Lynne Chapman
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The Morgan Centre for
Research into Everyday Lives

In October 2015, I began work on a fascinating commission, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, sketching a year-in-the-life of The Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives. I was given the freedom to draw pretty much anything – following individual academics on research interviews; poking around in professors’ desk drawers; ear-wigging students’ conversations in the refectory… I recorded it all in a series of 2 metre long, concertina-format sketchbooks, which were exhibited to celebrate the Morgan Centre’s 10th anniversary.

The residency was also interactive: a dozen academics, most of whom had no drawing experience, volunteered to keep sketchbooks throughout the year. To help empower them, I ran workshops and SketchCrawls, and passed chain-sketchbooks round the department, using the concertina format, to mirror my work.

Unfolding Stories, a 15-minute film about my residency with the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives.

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1: ‘Urban Design’ – analysing the ways outside spaces are designed to manipulate how they are used. 2: Discussing the meaning of ‘home’ and objects students brought with them to university, to recreate ‘home’ in their student digs.

An hour-long lecture, given at the 2016 Urban Sketchers Symposium, talking in depth about my experience of collaborating with an academic research team. I look in detail at many of the images I created during the Unfolding Stories project and analyse themes explored. I discuss the various research projects I shadowed and talk about how the project impacted on my work processes.

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Desk drawer of Professor Heath. I documented every item, down to the last bent staple. The results were unexpectedly funny, because so much was so clearly redundant.

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The Head of Department’s personality and interests are reflected in the nature of the items crowding her office, and in the manner in which they exist.

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Morgan Centre offices. People round the corners off corporate work-spaces with their personal clutter. I discovered that academics attract a good deal of clutter.

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Observing students in the times between their studies. I recorded snippets of overheard conversation, to paint a richer picture.

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The green area outside the Morgan Centre became a building site. I captured each part of the process, from mud-pile through to the finished Blackwells.

Tips from my Blog

General Tips

General Tips

Lynne Chapman Blog - Drawing People

How to draw people in public

First steps with watercolour pencils

First steps with watercolour pencils

Lynne Chapman Blog - On location

Hot tips for sketching on location

Lynne Chapman Blog - Quick Concertina

Making a quickie concertina sketchbook

Conferences Work Design: Australia

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LINKS


Lynne Chapman Childrens Book IllustrationMy Childrens Book website


Lynne Chapman Craftsy CourseCraftsy Online Course


Lynne Chapman WonderstreetWonderstreet Interview
© Lynne Chapman 2021

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