the emails too… please keep them coming.

Starting a sketchbook step one: like the book

How to get someone to work in a sketchbook?

There can be no “you must”. There has to be some kind of sense of ownership right from the start - the sketchbook owner must WANT to work in the sketchbook; must want to create a place full of his or her ideas/belongings/longings.

As an artist I’ve often loved the “process” of choosing my next sketchbook - relished the chance to “start again”, and getting the right book (whatever that means at that particular time) is nearly always crucial to whether the sketchbook goes on to be a favourite of mine, and inspire my work. Time in art shops searching for just the right book or just the right pages might seem superficial - but I don’t think so. Often my instinct about what kind of book i wanted to work in (wanted to own) was so strong I would make the book - sometimes through traditional means, binding torn pages together - sometimes by making wooden covers… The act of being a maker begins for me with the sketchbook itself.

So? What small things can we do for a class of 30 to give them ownership of their sketchbooks… what choices can we give them to get them to “buy” in to their individual books…

Shout if you have any ideas… and shout too if you’d like AccessArt to make some resources about it…

Letting sketchbooks have their own space

Other people’s sketchbooks do seem to hold a fascination to others - like peeping at diaries I suppose. How to display sketchbooks in a way which gives them their own credit, yet doesn’t destroy them (it seems no one really likes to take them apart to display pages - and also this then brings in a selection process which maybe goes against some notions of sketchbook anyway), is a problem for many.

One solution might be to create a sketchbook corner: an area where people can sit and look at sketchbooks and take some time over them, more like they’d look at books in a library corner than pictures in a gallery. A few chairs, or cushions on the floor, and either a pile or small shelf of sketchbooks invites others to stop and enjoy. Creating a space which values the sketchbooks and their content encourages others to approach the sketchbooks with an open mind - and then hopefully get the most from them.

What does the word “sketchbook” mean to you?

Our own experience of “sketchbook” of course informs our approach.

To some, a sketchbook is a name given loosely to an evolving collection of “things”: sketches of course, but also photos, quotes, notes, references, images, samples, switches, things stuck in… An object you’d never want to loose?

To others the word “sketchbook” might be the place where home meets school; the place where art homework is given (and often grudgingly done). And s/he is able to draw/make notes in the back - separating out two personalities?

To some the sketchbook is a place where sorting takes place - where the owner sifts through thoughts and chooses the thoughts/actions which will be worked up to make painting/sculpture/design…

I remember wanting to make a degree show from my sketchbooks, rather than from my “finished” work. Although the ideas within the books were unresolved, they felt exciting/unknown and full of potential. And somehow for me at that stage the notion of sketchbook as an expression of myself, felt more honest than the work i presented.

If i had to write 3 words/phrases which describe the concept of sketchbook to me (today) they’d probably be:

- textured
- voluntary
- encompassing

What does the word sketchbook mean to you? What is your experience, as a teacher or keeper? In 3 words/phrases what would you like the word sketchbook to mean to you, in the future. What could AccessArt provide you with that would enable you to change the way you think of and use sketchbooks?

Paula
AccessArt

Why Sketchbooks in Schools?

Many artists find their work in sketchbooks to be amongst their most rewarding, creative and exciting. Sketchbooks can be a place of collection, experimentation, discovery and revelation. They are a place where the world is filtered, through the eyes, ears and hands of the artist.

Sketchbooks are often prized by their owners and become extensions of their creators. Once that level of ownership clicks into place, they become very powerful tools - enabling creativity and helping their owner find a voice.

Working in a sketchbook isn’t always about “being good” at drawing. Sketchbooks are about developing ideas, and exploring thoughts - and in that way they are accessible to everyone.

Sketchbooks in Schools

Hello and welcome to the Sketchbooks in Schools discussion.

A couple of weeks ago we put out a call about our proposed Sketchbooks in Schools project (see main AccessArt site). Before we apply for funding for the project, we wanted to make sure the project was relevant and to give potential users the chance to comment/share their ideas.

We had a great response from over fifty schools/individuals/organisations.

In order to allow you to share views with each other, and in effect to start a brainstorm, AccessArt has started this blog. We’ll be listening to want you might want from the project, and suggesting scenarios and asking for your feedback - please join us and post your comment.

If you’d like to be named as a potential partner, or would like to talk to us outside the blog, please email us here.

So here we go…