The Drawing Center
Location:
New York, United States of America Organiser: Aimee Good, Director of Education and Community Programs
In July 2009, The Drawing Center held their fourth annual Big Draw celebrations. Visitors were encouraged to collect a free sketchbook and take part in three exciting and innovative site-specific projects, across Lower Manhattan.
At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, participants had the opportunity to explore how sound and movement can be captured through mark, gesture and line. Inspired by a spectacular performance of music and dance, by celebrated group Larry Yazzie and the Native Pride Dancers, artist Jeffrey Gibson encouraged audience members to draw the body in motion.
In the World Financial Center Winter Garden, members of the public were given outdated and recycled music scores to draw on. Their drawings were then transformed in to spontaneous music compositions and performed by the renowned American ensemble FLUX Quartet. Expanding on John Ruskin’s belief that drawing can be used to help us see, Suzanne Bocanegra’s ‘I Write the Songs’ project demonstrated that drawing can also be used to help us hear.
In ‘Paths of Desire’, artist Eve Mosher invited audiences to embark on a self-guided personal exploration of the past and present geography of Lower Manhattan. Starting at The Bosque at Battery Park, participants mapped their journeys by carrying recycled water bottles filled with river water and blue pigment. As the water slowly dripped from the bottles, the city was turned in to a giant drawing canvas.
