Investigative drawing...
Sketching is my way of looking. I notice things that I might not otherwise think about. So commissioned to bring research to life for CRAIC (Creative Research and Innovation Community) at Loughborough University London, I’ve also been bringing insight and observations to the research team’s real-time study of Covid-19 and creative clusters.
Sketchwalks at different times to catch different kinds of activity have put me in the improvisational ebb and flow of Hackney Wick’s creative neighbourhood.
Cities are in perpetual motion – but being still for a while in a maelstrom of development and looking at its patterns shows how shiny new things supplant each other and even over a few weeks, the speed of change in the landscape.
There’s been a two-way flow of information and thinking. I’ve joined workshops and read research in development. We’ve discussed themes I would follow up, working with sketchbook, camera and finally, iPad to generate each image.
And sketch-mapping, I’ve been able to look not just at the who and where but to think on (virtual) paper about the dynamics of people, development, entrepreneurship and institutions.
For someone who once cited nosiness as a core design skill, it’s been a satisfying new direction for my illustration.
And client Graham Hitchen, Senior Enterprise Fellow at Loughborough University London, writes that my sketching and investigation have “brought a new dimension to our research.”
Read more about CRAIC here.
