On the 20th February 75 art teachers travelled from across the country to Gerald Moore Gallery for a day of collaborating, experimenting and networking. It was a celebration of another year of Sketchbook Circle, kindly part-funded by Arts Council England and with the backing of the Big Draw and the NSEAD.

The day began with the chance to take part in one of four very diverse workshops led by art teachers in the circle, giving participants chance to spend a morning playing with ideas and materials across the different spaces in the gallery and in the school theatre. There was the opportunity to reconstruct vintage film posters, to work with stitch, to play with mark-making or a session on Cyanotype photography.

After lunch we opened an impressive exhibition of work in the gallery of images that produced by teachers involved in the 2015 Sketchbook Circle giving everyone chance to see other sketchbook exchanges and to celebrate the achievements of the project. It was particularly nice that teachers met the person that they had collaborated with for a whole year. The afternoon was finished off with a session of collaboration and performance led by Susan Coles, encouraging people to work in new ways and to consider different approaches to making art making. It was such a brilliant day!

Thanks to everyone who contributed, especially Ollie Briggs, Georgia Naish, Alison Mure, Susan Coles and Elaine Humpleby for their fantastic workshops, thanks to Diane Bruford, Susan Coles and Louise Wisdom for all their help setting up the exhibition and thanks to Charlotte Cranidge and the gallery team for all their help on the day.

If you attended and you haven’t yet sent us feedback, please can you send it back asap? We are really keen to see what other workshops and events could be offered.