The Big Draw Festival Enriching House Arts

The Big Draw Festival is a worldwide celebration of drawing, made up of thousands of creative events, activities and workshops, hosted by organisations big and small; from individuals to entire cities! The Big Draw Festival has encouraged over four million people back to the drawing board since 2000. 

Today, MGGS pupils and staff have been participating in our own Big Draw event, to further enrich our creativity on House Arts day. We have responded to the music from each house’s performance, exploring mark making and illustrations to express how it made us feel.

A message from The Big Draw Executive Director, Jane Barnes on The Big Draw Festival 2023 Theme, ‘Drawing with Senses’:

2023’s theme ‘Drawing with Senses’, changes the focus from the external to the internal. It gives us the opportunity and permission to find a stillness in the chaos and overwhelm we’ve been bombarded with over the last few years, where things have felt beyond our control. It brings us back to the ‘moment’, to ‘this moment’ and the way we personally experience, process and internalise the world through our senses, sharing this through our creativity.

Being fully present in the ‘moment’ with our senses, means we are not worrying about the past and not fearing the future. We can be fully immersed in what is happening now, feel less stressed, feel more positive, because we feel we have more control over our thoughts. This positivity can be a step change, becoming infectious, spreading more positivity throughout the world, making us less susceptible to overwhelm.