Dear Angela
I have a similar interest in drawing with strangers although am not
perhaps as open as you, as I do the drawing and I ask them to tell me
what to do. My problem is that although I love to draw incessantly I
am always looking for my subject and am much more impressed by other
people's ideas for subject matter than I am by my own. I ask people to
describe a particular moment or fantasy and then to direct me precisely
as I draw. I usually work in nightclubs where I will set a theme for
the evening - people take turns to sit with me while I draw out scenes
from their imagination. I like to do this perhaps by projecting the
work on to a huge screen as I make the marks. Themes I have set have
been childhood memories, erotic fleeting encounters, film scenes that
have left a mark, recurring dreams, projected futures and sexual
fantasies - that sort of thing . Things that are a pleasure to talk
about. By the end of an evening I aim to produce perhaps 20 drawings on
one theme which I put on display and which are given to the
"collaborators" as they leave the club. I find people are so willing
to talk about very deep personal things in a way that astonished me,
just as you say. I had one would-be priest tell me of his early
childhood sexual awakening that he had never told anyone before. That
in a matter of perhaps fifteen minutes with a total stranger.
Robin
On Tuesday, August 1, 2006, at 12:58 pm, Angela Rogers wrote:
> Hello Sandi,
>
>
>
> I found your observations very interesting and can relate them to the
> drawings I make with adult strangers about whom I know nothing. I call
> these Drawing Conversations so people quickly understand I’m using a
> one-to-one, face-to-face, turn-taking structure to make a drawing.
>
>
>
> When I ask people to draw with me, virtually all say ‘I can’t draw’,
> I’m no good at art’, ‘I’m not arty’, ‘I can’t draw to save my life’,
> this isn’t a surprise and as you say is a legacy from childhood and
> schooling. What is surprising is that nearly everyone I ask agrees to
> draw with me. I’m taken aback by this readiness to draw with a
> stranger, this willingness to engage in ‘impersonal fellowship’, David
> Bohm’s term, without knowing each other’s personal histories. We start
> a bit tentatively which I think is more to do with being strangers
> than hesitancy about drawing. It seems to confirm your comments about
> drawing being more innate, natural and vital than is commonly accepted
> or acknowledged.
>
>
>
> On a very basic level I believe drawing in collaboration allows us to
> try out new behaviours more easily than in spoken conversation. One
> woman, who said she couldn’t draw, didn’t like talking on trains,
> especially with people who had to talk because they weren’t happy with
> their own company, went on to draw with me because ‘it was different’.
> During the drawing I drew over a page fold and she said she couldn’t
> have done that, she needed things neatly contained in designated
> spaces. Later on in the drawing she drew a person flying a kite that
> went right over the page fold. Drawing can also condense (Belnick
> 1993) the communication of experiences and ideas more easily than
> verbal conversation. Another participant took me on a journey from the
> Amazon rain forests, to ancientRomeand the destruction of Pompei, to
> the French Revolution, toHollandand back to the rain forests again.
>
>
>
> All but one participant, who declared himself a very literary person
> and who found the activity difficult, appeared to find or said they
> found the experience relaxing, calming, intriguing or fun. I make the
> drawings in public on trains and without getting too mystical - we
> become very present. There is a marked change in pace as soon as we
> begin drawing, it is as if we create a suspension of time in a
> contemplative space around us. Picking up on David Bohm’s ideas about
> dialogue, during the drawing we can reflect on our own actions and be
> more attentive to the other person in a way that is I think less
> judgemental than when speaking together.
>
>
>
> I’m curious to know more about a couple of things you said.
>
> ‘As the disease progresses, everyone's marks become the same.’Do you
> think this may be physical, to do with limited movement and
> manipulation or neurological in that the messages from brain to limbs
> are diminishing or an inability to be coherent in expression whatever
> the medium?
>
>
>
> ‘There is often a window of time, usually towards the more advanced
> stage of the disease, where those who draw from life or reference
> display a remarkable ability to see so well that they make rather
> exacting images of what they are drawing.’Could you say more about in
> what way their images are exacting and do people draw in a similar and
> particular way at this stage?
>
>
>
> Best wishes
>
>
>
> Angela
>
>
>
> Drawing Dialogue
>
> Angela Rogers
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The UK drawing research network mailing list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf OfSan Sharp
> Sent:31 July 200617:15
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Drawing with adults with learning disabilities
>
>
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I work with those with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of
> dementia in an art program specifically designed for that population.
> This doesn't not fall under the category of 'learning' disabilities,
> but there are striking considerations as to what drawing does and is
> for so many people.
>
> Here are some commonalties I have observed over the last nine
> years:
>
> Participants find this relaxing and calming, it extends for
> hours after the sessions.
>
> It builds self esteem.
>
> They communicate thoughts and experiences that they either
> cannot or do not verbalize.
>
> No matter what traditional 'skill' level and past experience
> with drawing they possess, each person makes unique and personal
> marks. As the disease progresses, everyone's marks become the same.
>
> There is often a window of time, usually towards the more advanced
> stage of the disease, where those who draw from life or reference
> display a remarkable ability to see so well that they make rather
> exacting images of what they are drawing. This happens with those who
> have had art experiences in the past as well as to those who have had
> none.
>
> Regardless of the image they create, after doing so, some
> are likely to verbally communicate about what it is and what it means
> to them.
>
> Drawing enables a link to their past experiences.
>
> Attitudes and experiences about drawing from their childhood
> are often expressed. These comments reveal how our educational and
> social systems have done a very poor job in this area.
>
> There are other observations and experiences that I have noticed
> throughout the years. Much of this leads me to believe that drawing is
> more innate, natural, and vital to humans then currently accepted or
> acknowledged. Added to that, it shows that at best, it is not
> supported, encouraged, or nurtured, at worst it is disregarded,
> diminished, and ignored.
>
> When one considers that those inflicted with Alzheimer's lose
> current memories, experiences, and abilities first, and that ones
> imbedded deep within the brain are the last to be attacked, this
> observation becomes more significant. Added to that, impulses are
> heightened and inhibitions are diminished. They just draw.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Sandi
>
>
>
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