Drawing For The Planet

Chimpanzee Community 2024 by Jane Lee McCracken in an exhibition of printed Biro drawings and projections created by over 500 children from schools in the UK, USA and Liberia, including North East Schools, Belsay School and Ponteland Primary, who participated in workshops delivered by Jane, Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection (LCRP) and Born Free.

Workshops helped children to learn about chimpanzees, why they are threatened and the vital role – as gardeners of the forest – they play in the wellbeing of our planet. They then created ballpoint pen drawings of LCRP's orphan chimpanzees.

Through the visual art of drawing, one of the oldest forms of communication, these images depict one of our closest relatives. Evocative and uninhibited, each portrait depicts an individual animal that plays a vital role in its ecosystem, while inviting the viewer to contemplate what their eyes have seen. The exhibition provides an opportunity to form connections with each animal, through the creative response of a generation of young people. Also on display is Jane’s original Biro drawing, Gardener of the Forest, and photos of orphaned chimpanzees by Jenny Desmond, LCRP Co-Founder.

Jane’s Chimpanzee Community Project was founded in 2022, in partnership with LCRP and international wildlife charity Born Free. Working with dynamic teams of educators and conservationists from the UK, USA and Liberia, it aims to encourage the growth of collective responsibility towards wildlife conservation and welfare while giving children, communities and wildlife both locally and globally, a voice.

Through drawing, education and the opportunity of self-expression, I hope to generate individual compassion towards animals and the environment while encouraging collective responsibility to further cherish and conserve the planet’s remaining wildlife for future generations: if we care we want to conserve.

The Drawing for the Planet exhibition will run at Queen’s Hall, Hexham 25 October – 22 November (Monday¬–Saturday, 10am–4pm) and is free to visit.

To ensure that the legacy of this project continues beyond this amazing exhibition of children’s art, Jane, in partnership with LCRP and Born Free, has created a teacher led resource so that other schools, wherever they are, can get involved: www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13132109