You Don’t Look Like A Reader! utilised the skills of poets Bob Beagrie and Andy Croft, photographer Dermot Blackburn, illustrator Gabrielle Kent and designer James Cianciaruso to explore attitudes towards reading and writing.
Eight schools were involved in a series of workshops over two months (the whole project lasted four months) including writing workshops, photography sessions, design and brainstorming of ideas for promoting reading.
Outcomes from the project, in addition to the added skills and understanding from working with the artists, have been various. A postcard was produced of one of Dermot Blackburn’s photographs, and distributed in the match day programme at Middlesbrough Football Club.
A large format poster was produced which is both attractive and useful, mixing work produced during the project by children with ‘tips for teachers tired of literacy’, to enourage creative approaches to reading and writing, and bookish biographies of the artists involved in the project.
Some of the children’s designs were taken as the starting point for work by design students at the University of Teesside which was shown at a new McDonald’s restaurant.
THE ARTISTS
The Funders
