The Big Draw Draws Families To Mercury Mall

 Families are being drawn to visiting the Mercury Mall in Romford this Half Term for their Big Draw activities.   

 

 

Part of the 2018 “The Big Draw Festival”, on Easter Monday, local artist Nigel Hubbard organised an Illustration Focused Art session to give members of the regular Breakfast Club the opportunity to try fine line animal drawing and painting with ink in the classic postcard style of Beatrix Potter.  

 

 

On Tuesday, 3 April, performance artists and education duo, ‘The NO Collective’, organised a day of interactive drawing and storytelling taking participants back to a time Beatrix Potter would create stories about her animals for local children.  

 

The Beatrix Potter theme continued on Wednesday and Thursday, 4 and 5 April when local award winning and very political printmaker Jenny Bell, explored elements in Beatrix Potter’s life as a botanist in two contemporary screen-printing workshops where young adults, between the ages of 12 -18 were able to learn a hands-on form of printing including the screen printing of 150 tote bags in celebration of the artist who would have been 150 this year.  

 

 

Finally, the regular Mercury Mall Kids Club on Sunday, 8 April also kept to the Beatrix Potter theme when it invited members to enjoy Peter Rabbit crafts and colouring.  

 

“It has been great being involved with The Big Draw Festival,” says Natalie Bays, Deputy General Manager, “The Mercury has always been a shopping centre with a social conscious and a creative team. The Breakfast club was initially set up two years ago to create a regular place for people to meet who simply wanted to be social and do something. There are so many people at a loose end during the week, especially in our town and loneliness is something that we should all actively combat where we can; for this to happen in a shopping centre, well, it just makes sense, it’s in the middle of town and you can buy coffee and cake literally everywhere!”  

 

 

“The crescendo of the week was an exhibition of works from young women in partnership with, and curated by the Brentwood Road Gallery,” continues Natalie. “The BRG is a unique contemporary gallery in the walls of a local arts specialist school, the drawings which we displayed were responses from a recent touring exhibition of Cornelia Parker’s work which was held recently in the gallery.”  

 

 

 

Also, available to families visiting the Centre over the half term is the Run Rabbit Run Bunny hunt where young cotton tails are invited to go the Help Desk in the Centre daily between 11am and 3pm until Sunday, 15 April to take part in a bunny hunt and collect mystery prizes.

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