University News Last updated 26 April 2013
An academic from Birmingham City University has found a way to liven up his commute to work, by capturing his train journey from London to Birmingham through a series of drawings.
Every week for the past two years, Mark Lewis, Lecturer in Silversmithing at the University’s School of Jewellery, has marked his weekly train journey from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill train station by drawing his interpretation of the journey on that particular day.
“The idea started some time ago when I started drawing on long train journeys,” Mark explains. “When I took my current job at Birmingham City University three years ago and had to travel weekly from London to Birmingham I decided it would be interesting to make a visual response to the landscape from the train, while seen only fleetingly, but becoming more familiar with repeat journeys.”
Each sketch shows a continually changing landscape viewed at different times of the day and throughout all seasons using a range of drawing materials, from graphite, marker pens, crayons and an iPad.
“Each sketchbook journal is an unedited response to a section of the urban and rural landscape observed on my journey and attempts to capture a sense of place through immediate felt response, memory and knowledge.”
Mark now hopes to take his collection of drawings – titled Drawing the Line – to London to go on exhibition near London Marylebone train station.