Forest Arts Big Draw Event 2011

Our Big Draw event this year was titled My Family Tree and celebrated the family in all its diversity, both past and present.  

We worked with 3 local schools and challenged them to create their own unique family tree or memory box.  Children were encouraged to involve their parents, grandparents and/or guardians in their research at home.

We organised workshops at the schools run by Simone Howard, an experienced adult learning tutor and passionate family historian.  Bringing photos, drawings, artefacts and their family members with them the children produced an abundance of local family history spanning 3 generations.

The family trees and memory boxes created in the workshops were then taken to the Art Centre to be exhibited on the Big Draw Day, 8 October 2011.

We ran a 3 hour drop-in workshop where those who had taken part at school could bring other family and friends along to see their work and create their own.  Also, it gave those who were unable to attend, at school, the chance to take part.

Alongside Simone, on the Event day, our talented art tutor, Lisa Compton Christopher, encouraged the participants to ‘Draw your Ancestor’ inside paper frames hung on the wall.

All in all it was an exciting opportunity for family, friends and the wider community to get creative while discovering a little more about their family history.

For us it was a successful project. We managed to work with 51 children and 38 adults and, unlike previous Big Draw events, this one has a follow-up 5 week course for adults showing them how to create their own family tree, scrap-book or memory box.

Also, leading on from this event, we are planning a Timeline exhibition in the Spring which will span the last 3 generations, using photos, costume and artefacts from World War 2 onwards. Through this exhibition we are hoping to engage learners by working with schools to organise further creative workshops.

The project was supported by a Hampshire Learning grant.

Jackie Goddard Local Area Development Officer