07/08/12….Thame’s ‘Big Draw’ Olympic project now on show

WINDOW SHOPPERS in Thame have been stopped in their tracks this week, at the wonderful sight of this year’s Sparksartists ‘Big Draw’ exhibition involving pupils from Thame’s schools.

CATCHING MOVEMENT is the theme for this year’s event and the result of lots of hard work and inspiration from the Thame area Co-operative of artists, Sparksartists, can be seen until the end of the week in the shop window of Topsport, 14, Buttermarket, Thame.

One of the leading lights of Sparksartists, Christine Tacq of p’s & q’s press said: “This has been one of the most successful mixed age group Big Draw projects that Sparksartists have ever held at Lord Williams?s school.” Last October, these children made drawings from observation that became cut-out Olympic figures, to be inked and printed together on an etching press:

Alex Slatter LWS and Jamie Pythlasiask JHS,
Emma Wainwright LWS and Nicole JHS
Tilly Bryson LWS and Anthony MacQuarrie JHS
Emma Briars LWS and Iris Petit JHS
Emily Chadwick LWS and Lucy Nichols JHS
Anna MacDougall LWS and Mathew Phillips JHS
Elspeth Bevan LWS and Victoria Price LWS
Anna Coates LWS and Brandon Wright
Will Kendall LWS and Joe Harrington JHS
Annabel Baldwin LWS and Joe Morris JHS
Francesca Della Valle LWS and Daniel Bottomley JHS
Ignacho Mendi LWS and James Hicken JHS
Will Everett LWS, Zoe McStay LWS and Oscar Earls JHS

Their prints were photographed to make a concertina book. The swimmer is one of the original prints.

In February, for John Hampden School?s Olympic themed Artsweek, the children continued the project by making a banner which was shown in Oxfam?s bookshop window at the start of the Olympics, with the prints and drawings.

The ?Big Draw? is an international event run by the Campaign for Drawing that takes place every year. www.campaignfordrawing.org/home/index.aspx
The theme for 2012 is ?Drawing Lines?