Abstract

This workshop explores collaborative drawing in motion as a reflective and productive pedagogic tool that explores how we navigate between shifting identities of academic, administrative and creative practice. Through paired drawing walks around the Lime Grove campus and Shepherd’s Bush, participants will use portable drawing surfaces including calico scraps and sketchbooks to generate embodied, collaborative research. Drawing in motion functions as an “activation device,” encouraging observation, reflection, conversation and creative experimentation through movement and shared space. The workshop progresses from individual embodied responses to collaborative analysis and culminates in speculative artefacts, garments or artworks derived from the collective drawings produced during the session that can be referred back to at a later date as part of a reflective process.

Session and activities

This participatory workshop explores drawing walks and “drawing in motion” as reflective pedagogic methods that support wellbeing, creativity and connection across academic communities. Participants will undertake a paired drawing commute around the Lime Grove campus and surrounding Shepherd’s Bush area using sketchbooks, calico scraps and portable drawing materials to record fragments of movement, conversation, observation and reflection.

The workshop draws on research into embodied pedagogy, a/r/tography (Carter, 2014) and “activation devices” (Springgay and Truman, 2024), positioning collaborative drawing as both a reflective and productive method for exploring how staff move between academic, administrative and creative roles. Participants will generate primary research through walking, drawing, navigating thresholds and collectively responding to shared environments. The activity encourages low-pressure creative engagement that supports mindfulness, decompression and peer connection.

The project has been developed through my MA Academic Practice research at UAL, published through GLADHE, and was recently delivered as part of the UAL Academic Registry away day. The methodology emerges from my position working across artist, administrator, teacher and researcher identities, using drawing walks to examine transitions between professional and creative roles.

The session will begin with a short introduction to the drawing-commute methodology and examples from previous drawing in motion projects developed at University of the Arts London and City Lit. Participants will then undertake a collaborative drawing walk in pairs before returning to collectively analyse and discuss the materials produced. The workshop will culminate in the development of speculative garment or artwork proposals derived from the shared textile drawings.

The workshop could also operate as a repeated “drawing commute” activation throughout the festival day, with optional short walks taking place during tea breaks and lunch periods to encourage informal participation, reflection and cross-institutional connection.