On Tuesday October 29th, The Roman Baths will be hosting a Big Draw open evening. This will be the first time the Roman Baths has participated in the Big Draw, a national campaign designed to get people drawing in a variety of places. All ages and skill levels are encouraged to take part. I have, amazingly, been tasked with designing the event for my internship project. Coming up with drawing activities for the night has been a really interesting process.
The Big Draw theme of ‘Drawing the Future’ has certainly been a challenge. We have conquered it, we think, with two activities. The first is a competition: Drawing the Roman Baths in 2100. This challenges the idea that the Roman Baths always have and always will look the way they do now. The other is a display of postcards of the Roman Baths over time, some are just beautiful. Visitors will be able to draw their own postcards of the Roman Baths.
An early postcard of the Great Bath
One of the challenges we have set ourselves is to try to get visitors to look at the Roman Baths in a new way, particularly if they have visited us before. We are putting frames and footprints around the site to highlight our favourite views which some people may not have spotted before. My favourite activity is a group artwork. One of our volunteers was kind enough to draw an image of, what I consider to be, one of the best views of the Roman Baths, if not Bath itself.
Our unfinished group artwork
Visitors will be able to colour in the drawing in watercolours, blending different people’s art together to create one collaborative piece. The reason I like this activity so much is because no matter what happens it will always look amazing. We had a trial run at work, with just coloured pencils, but I think we got a little overexcited.
Our Trial Run
Minerva’s statue would have once been hidden away in the Temple, only seen by the priest. We are bringing her to the forefront by asking you to show us what you think her statue would have looked like in its full glory.
For those less thrilled by an evening of drawing there will be an image trail. You will be able to search out interesting details of the Roman Baths using line drawings as your clues. There will also be a range of presentations, from cloth dyeing, to archaeology; a stone mason and even an artist drawing live by the Great Bath.
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| The gilded head of Sulis Minerva |
So whether you are a budding artist or just wanting to see the Roman Baths at night, it looks stunning with the torches lit, come along and have some fun with our drop in activities.
Rosemary – Intern from Sydney, Australia
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