My micro-teaching session focused on embracing chance, unpredictability and process over outcome when drawing. It was designed with Year 1 Drawing students in mind. Many students join the course directly from Sixth-Form and depending on their educational curriculum, may come with conventional perceptions of drawing. Through dialogue, presentation and unconventional drawing tools, I aimed to question traditional notions of skill, expertise, value and quality usually associated with drawing. I also aimed to demonstrate how embracing chance processes can expand definitions and perceptions of the medium.
To unpick participants’ understanding of the discipline, I began by asking ‘What is a good drawing?’ eliciting answers around skillfulness, mood, and an appreciation of technique. I introduced Fig. 1 to probe further ‘Is this a good drawing and why?’, participants agreed, citing their initial reasons, which I linked back to the preconceived notions.
Continuing this line of enquiry, I presented four artists’ drawings (Fig. 2) posing the same questions, then revealing the unconventional processes by which they were made. For example, William Anastasi’s recorded his journey on the New York subway by stiffly holding blue pens in both hands on a sheet of paper placed on his lap, and allowing the train’s motions to mark the surface. Reinforcing the notion of drawing as fundamentally both an action and a result of mark-making.
My activity involved drawing with unconventional tools like pens affixed to wood, sticks or hats (Fig. 2) developed with the artist Gluklya in 2023 for a performance called The Club of Unpredictable Drawings . After my demonstration, participants selected and attached their tools, and tested their mark-making on the walls, resulting in tentative to expressive movements, some laughter and panting. In activity 2, I asked participants to draw their journey from home to the PgCert space, recalling the turns, steps, and noises.
In my practice, I often use enquiry, open-endedness, participation and co-creation to create conditions that facilitate joint learning and discovery. Therefore it was imperative that I participated as well to understand participants’ experiences in real time. Underpinning this approach is Freire’s ‘dialogic’ model of emancipatory education which advocates for a horizontal teacher-student relationship that fosters agency, joint critical dialogue and reflection resulting in transforming their own education (Freire, 1996).
Overall, I was pleased with the feedback and engagement. Participants commented it was “well organised”, the relationship between the lecture and activity was “linked and clear”, and it was “empowering and inclusive”, referencing Joseph Beuys’ belief that everyone is an artist.
One participant from an immersive media background would have liked to see images and videos of the drawing processes instead of only the end-results, as the activity emphasised process. They also would have liked the inclusion of an artist’s drawing involving AI and chance to speak to the contemporary advancements. Another found the tool “a bit uncomfortable to wear”. With more time they would have liked to create their own drawing tools or “weapon to feel more empowered”. These are certainly adaptations I can make in future. I am already intrigued by what unique tools students might make and how they will use them!
Due to absence, there were three participants including me, so the activity was more siloed than I had anticipated. For a larger group, I would ask participants to share tools and move as one body either cohesively or antagonistically, or draw over other’s marks across the room. For hesitant participants, I would offer alternatives like drawing their journeys with their eyes closed or using their less dominant hand to evoke similar experiences. While this activity was meant for Year 1, I anticipate it could work for Year 3 as a way to loosen up and play after the intense period of dissertation writing.
Bibliography
Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by M.B Ramos. London: Penguin.