Ruth Broadbent Drawing Activity for Prespa 2021 Image and Text

WAC International Walking Arts Encounters / Conference 4 - 17 July 2021

Prespa, Greece

A drawing activity designed by Ruth Broadbent

Open to both those in Prespa and Online

Tuesday 6 July at 15:00pm (London time / 17:00pm Prespa time)

Book your free place at:

https://walklistencreate.org/walkingevent/walking-a-line-encounters-through-drawing-2/

A collective recording and mapping of the surface of the ground

through walking and drawing.

Pausing to listen to the ground,

connect to the past, present and future,

cross boundaries and borders

and notice what is often overlooked.

Ruth Broadbent Test Squares (ground rubbings) for Walking A Line

Walking a Line: Encounters Through Drawing can be carried out whilst walking to Prespa or at any time during the Encounters / Conference 4 – 17 July, individually or as a simultaneous group action. Or, you can join the Zoom event on Tuesday 6 July for an introduction to the activity, discussion and Q&A, and walk your line following the live online event. 

Combining walking and drawing, taking pencil rubbings of the path, this activity encourages a sensory engagement with the ground and an opportunity to consider walking as a question. Pausing to connect with the ground, engaging with it and with what lies beneath, allows time to consider the function of the path, its (im)permanence, as it is now and how it might have been shaped over time, from elemental influences to the movement of animals, vehicles and people.

The very act itself of walking and stopping along the way may also bring up challenges, whether through restrictions on movement or mobility. All of these factors contribute to the process, outcomes and impact. 

Collectively mapping the ground through drawings made during the 2021 Walking Arts Encounters/Conference creates a visual language and system of communication that crosses borders and boundaries, opening up a space for reflecting on walking as a question. 

These drawings continue a larger project, Walking a Line, launched in 2017 at Made of Walking, La Romieu, France and connect to Groundlines, drawings from journeys on foot or by bicycle.

Ruth Broadbent Test Squares (ground rubbings) for Walking A Line

I N S T R U C T I O N S

Please bring to this event: a pencil, paper and pencil sharpener.

  1. Cut three squares of paper, each 7cm x 7cm* 
  2. Walk a line (any length and duration – please note approx. distance and timings).
  3. Make three pencil rubbings of the surface of the ground onto your squares of paper: the first at the start of your walk, the second during your walk and the third at, or near, the end of your walk** Take your time with each rubbing to really engage with the ground and to cover the whole of your square.
  4. Note on back of each square of paper a brief description of the place, surface, and any other observations on the back of each square, including your name or initials, date, location, track surface (e.g. mountain, lakeside, mud, stone, track, road). Number them in sequence (1, 2, 3)
  5. Please include a short description of your line walked e.g. 200 km from a to b over mountain ridges, 1000 metres following a line across a field, 400 paces along the road heading North. If you used a regular system e.g. every 3 hours, when I stop to eat or rest, please note this down

* If you don’t have a ruler, there are ruler apps for mobile phones. I use 220g paper and a range of pencils from 2B to 6B.  ** This event is open to all and ‘walking’ is used in its widest definition as is the ‘surface of the ground’.

Scroll down for downloadable pdf of info and instructions.

Ruth Broadbent Test Squares (ground rubbings) for Walking A Line

To be included in a collective artwork:

Photograph the back and front of your squares with a brief walk description 

Email them to Ruth Broadbent at the address on contact page between now and 25 July 

Email subject title: Walking A Line

Let me know if you’d like your name to be included or not, and under what name.

If possible, please send low res small jpegs suitable for online viewing.

 

Please share any thoughts and reflections on this activity through the comments section on this Prespa webpage, social media, or in our Zoom meeting on Tuesday 6 July at 15:00pm London time / 17:00pm Prespa time.

You might also like to photograph all your drawings together as well, like a miniature indoors or outdoors exhibition, that together with others, becomes part of a wider collection of online drawings.

To register for this activity, book a free place at:

https://walklistencreate.org/walkingevent/walking-a-line-encounters-through-drawing-2/

Thank you for participating in this artwork.

I look forward to seeing your drawings, walking together and
sharing the results on my website soon.