Abstract

Drawing* Commutes is a participatory moving drawing practice that reframes commuting as a collaborative creative and reflective act. Developed through MA Academic Practice research at UAL and published through GLADHE, the project invites participants to undertake short paired drawing commutes using portable materials, conversation and embodied observation. The work explores transitions between academic, administrative and creative identities while supporting wellbeing, mindfulness and belonging. The festival version proposes a series of informal repeated drawing activations throughout the day during tea breaks and lunch periods, culminating in a growing collective archive of drawings, reflections and textile responses.

Session and activities

Drawing* Commutes is an expanded creative-pedagogic project exploring collaborative drawing in motion as both research method and social practice. Participants undertake short paired “drawing commutes” using sketchbooks, calico scraps and portable drawing materials while moving through campus spaces and surrounding environments. Drawing* is intentionally defined broadly to include observational drawing, writing, sewing, photography, audio recording and other creative forms of documenting movement and experience.

The project emerged through my MA Academic Practice research at University of the Arts London and has since been published through GLADHE and adapted for delivery within institutional wellbeing and staff development contexts, including the recent UAL Academic Registry away day.

Informed by a/r/tography (Carter, 2014), embodied pedagogy and Springgay and Truman’s concept of “activation devices,” the project investigates how movement and collaborative creativity can support reflection, wellbeing and transitions between professional and creative identities.

Rather than operating as a single fixed session, this proposal imagines Drawing* Commutes as a recurring festival intervention taking place multiple times throughout the day. Short optional drawing walks could begin during tea breaks, lunch breaks and transitional moments between sessions, allowing participants to join flexibly and contribute to a growing collective archive of responses.

The accumulated drawings and textile surfaces could form a temporary installation, digital archive or evolving communal artwork within the festival space. The project aims to encourage informal encounters, peer connection and moments of pause within the rhythm of the conference day.