Back in the Education Room at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, teachers started by gathering their collection of drawings from the galleries and a selection of paper. They were then given quick demonstrations on how to make a sketchbook and got to work.
Teachers choose from a range of different paper to start making their books
And collected their drawings together
Paula and Sheila demonstrated how to make a sketchbook by either folding or binding paper together.
Participants were provided with a range of materials and loved the physicality of the session. They were encouraged to think out of the box and find engineered solutions for how their books might look, feel, open and close, the scale of them and how the pages might work together.
Teachers were inventive and playful in their approaches and many used the drawings from the galleries to create new sketchbook pages by tearing and folding them.
They started cutting and folding their drawings
And started to physically explore how their books might work – some created pages which concertinaed outwards, or folded inwards
Teachers enjoyed playing with combining different sizes and shapes of paper.
Here a teacher folds her drawing from the 20th Century Gallery and makes a folded sketchbook
Which she then incorporates with another book
Then binds the two books together with red paper and ribbon
Gathering sheets together to make a small, soft back book with a fabric cover
Bound together with a needle and thread
Combining different paper together to make a large folded and then bound sketchbook
And some pages fold out to be even bigger
And then bound with elastic bands and a stick
Finished book – closed – See the clever binding!
Here a combination of paper and drawings bound together with a hole punch and string
Using a hole punch to bind sheets together
And string to bind the sheets together
Creating a sketchbook with pages which extend
A torn and folded sheet of paper
Extended to reveal a drawing from the gallery
And bound together with a poster cover
Here the finished book with a paper band to hold loose sheets together
We finished the session by admiring each other’s books
And enjoying the rich pages and happy memories on an afternoon at the Fitzwilliam Museum!
Many thanks to the teachers who participated in this InSET training session for sharing their process with AccessArt and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Many thanks to Pink Pig Sketchbooks for their generous donation. of sketchbooks to AccessArt.
Thank you to Kate Noble for facilitating the session and to Ali for her support.
Photographs by Sheila Ceccarelli.
UK Charity AccessArt created this resource in collaboration with the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
AccessArt has over 850 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.
AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.
We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.
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