Supporting access to the arts and sharing the love
Drawing is a raw and fundamental activity.
Long before we learn to write, we draw—often for the sheer love of making marks on paper. Yet, despite its fundamental nature, the pursuit of drawing for its own sake is all too often seen as an exclusive activity, deemed out of reach for many.
The scoring, categorizing, and labeling of creative potential begins early. At some point in childhood, a judgment is made—often by our own volition—rigidly separating those who can draw from those who supposedly can’t.
How did we come to think like this?
Creativity is neither static nor rigid; it is a continuum—a flow that never stops, and it lives within all of us, waiting to be discovered and re-ignited.
It is time to shake up these tired notions. Light the fire and see what happens. The more you work the line, the more you learn. Drawing is a practice. All you need is a surface to make a mark and, of course, a bold heart.
Observation and reflection, accident and serendipity, wild and controlled, imagination and the unimaginable—they all pour out onto the drawing surface once you begin.
It starts with a line.
dRAWing Space was created to help everyone find their unique creative voice. In collaboration with like-minded creative organizations and individuals seeking to increase access to the arts, dRAWing Space offers live drawing sessions and events at cultural venues across the South West region. Many of these events are collaborations, bringing together artists from different disciplines to expand and deepen the practice of drawing.
Sarah Chapman, f
ounder of dRAWing Space
I love drawing.
It’s as simple as that. I see drawing as fundamental to creativity, and believe it should feel as natural as speaking or writing. However, after more than twenty years working in arts education, I’ve come to realise that the structures we’ve created often limit, rather than expand, the possibilities for creativity.
I set up dRAWing Space to change the way we think about drawing and to make drawing more accessible to more people.
From 2010-2021, I directed The Arts Institute at the University of Plymouth, UK, where I worked with an amazing array of international, national and local artists, including: John Akomfrah, Phyllida Barlow, David Batchelor, Anthony Caro, Vija Celmins, Edgar Cleijne, Angela Cockayne, Michael Craig-Martin, Mary Evans, Ellen Gallagher, Douglas Gordon, Anthony Gormley, Peter Greenaway, Philip Hoare, Nadav Kander, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Serena Korda, Tanya Kovats, Richard Hamilton, Lubaina Himid, Thurston Moore, Rosalind Nashashibi, Audrey Niffenegger, Ben Okri, Lucy and Jorge Orta, Tony Oursler, Peter Randall-Page, Will Self, Lemn Sissay, Yinka Shonibare, Bob and Roberta Smith, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gavin Turk, Phoebe Unwin, Richard Wentworth, to name a few....
With a passion for bringing together different disciplines to spark new conversations, I have curated a variety of cultural initiatives, including regional and national festivals across art, music, film, and literature. I’ve also had the privilege of working with prominent institutions, curating exhibitions for The Royal Academy, the Arts Council National Collection, and Art Angel, London, as well as co-curating international projects such as the Moby-Dick Big Read and the Ancient Mariner Big Read.
I am equally committed to creating new pathways for emerging artists and have launched The Plymouth Contemporary and Plymouth Young Contemporary. I was also a founding director of Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium, becoming Chair of Visual Arts Plymouth (VAP) from 2015-2018 and was part of a brilliant team who launched the first ever Plymouth Art Weekender in 2015.
More recently, as I have sought to open up drawing and creative practice to new audiences, I have worked with various homelessness agencies and community based social enterprises, providing drawing workshops that help guide people to find their unique creative voice.
I am an alumni of the Royal Drawing School, London, and have exhibited across the UK. You can see my recent work in the national Trinity Buoy Drawing Prize exhibition which is currently touring the UK during 2025.