By Eilis Hanson.

Eilis Hanson is a primary school teacher who loves to get art into the curriculum, wherever and whenever she can! She has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Newcastle University and studied at Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna during her third year there. More recently, she has studied watercolour painting in Verona. Eilis has taught children in Indonesia, Japan and Italy and now lives and works in Cambridge. She has exhibited sculptures, prints and installations in Newcastle, Vienna and Istanbul.

In response to the National Gallery’s Take One Picture initiative, our school chose to spend a week focusing on Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’‘s dramatic painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768). After discussing and exploring the painting in assemblies, each class was set the challenge of responding through art and literacy. The Year Two children were particularly interested in the cockatiel in the painting. Having learnt about the artist’s dramatic use of chiaroscuro, the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, they had a go themselves using black pastels and rubbers to create their own tactile drawings of cockatiels.

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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.

Many thanks to accessArt Young Artist Rowan Briggs Smith

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Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week is a simple set of drawing exercises designed to get people drawing. The resources are aimed at a broad audience, but designed particularly with educators in mind.

Each exercise is designed to give non-specialist educators the confidence to approach drawing, by committing to regular, brief drawing activities for just one week.

Find a 45-minute session recording demonstrating the exercises and approaches you’ll find on the page below. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS AND HOW DO WE FIT THE EXERCISES INTO THE DAY?

• Who can I use the exercises with?

  The exercises are adaptable and suitable to learners in all settings, including EYFS, Primary and Secondary Schools, Health & Community Care, Home Education, Lifelong Learning and Museum and Gallery Education.

• What might the benefits be?

  Our experience has shown the following benefits from similar projects:

  1. Opening minds as to what a drawing activity can be as both an activity and an outcome

  2. .

  • Improved dexterity (which also helps with handwriting).

  • Helps learners transition between parts of the day.

  • Improved concentration.

  • Improved sense of wellbeing through the mindful element to the exercises.

  • Improved drawing skills and improved creative confidence.

  • Improved confidence amongst non-specialist educators teaching art.

• How might you fit the exercises into the day?

  Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week would make a great activity to start any session in your educational setting. Try swapping your usual morning activity with this challenge, and see how it impacts the week. You could also use the exercises immediately before any other art session as a way of helping learners transition and tap into their creativity.

  It’s worth noting that it doesn’t need to be a one-off venture: you can repeat the exercises as often as you want, as repetition provides an opportunity for learners to gain meaningful drawing skills over time.

The exercises are adaptable and suitable to learners in all settings, including EYFS, Primary and Secondary Schools, Health & Community Care, Home Education, Lifelong Learning and Museum and Gallery Education.

Our experience has shown the following benefits from similar projects:

1. Opening minds as to what a drawing activity can be as both an activity and an outcome

2. .

• Improved dexterity (which also helps with handwriting).

• Helps learners transition between parts of the day.

• Improved concentration.

• Improved sense of wellbeing through the mindful element to the exercises.

• Improved drawing skills and improved creative confidence.

• Improved confidence amongst non-specialist educators teaching art.

Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week would make a great activity to start any session in your educational setting. Try swapping your usual morning activity with this challenge, and see how it impacts the week. You could also use the exercises immediately before any other art session as a way of helping learners transition and tap into their creativity.

It’s worth noting that it doesn’t need to be a one-off venture: you can repeat the exercises as often as you want, as repetition provides an opportunity for learners to gain meaningful drawing skills over time.

Before you start…

Before Each Session: Set Expectations

The following exercises work best if the learners work quietly and with concentration. A quiet atmosphere will help learners tune into close seeing and set a calm and mindful intention for the session.

After Each Session: Reflect

At the end of each session, it’s worth investing two minutes in getting learners to walk around the room to look at each other’s work. This will help them focus and reflect on their experiences and the experiences of others. Reflection also gives learners space to recognise the value of the work that has been made. Learners might comment on what they like about their peer’s work.

At the End of the Week: Revisit

Please make time to revisit the exercises to allow learners to articulate and reflect upon their progress over the week. You may like to ask some questions…

• What was their favourite exercise to do?

• Which outcome do they feel was the most successful and why?

• Is there something they would like to try next, for example, a new material?

You might like to give them a chance to repeat an exercise to allow them to consolidate their experiences and reflections.

The Five Drawing exercises…

Day 1. Continuous Line Drawing

Find out how to do a simple continuous line drawing exercise to start the week.

Day 2. Backwards Forwards Drawing

The backwards forwards drawing exercise helps develop looking and sketching skills.

Day 3. See 3 Shapes

Explore how to get children to describe an object in just three lines or shapes.

Day 4. Thoughtful Mark Making

Find out how encouraging diverse mark making will improve drawing outcomes.

Day 5. Making Stronger Drawings

Explore how drawing on different surfaces helps encourage stronger mark making.