The first Sketchbook Circle event Elinor organised was held in 2014 at Gerald Moore Gallery. It involved a day of workshops led by artist educators from the circle and a display of work from the Sketchbook Circle exchanges from the previous year.
Artist Rosa Nguyen gave a talk and led a large scale workshop using clay, natural forms and encouraging the participants to use the gallery environment to consider display.
A day of activity led by artist teachers from across the country. Exploring new materials and techniques in response to the WW1 centenary.
As part of the workshops at Gerald Moore Gallery in the Autumn of 2014, artist educator Georgia Naish led a workshop exploring collage, layering and mixed media using imagery responding to the WW1 centenary.
As part of this Sketchbook Circle event, artist educator James Nairne led a session on painting techniques.
As part of the day of workshops at Gerald Moore Gallery, artist educator Susan Coles led a collaborative workshop for the participants, working in teams to build drawing machines.
Artist educator, Georgia Naish led a workshop as part of the Sketchbook Circle event at Gerald Moore Gallery in 2015, using Gelli plates and acrylic paint to experiment with layers.
A workshop led by artist educator Ollie Briggs creating live posters with the participants as part of the Sketchbook Circle event in 2015 at Gerald Moore Gallery. Using old film posters, the groups built and starred in their versions of the image.
A collaborative workshop led by artist educator Susan Coles exploring performance as part of the Sketchbook Circle event at Gerald Moore Gallery in 2015.
As part of the Sketchbook Circle project, I have developed a monthly mail-out for participants. These are made up of ideas, prompts and interesting materials encouraging the artists to share their ideas and to try new things.
Elinor organised for members of the circle to be partnered up and to exchange a box of materials and equipment that they liked to use. Participants had a month to put together a box of goodies and then they posted them to their partner. The contents was to cost no more than £5 and was a chance to share ideas about materials as well as be a lovely gift.
As part of the arts festival, Deptford X, Elinor organised for artist teachers from Sketchbook Circle and NSEAD to make work exploring the idea ‘What is the value of art?’. A selection of the work was exhibited alongside Bob and Roberta Smith at the festival launch.
The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead hosted an exhibition of work from Sketchbook Circle. As part of the celebration of the circle Elinor led a workshop at the gallery for artist teachers, exploring the concept of play through writing, reflection and sculpture.
At this two day summer school Elinor organised at Gerald Moore Gallery there were a range of artist-led workshops. This workshop entitled: 'Objects of Misunderstood Value' and was led by artist Amy Ash and gave the artist educators a chance to use the gallery space to explore their ideas.
As part of the Sketchbook Circle Summer School, Georgia Naish led a workshop using toys as a starting point for group installations in the gallery space. The workshop allowed the participants to work on a large scale using drawing as installation.
Artist and educator Elaine Humpleby led a workshop that allowed participants to experiment with chemigrams and cyanotypes as part of the Sketchbook Circle Summer School in 2015.
Artist Stephen Fowler led a book-binding workshop as part of the Sketchbook Circle Summer School 2016 at Gerald Moore Gallery.
Elinor invited painter Hannah Turner-Duffin to lead a workshop as part of the 2016 Sketchbook Circle event. The participants continually drew from films exploring composition, mark-making and the development of atmosphere.
As part of the Sketchbook Circle event in 2016, Elinor invited artist Stephen Fowler to lead an workshop exploring the art of rubber stamping.
Artist educator Paul Raymond led a workshop building Paula Rego inspired stage sets and developing drawings and prints from their creations as part of the Sketchbook Circle event in 2016.
Elinor invited artist educator Ollie Briggs to lead a collaborative workshop as part of the Sketchbook Circle workshops at Gerald Moore Gallery in 2016. It was a chance for the artist educators to consider how they are all linked through the circle project and to develop an artwork reflecting those connections.
Elinor organised a weekend of workshops at the Arnolfini in Bristol in September 2017. One of the workshops was led by artist educator, Georgia Naish and participants were given the chance to explore transfer techniques, collage and layering by working onto wood panels.
As part of the Arnolfini weekend of workshops, the group experimented with drawing in a collaborative workshop led by artist educator Ben Meredith.
One of the Arnolfini workshops was a rubber stamping workshop led by artist Stephen Fowler exploring techniques from his book 'Rubber Stamping'.
These workshops offered a day of creative activity for Art teachers, giving them chance to try new things, to collaborate and to meet up with their partners from the circle. There was a mixed media workshop led by Georgia Naish, a painting and drawing workshop led by James Naish and a textiles-based collaborative workshop led by Sara Noble.
This was our first residential workshop for artist educators, which we ran in Berlin. We were lucky enough to have a studio space to work in which enabled us to run practical workshops as well as to explore the city and to visit galleries and museums. We organised the residential with artist educator Harriet Poole, who runs @littleartlab encouraging creativity through workshops for all ages.
This is Georgia Naish leading a Gelli plate workshop. (Image by Harriet Poole.)
Image by Harriet Poole (with viewfinders inspired by Harriet’s workshop.)
Image of a viewfinder inspired by Harriet Poole’s workshop.
Image by Harriet Poole (with viewfinders inspired by Harriet’s workshop.)
Since starting at Oakham, Elinor has been running regular workshops for staff across the school to attend to share with them new skills. It is intended as a something to support staff well-being, making time for themselves.
This day workshop was both an opportunity to learn some new skills using transfer processes, but also to collaborate with other members of the Sketchbook Circle community to discuss ideas for the 10th Anniversary of the Circle.
Elinor organised a playful, interactive course with Georgia Naish, which was designed to connect artists during lockdown in 2020. It was an on-line course with workshops led by artists Katie Smith, Rosy Prue and Roz Edenbrow (as well as by Georgia and Elinor.) Packs of resources were sent out ahead of the day, curated to support the activities.
Sketchbook Circle Zoom Workshop: Connecting and Creating from Home (March 2021)