'Drawing in Response' was a four month project, working with homeless and vulnerable people living within Aberdeen, led by Bethany Christian Trust, in partnership with Gray’s School of Art and Peacock Visual Arts.

The use of many different drawing techniques throughout the project has resulted in a diverse range of work, made all the more impressive when considering the short timescale and the lack of previous experience for most participants. Primarily I created the exercises for the classes with some form of restraint or limitation set upon the drawer - whether it be lack of sight, using their ‘wrong hand’, being asked not to look down at their drawing whilst in progress, using touch rather than sight to form impressions of subjects, having to draw from a set distance, reacting to audio material or making a drawing on an unusual surface. I was interested in their initial reactions to stimulus, rather than making marks that were self conscious, or in some way pre-meditated. This initial reaction to an object or person can be witnessed through the drawing, however abstract or distanced from the original subject. In actuality, the further from the original stimulus the drawing diverges, the more the piece conveys this reaction. The work acts as a preservation to that moment, the emotional state and the honest response.

By imposing rules to each drawing, they became games; the humour, the elation and the playfulness of the sessions remain visible within the final works of the participants.