completing the

what’s on things to do, places to go, people to see

Where?

Half Moon Theatre Limehouse

Little Seed Music presents a fairytale classic featuring all the usual magic bean and giant-based shenanigans. Fee e fo fum. Suitable for 5+. Jun 22-24, various times, £7, halfmoon.org.uk

Where?

Troxy Limehouse

Toby blogged about his activities as he went about the challenge as well as making notes, voice recordings and video footage, allowing Katie to write Moderate Becoming Good Later, which is set to o cially launch on June 6 there are new friends, and it’s really a story of the voyage and also the history of the place and the connection across the seas which he anaged o nd. e was very opposed to Brexit, for e a ple.

“It was a journey that he set out on with one reason, but came away with a lot of other nice things as people often do when hey ravel.

“There are several themes that co e up. ne is he love of na ure and the importance of getting outside, whether that’s in a kayak or just walking – taking time to connect with something that’s real no l ered hrough or wha ever.

“ no her is abou overco ing li i a ions. oby had li i a ions around how long his life was going to be, other illnesses associated with his condition, and this was a window of heal h for hi .

“ ne of he hings hope i conveys is that it might be more helpful to think of limitations as a design challenge. here s a lo ha might not be possible, but you should think of what is, and ask yourself Wha can do .

“The easiest chapter for me to write, although it doesn’t sound like it, is the chapter when Toby ge s ill. ha was because didn have all his notes and I’d lived ha a bi .

“It was hard in a way because i s a di cul sub ec o broach the decline and eventual death of so eone. u pleased wi h he way I’ve tackled it – he never had self-pity, and I think he would like he way ha i has co e ou .

While Toby made it to 17 areas in the forecast and even had plans to get to the non-coastal areas covered by the forecast, ultimately his health prevented him reaching all .

“ e didn nish he rip and there are nine areas that border land that he didn’t do, so I’m going o ry o nish hose said a ie. “ ha s a bi of a challenge because I wasn’t a sea kayaker, I live in Barcelona, I’ve got two small kids and I’m 10 years older than Toby was when he started his rip.

“But I’ve already sat down with y aun icky o ry and gure ou how igh i in and ve started to plan so let’s see how it goes.

Moderate Becoming Good Later is published by Summersdale and priced a . . Go to summersdale.com

Scan this code to nd out more about the book or to buy a copy

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala bring their singular, wailing punk masterpieces to Troxy. Expect virtuoso playing and loud sounds. Jun 18, 7pm, from £62, troxy.co.uk

Where?

Tower Of London

Tower Hill

Included in the price of general admission (£1 for Tower Hamlets residents) the moat has once again been carpeted with wild owers to enjoy. Until September, daily, £29.90 (adults), hrp.org.uk ash back

Anne’s, which is spearheading a campaign to raise £7million to open up St Anne’s Limehouse for wider community use following the award of National Lottery funding careforstannes.org

Scan this to read our interview with Philip and to nd out more about the plans for the church want more? @wharfwhispers what’s on things to do, places to go, people to see

Where? The Space Isle Of Dogs

by Jon Massey

Head to the Westferry Road venue for a ve-act Ibsen extravaganza following a woman forced to make di cult decisions by the death of her husband. Jun 27-Jul 8, 7.30pm, £16, space.org.uk

Where?

Poplar Union Poplar

With members who met, grew and trained through the Grand Union Orchestra, this band will be in residence every fourth Friday. Jun 23, 7.30pm, free, poplarunion.com

Where? The Space Isle Of Dogs

STAGE | Rachel

This raunchy, comic, one-woman monologue about Gen Y anxieties is written by Francois Lockhart and performed by LAMDA graduate Clara Courty-Zanca. May 13-Jun 3, 7.30pm, £15, space.org.uk

People have been drawing for a long time. Hand stencils have been found in caves dating back around 64,000 years but the act of making marks on a surface has perhaps never been as widely celebrated as it is today thanks to innumerable social media time lapse videos. hings were very differen in 1994, however, when artist and academic Anita Taylor set about founding a drawing competition.

