On the 9 November Loughborough Design Press (LDP) set out its stall at the Time for Tea! Conference at the National Gallery. We were delighted to have been invited to take part in this national conference to explore ‘drawing as thinking, expression and action’ (TEA). The importance of drawing and, perhaps even more broadly, mark-making is central to our publishing programme. Two of our authors were taking part: Ken Baynes whose Design: Models of Change came out in April and Eileen Adams. We plan to publish a major book by Eileen in 2014.
Ken was involved in the Campaign for Drawing from the start. With the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) and the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), the Campaign is organizing the Conference. Ken worked with Eileen Adams on the series of Power Drawing books which have had a big impact in schools, museums and art galleries. They are still available from NSEAD.
The Campaign has a history which goes back to 1871! It was then that John Ruskin – a great advocate of the educational potential of drawing – established the Guild of St George. The Guild aimed to promote the ‘liberal education of artisans’. In 2000 the Guild launched the Campaign for Drawing which quickly established the annual Big Draw as a nationwide event. The educational campaign – Power Drawing – was launched in 2001 and has involved more than 500 schools at primary and secondary levels as well as publications, exhibitions and conferences.
This was the first Conference where LDP has had a presence, so we had all been preoccupied with logistics. How to get there? Where to park? What to bring? We hope that the resulting display was attractive and a photo album of our visit can be found on LDP’s Facebook pages.
The event was a great success for the Campaign for Drawing and was clearly addressing a topic that was of great importance to the delegates. LDP made some new friends and we had many interesting conversations (as well as selling some books).
A minor disappointment for us was that the National Gallery was not able to accommodate any banners, and we could not show LDP’s new pull-up banner. So, we’ll reveal it here! It was designed with the help of Simcoemedia and we’re looking forward to having the opportunity to show it full-size … Do let us know if you’re planning an appropriate ‘banner-friendly’ event!
The early pages and the introduction of Ken Baynes’ new book are available as a free download by clicking on the button below:
Download Sample PagesView the Book Page for Design:Models of Change
View the Book Page for Design Education: A Vision for the Future.