By Rachel Parker

Rachel Parker is a talented surface pattern designer based in the UK. With early success at the New Designers show, she has since gone onto design patterns for Studio Flock and Dashwood Studio. In this post Rachel shares her creative process from sketchbook to final design, and talks about how she gets inspired by everyday life! This post would be of interest to secondary students who would like to see the journey of a designer from A level to a successful creative.

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AccessArt is a UK Charity and we believe everyone has the right to be creative. AccessArt provides inspiration to help us all reach our creative potential.

What We Like About This Resource

“It’s really interesting to see the combination of hand and digital work in Rachel’s work, and particularly how her hand stitched embroidery is scanned before being used to create patterned products. We love that lots of Rachel’s work begins in sketchbooks and how this really underpins her creative process. For children in school, learning to utilise a sketchbook and discover their potential though drawing and mapping ideas is invaluable. We have a whole Sketchbook Journey section on the AccessArt website (linked below) which explores this in more detail”. – Rachel, AccessArt.

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Pathway: Exploring pattern

This is featured in the ‘Exploring Pattern’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Inspired by Rachel Parker

Sewn Treasure Box

Felt and Embroidery Sets

What We Like About This Resource….

“The sense of journey and feeling of movement is such an interesting part of Cas’ textile work here. We love how location and place is communicated through the variety of fluid and meandering textile marks used. Cas’ Romani background as well as early experience living in Japan make for a rich cultural backdrop to her work. The themes here could be explored in the classroom by asking children to use memories of places they’ve visited to produce a creative response using fabrics and mixed media” – Rachel, AccessArt

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Draw Your Home

Working With and In the Landscape

Landscape Sculptures

What We Like About This Resource….

“It’s lovely to see a resource that centres on a particular material and the scope it offers. I particularly like how the dogwood is used here to make wooden beads. This idea could be developed further by looking at how wood has been used to make jewelry throughout history and within many different cultures.” – Rachel, AccessArt.

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A Passion for Woodworking

Woodland Exploration

Visual Arts Planning: Trees, Forests and Landscape

What We Like About This Resource….

“It’s a really positive thing for an artist to share the concept of the creative journey. At AccessArt we believe journeys are pretty important and we are pleased to show this in action through Toby Pritchard’s post. We particularly like the anthropomorphic element, and how this really brings life to Toby’s work.” – Rachel, AccessArt

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Anthropomorphic Animal Paintings

Exploring Animation

Teaching for the Journey not the Outcome

What We Like About This Resource….

“There’s a really fun element to this activity which is you can imagine all children really enjoying! The idea of food on large scale is a great starter for a sculpture project and an early exploration of working in 3D. What’s really positive to see in this project is how the children used their sketchbooks to design their ice creams prior to working in 3D. They then had the opportunity to re visit and refine their ideas as they worked. This provides a sold foundation for the concept of design development and design through making- both of which underpin any visual arts or design project or profession. For more support on how to develop sketchbook practice in your setting please see our Sketchbook Journey” – Rachel, AccessArt

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Art Club Cafe

Communal Drawing: Summer Picnic

Redesigning Food Packaging

See This Resource Used In Schools…

What We Like About This Resource….

“We love how this activity provides an opportunity to explore a well known Artist’s work, through focussing on their materials and techniques. The children looked at Frank Bowling’s work before creating their own individual responses that retained individual ownership – something we advocate as part of a rich and balanced visual arts education. It was also great to see how a professional artist visited the school to further enhance the children’s experience.” – Rachel, AccessArt

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Pathway: Cloth, thread, paint

This is featured in the ‘Cloth, Thread, Paint’ pathway

Talking Points: Frank Bowling

Talking Points: Hannah Rae

Talking Points: Alice Kettle

What We Like About This Resource…

“We’re really grateful to Jake from Draw Brighton for sharing this activity which became so well received during lockdown 2020.

This is the perfect reminder that wherever we are in the digital or physical world, we have our eyes, hands and faces, and drawing provides a wonderful opportunity to come together in small groups to make sketches of each other. Use this activity as an ice breaker before a workshop, or as a transition activity between classes or events. Thank you Jake!” Paula, AccessArt

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Pathway: Exploring Identity

This is featured in the ‘Exploring Identity’ pathway

Talking Points: Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Making Physical or Digital Layered Portraits

Introduction to Portraits

Exploring Portraits in Graphite, Collage and Clay

What We Like About This Resource…

“These are such beautiful and evocative images – certain to inspire. There is a lot of potential for schools to explore Gabby’s work as a way to inspire pupils to create their own imagery inspired by literature, or inspired by imaginative writing by pupils.

Although etching might not be particularly accessible to many schools, there are low tech ways of approaching the process (see below) which mean pupils can explore similar ways of working in the classroom.” Paula, AccessArt

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Dry Point Etching

Printmaking Using Packaging

MonoPrinting with Carbon Paper

What We Like About This Resource….

“It’s really interesting to see how Gabby works across the different disciplines of textiles and illustration in her work, and you can see how the principles of each are present in these beautifully made felt sets. We enjoyed learning how she went between planning and making – showing that the process of creating isn’t completely linear, and that the journey of idea creation can happen through sketching ideas, but also through making itself” – Andrea, AccessArt

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Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

talking points: negative space by tiny inventions

Explore the work of animation directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata.

Making Mini Food

Stitched Homes

Mini World LIght Boxes

What We Like About This Resource…

“Rosie highlights the importance of embracing a wide variety of interests and ways of working into our wider creative practice, resulting in wonderfully rich and very personal explorations and outcomes.

There are so many clues in this resource for teachers. Look out for how Rosie slows down her whole process into a series of interconnected stages, which weave in and out of each other. These include time for research (collecting and observing), analysing and revisiting, drawing, making and finally documenting.” Paula, AccessArt

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Pathway: Telling Stories through drawing and making

This is featured in the ‘Drawing Stories Through Drawing and Making’ pathway

Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

talking points: negative space by tiny inventions

Gabby Savage-Dickson: Felting & Embroidering Sets

Year 3 Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake Homework

Draw, Paint, Build, Make: Gallery Project

What We Like About This Resource…

“This resource shows pupils how the experience, background and passions of an illustrator all feed into his or her work.

We like the way Natsko shares how her experience over time informs her work. For example, her background as a “visitor” or person living in cultures which she isn’t initially familiar with, enable her to see that culture through fresh eyes. She takes these observations in through her sketchbooks, and then these inform her work at various points going forward. This is an important concept when facilitating art and developing pupils’ own creativity – and sketchbooks provide the perfect tool for building this experience.” Paula, AccessArt

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Creating a Book World with Rose Feather

Illustrating Stories: Creating a Storyboard and First Dummy Book

Illustrating the Jaberwocky

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Pathway: Print & Activism

This is featured in the ‘Print & Activism’ pathway

Talking Points: Luba Lukova

Talking Points: What is a Zine?

Making Large Scale, Screenprinted, Collaged, Co-Created Campaign Posters!

Making an Artist’s Book

Book Artists

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Pathway: 2D Drawing to 3D Making

This is featured in the ‘2D Drawing to 3D Making’ pathway

Talking Points: Packaging Design

What is Typography