Everyone’s an artist at ‘The Big Draw,’ coming to KCKPL

The Kansas City, Kan., Public Library will be participating in the world’s biggest drawing festival on Oct. 17.

The Big Draw event will be held at the South Branch of the Kansas City, Kan., Public Library, 3104 Strong Ave., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 17.

Participants will celebrate creativity by drawing and painting their own artwork. They’ll be able to take it home or hang it in the KCKPL art gallery, which has many professional art exhibits. Supplies, snacks and fun will be provided.

There will also be three visiting professional artists demonstrating their work.

Robin Case is a studio painter, indoor muralist, and teaching artist. Her mural for the Kansas City, Kan., Public Library is in the foyer at the South Branch Library. Robin is the lead artist for the Big Draw and will facilitate a group mural project.

Monique Gabrielle Salazar is a writer, artist, musician and small business owner living and working in the Kansas City area. She will lead interactive sidewalk chalk drawings in front of the library.

A contemporary fine artist and poet, Timothy Barr Rowland is also known as Re Ti Ro, blue dog and timbarow. He is best known for his traditional work in oil painting, often being called a primitive painter working in a myriad of styles. Barr Rowland will lend his creative energy to the Big Draw and encourage visitors to be creative too.

The Big Draw is the world’s biggest drawing festival with thousands of enjoyable, and mainly free, drawing activities which connect people of all ages with museums, outdoor spaces, artists, designers, illustrators – and each other.

This international celebration of drawing has grown from one day in October 2000 to an annual month-long festival of drawing across the United Kingdom and the world.

The first Big Draw in 2000 attracted 180 partner organizations. By October 2011, the number had risen to 1,300, with over 260,000 people taking part. Events are run by galleries, museums, heritage and other cultural sites, schools, colleges, local authorities, libraries and other community agencies – individually or in collaboration.

This is the first year that KCKPL has participated. The theme of this year’s event is “Every Drawing Tells a Story.”

For more information on the event, visit kckpl.org.

– Story from Kansas City, Kan., Public Library.