#LoveToDraw Ireland is a project developed by Creative Lives in partnership with the Glucksman Gallery Cork, Artlink Donegal and Take A Part Carlow.

It was due to involve artist-led drawing workshops with a range of community groups during May 2020, followed by an exhibition at the Glucksman Gallery in November 2020. Plans had to be adjusted due to Covid-19 public health restrictions; workshops were delayed, then reimagined, and eventually took place in late 2020 and early 2021.

Artists Paul Nash (Cork), Elaine McGinn (Donegal) and Eilish Langton (Carlow) adapted their usual working practices and made use of online spaces and the outdoors as places to engage people with the practice of drawing. Participants were recruited via a range of community organisations and the people who signed up were sent drawing packs in the post, with basic materials to get them started.

Despite the challenges along the way to these workshops it’s fair to say that all of us involved were pleasantly surprised by how much people seemed to have benefited from joining in. Participant feedback included these comments:

It was more relaxing than I expected!

 

I  loved it. It suited me especially as I work during your day and the class was accessible from the comfort of my home.

All of the people who took part in workshops say they intend to continue drawing in the future. Artlink Donegal are already running more online drawing classes and the Glucksman is continuing to support children and their families at a homeless support centre in Cork City, to draw at home while they can’t go to school.

Creative Lives produced postcards featuring participants’ drawings and each of our partner organisations sought out local opportunities to display artworks, for example in town centres. 

The #LoveToDraw Ireland project team is grateful for the support of An Chomhairle Ealaíon/the Arts Council who have been flexible with project timescales and have granted extra support to meet additional production costs due to pandemic-related changes.