Drawing Orkney was a series of workshops delivered to Children and young people from Upside Downs Orkney: a group for young people with Downs Syndrome and Inclusive Orkney: who support children with additional support needs and their families. Each young person was accompanied by family members (parents/carers and/or siblings) allowing time for everyone to be creative, have fun and learn something new.
A participant commented before starting that “I can’t draw”. This is something we (artists) hear quite often when delivering workshops. It’s helpful to explain that everyone can draw, in a workshop setting it is not about completing a picture-perfect finished artwork, it is about taking part and enjoying the process. With gentle encouragement the drawings created were full of colour, textures and felt like Orkney.
A mixture of activities were delivered to ensure there was something suitable for everybody. Each session was divided into 20 minute sections to allow time to reflect, learn new things, build confidence and encourage getting involved. Tailored to ability allowed for expressive mark making and imaginative thinking. Most notably, some time to relax and unwind, take a moment.
At the end of each session everyone was asked how they felt …
“So happy they stayed focused for the first hour”
“Thank you, you were so amazing with our child”
Drawing Orkney was funded by the Youth Art Fund. The fund is a Creative Scotland fund administered by Youthlink Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government. Funding awarded to The Pier Arts Centre to deliver workshops locally.
Laura Drever 