“I founded it when I was working in higher education at an art school in Gloucestershire because it was hard to teach drawing without showing students contemporary examples,” said Anita, who today is professor at and dean of Duncan Of Jordanstone College Of Art And Design at the University Of Dundee.

“What was then the Rexel Derwent Open Drawing Exhibition was one way of supporting artists who draw by giving them the opportunity to show their work. But it was also a great opportunity to give students the chance to see the work of artists who made drawings and were drawing now.

“Contemporary drawings were di cul o see o her han in museums up to the 1990s, so the exhibition has grown from there.

“It has become very popular and there has been a very big submission. Through that we’ve built a lovely community of artists who want to test their work through the format of an exhibition.

“It also works to further education in terms of being able to share drawings and discourse about them with schools, colleges, universities, researchers and the public, of course.”

The competition has been through several iterations since it was founded, including some 16 years as the Jerwood Drawing Prize with funding from the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

Today the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has been in east London for the past six years –supported by Eric Reynolds and the team at Urban Space Management in Leamouth.

Attracting more than 3,000 submissions, it culminates in an exhibition of some 65 works, which s ar s off in eas ondon before touring the country. A panel of selectors is responsible for choosing the shortlisted entries and awarding four pri es rs and second place for £8,000 and £5,000 respectively, a student award of £2,000 and the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000, which is given every other year.

There is also a separate submission and selection process for working drawings with a prize of £2,000. All submissions from the UK need to reach the selectors by June 30.

“Drawing is hugely important to everybody as a vital means of communication and expression,” said Anita.

“It’s something that we all do, but it has become a very sophisticated language and something that enables us to see where we are in the world – to understand what it is to be human and to co unica e effec ively. covers the whole range of languages, medium, purposes. We’re looking for drawings ha are differen in their form, intent, content and execution.

“It might be a performance drawing, a diagram, an expressive drawing we don de ne wha a drawing is, but we do ask people to consider what a drawing is. Then, it’s for the panel to decide wha a good drawing is and nd a good drawing they can agree on.

“ s a very broad eld and his is part of our discussion about what a drawing is today. That’s why we have a series of experts re ec ing on his.

“We’ve had works entirely found, works that have been performance drawings and works that are beautifully executed –more conventional drawings.

“We’ve had fantastic things and amazing artists in the show. We’ve had phenomenally well-established artists, either at the beginning of their career and also later in their career.

“It’s a great thing where people feel open to test their own drawings. We see works by students, by various published artists and people who draw but may not be artists – engineers, for example.

“It’s the panel’s decision whether to include digital work, but if it’s original work, then some argue it shouldn’t be reproducible – but it really depends what its purpose is.

“David Hockney’s digital drawings are really amazing, for example, so we think we will see drawings ha re ec ha in eres but it will be down to the selectors to see which ones they want to include in the exhibition.”

The 2023 panel making those decisions for the main prizes will be Laura Hoptman, executive director of The Drawing Center in New York, Dennis Scholl, collector, arts patron and president and CEO of Oolite Arts and British artist Barbara Walker.

It will be their deliberations, which result in the content of the exhibition, which is set to launch on September 27 at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

The Space arts centre on the Isle Of Dogs has successfully raised more than £30,000 for a new lift to improve accessibility at the building. The money was raised through a combination of grants and fundraising nights space.org.uk

Scan this code to nd out more about The Space’s campaign and what’s on at the venue want more? @wharfwhispers

“I hope people who come and see it will be excited by drawing – that most humble of activities,” said Anita. “It’s something that appeals to everyone. I hope they will see that drawing is really inclusive.

“It’s an extraordinary space that e plores and re ec s all sor s of differen approaches o drawing to see marks on paper, on the ground on l on racing paper