BLURRING THE BIG DRAW at Goldsmiths

Fun, free, family drawing event at Goldsmiths.

Goldsmiths’ Big Draw didn’t blur its success

More than 600 people from across London and further afield packed into The Great Hall at Goldsmiths, University of London, for its annual The Big Draw event.

This year’s event, which took place on Saturday 23 October, was entitled ‘Blurring the Big Draw’ as for the first time students from the PGCE Art and Design and PGCE English courses had teamed up to provide the activities. As well as the chance to do some drawing, colouring and making, youngsters also had a chance to try their hand at storywriting.

The hall was split into three sections. One section was given over to New Cross in Wonderland, a chance for children to create a map of the New Cross area on the floor using chalk with streets named after famous children’s books. The second area involved making the City of Lost Things, creating buildings out of cardboard boxes, as well as recording their own stories which they could listen to in a specially constructed den. In the third section, The World of Shadows, images were projected onto white screens and floors to inspire the children in their artwork.

Goldsmiths’ annual Big Draw event has cemented its place in the College’s calendar and in family calendars across the capital with the majority of people saying they found out about the event by attending last year. Feedback from the event showed how much it has come to be enjoyed by children of all ages:

“Fantastic day. Well done to everyone,” said Judy, JW, Misha (aged 7) and Anna (aged 4)

“A brilliant day, thank you, see you next year. Hope you had fun as well as me. Good luck tidying up.” said Jasha

“The best Big Draw so far!” said Adam

This year Goldsmiths' Big Draw was partly sponsored by Aspire Aimhigher, the South East London partnership working to give young people in the area more opportunities to access further and higher education. The event was also supported by the Centre for Arts and Learning, a research centre at Goldsmiths dedicated to the practical and theoretical exploration of learning practices across the arts within diverse social and cultural contexts. 

The Big Draw at Goldsmiths is also part of Inside Out - a major new festival curated by LCACE (the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange) to showcase the fascinating contribution of nine London Universities to the capital’s cultural life.