Exhibitions, Events, Talks, Learning Projects and more – find out what’s happening at Drawing Room!
Find out our opening hours, how to get here and learn more about our space & local area.
Drawing Room/Tannery Arts Unit 1b, New Tannery Way 58 Grange Road Bermondsey London, SE1 5WS
Our Learning projects make drawing relevant and accessible to our community – for schools, teachers, families & local groups. Come and Draw!
Free and open to all, our Library is a unique collection of around 4,000 books dedicated to the exploration of contemporary drawing.
Our Supporters help fund all that we do and enjoy exclusive events, talks, tours and studio visits – find out how you can join!
Buy publications related to our exhibitions, as well as unique artworks and limited editions.
Find out more about Drawing Room, what we do, and our relationship with studio provider Tannery Arts.
Tannery Arts is a small, independent charity concerned with supporting the professional development of emerging and established artists through the provision of affordable studios, promoting their practice through opportunities to exhibit work, develop projects, generate partnerships with local authorities, private property owners and social housing organisations as well as engage in learning activities.
Making Room began with a pilot series of workshops in Lambeth Hospital’s Leo ward, an acute unit for men experiencing mental illness.
Since September 2024, Making Room has been based at Maudsley Hospital. Here we have been situated on Lucas ward, Jim Birley Unit, Ruskin ward and Eileen Skellern 1; acute and psychiatric intensive care wards for women. Sessions invite both service users and staff to participate and are centred on automation, collaboration, and making. The space is social and people are invited to be with others, make decisions for themselves and have time to not just work through something alone. All materials and snacks are provided and service users are invited to join community sessions once discharged.
‘I just want the joy to continue’.
So much has happened in such a short period, we have gone from 0-60 in days.
I want to journal forever
The sessions have supported service users to create artworks through which they have been able to express their creativity and articulate things that are of importance to them… you have created a sense of community within the sessions where service users can celebrate and support one another despite often not choosing to be in hospital or together as such
‘I’ve put my collage up beside my bed and I love waking up every morning to look at it
it’s much more beautiful than I remembered’
Doing things together makes me stronger’
You helped me build confidence in this room. The words you used made me feel stronger’
In this room, I have witnessed much laughter and a little sadness, that is understandable given the difficult circumstances so many of our service users have found themselves in
I’m happy even though it’s imperfect
I’ve been looking forward to this all week’
I’m happy this reminded me of that memory in my childhood walking barefoot in the garden’
Supporting staff, whether they be OTs or members of the nursing team, have also been encouraged to participate, thus, breaking down the barriers between patients and staff, that are well known to exist, often to the detriment of service users, in institutions such as ours, where power imbalances are enshrined.