Community Draw
On the second Tuesday of each month, Te Atamira hosts its free Community Draw event. It encourages participants to embrace the joy of different approaches to drawing, featuring a range of techniques. The next event is on Tuesday, 8 April, and will be hosted by textile designer Lucy Jerram.
Jerram will lead the night, focusing on surface pattern drawing. The events have been running for around a year and a half now, and the atmosphere has continued to remain the same throughout – just a bit of fun with no expectations.
“I see the Community Draw nights as a really great way for people to come and literally just put pencil to paper, not knowing anything,” Jerram says. “So they’re a chance for people to try something out in a really friendly environment – no judgement, no particular result expected.”
She will share her personal love of pattern and lead a fun hands-on exercise where you will create the structure of your own seamless repeating pattern. Her interest in repeating patterns comes from seeing them around us – all the time – on printed fabrics, wallpapers, and packaging.
“I think that pattern is something that humans are kind of intrinsically interested in, so I’ve spent several years learning about different kinds of patterns and how to create those from my own drawings. I just find it so satisfying – I’d really love to share that with other people.”
Formerly the curator at Te Atamira, Jerram’s career has also spanned commercial interior design, exhibition development and surface pattern design for fabrics, carpet and stationery. She’s worked at Te Papa, Auckland Art Gallery, and is involved with
Wānaka Arts Society and working at Wānaka library. She originally trained at Wellington Polytechnic and has recently started dabbling in Adobe Illustrator, which has helped to develop her art and patterns.
“It enables me to digitise my art, and play with colour and shape a lot more efficiently. That’s not what the class is about specifically, but it’s kind of given me a renewed enthusiasm for this whole area. But I think the basis of all design is good drawing, or drawing generally.”
During the class, Jerram will show some examples of patterns and participants will get the chance to draw with the simplest of motifs and put those into a pattern, which could become an endless, seamless pattern.
“What we’ll be doing on the night is pretty low tech. It will be paper and pencil, and we’ll be using tracing paper. People will walk away with a sheet of paper that’s got their own pattern on it, that they’ve created from what they’re interested in.”
Jerram explains that the exercise she’ll be presenting is similar to one she did when she was first in design school.
“It was almost like a revelation, not quite like a magic trick, but they’ll get to experience a, sort of, trick of the trade. It enables them to create something really special from their own really simple drawings.”
The class is drop in, so you don’t have to of attended previously. If you’re heading to one of the nights, please bring a sketchbook, pencil and any other materials you’d like to use. Te Atamira will have a limited array of supplies, too. No experience is necessary, and you don’t need to come with any inspiration, so pop by and get drawing.
“What we’ll get people to do is just draw from their own imagination. But the lovely thing about patterns, if you look even at really simple wallpapers or fabrics, often the marks of those patterns are just purely that – they’re purely marks. You could make an interesting pattern with just dots and dashes and circles.”
Jerram will also have some design cards available for purchase at the Te Atamira shop, if you’d like to have a look at her work up close. Community Draw is held at Te Atamira on the second Tuesday of every month from 6.30pm – 8pm. The next two dates are 8 April and 13 May. For more information on programmes you can head to teatamira.nz/events/community-draw
