Listening to great music in the park this summer is even better when you can doodle and colour with the Community Arts Council’s Big Draw. A long table covered with paper, along with captivating, hand-painted chairs, welcomes park visitors to sit and draw and doodle to their heart’s content.
Cat Prevette from the Community Arts Council said that the Big Draw is a great opportunity for people who are not professional artists to express themselves through art.
“In both music and art in our society we are encouraged to think that only ‘stars’ own creativity. This is a great disservice in the name of commercialism. Art, in the broadest sense, enriches our lives best when we participate in its making,” she said.
“Few people have discovered this because of those who would perpetuate the myth that only the elite should make art.”
She said that in sports there are lots of organized events where people can participate on many levels. “We in the arts can serve by having more venues for people to participate, not just to receive passively, but to actually be able to exercise our own creativity without judgement,” she continued.
“It’s one of my greatest joys to turn people on to their own creativity: just make marks on the paper, or sing along to You Are My Sunshine. Everyone has it in them to create, having been created in the image of the Great Creator. Most of us hardly keep reading and writing after we leave school, let alone singing and drawing.”
She added that art is not just for children or professionals. “There’s a whole range of us in the middle that really don’t want to get into the competition of performing, yet yearn for regular art-making opportunities,” she noted.
“These things can so enrich our lives without having to be a big push to ‘perform.’ Most of us are so self-conscious about opening our mouths at all because of lack of experience.”
Prevette said that the band Barefoot Caravan was very fun, with lead singer Angela engaging the audience - getting them to sing along and dance.
“It would be very interesting to have a big screen in the park with words and an actual singalong here one evening, while people drew and coloured, of course,” she said
“I love watching people draw, listen to music and enjoy the whole park experience.”