The Big Draw 2006: 1-31st October 2006

Following its official launch on 23rd September, the formal start of the "Big Draw 2006" events in the UK is today and events will then run for the whole month of October.

I wrote about this major event which orchestrated by the Drawing Campaign in this post in May of this year. Events are organised according to regions within the UK. Some are more focused on children and families and some are for adults. Check the listings of more than 1,000 drawing events of different kinds that have been registered with the campaign. Click on a title to get full information (print-friendly) on a particular event.

The Big Draw also has events which are located on the internet or overseas. Examples of internet events include:

• The Open University's invitations to sketch a 'really useful robot' using their Robodoodle sketching tool
• the "In the Picture" project at www.childreninthepicture.org - which aims to promote the inclusion of disabled children in early years' picture books - will be offering downloadable drawing activities putting disabled children in the picture via portraiture. Submitted pictures may find their way into the children's gallery already set up and waiting to go!

In relation to overseas events, it now rather looks like a number of artists had ideas for how drawing linked events might take place in the USA - in association with major museums and established drawing organisations. However, of the ones listed on the Big Draw website as overseas events, I note that a number of events in the USA are noted as "tbc" (ie to be confirmed) and that the designated websites (eg the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the Drawing Center in New York) are not actually highlighting any activities.

If you live in the UK, are you going to be participating in any of these events to promote drawing?

If you live overseas, do you think your country and your art institutions do enough to promote drawing?

Links:

• The Big Draw 2006
• The Big Draw 2006 National Launch - official website
  
• Drawing Power - the Campaign for Drawing
• Making a Mark: The Big Draw 2006 (24 May 2006)

Technorati tags: art , drawing