The Big Draw, Review #1
On September 8, art enthusiasts (mainly children and parents) from all around New York City gathered at various venues in lower Manhattan for a full day of hands-on activities during the second-annual “The Big Draw” free event. Divided into four different sites (laser tag at the Graffiti Research Lab was cancelled), it lasted from 11AM to 4PM. Participants could pick up a free sketchbook and start drawing right away without registration. Art materials including easels, pencils, and paintbrushes were provided at each location. Free bus services took passengers from one site to another for convenience, though I personally decided to walk.
My first stop was at the South Street Seaport, where I received layers of tracing paper and sketched ships by the bustling pier. In another exercise, children and adults dipped paintbrushes into buckets of water and scribbled on stone tablets laid across the boardwalk. A professor from Queens College demonstrated his Chinese calligraphy skills, giving advice to participants on how to make brush strokes. As someone who also had experience in this field before, I was especially interested in learning that there were five different styles of writing: standard, clerical, seal, running, and cursive. Unfortunately, the brush tip was too rough, making it difficult to write decently on the tablet. After over an hour of basking in the sun, I visited the South Street Seaport Mall to cool down and then moved on to the next site.
Outside the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center in Battery Park City, children threw yarn between two buses to create a “spider web” composed of a plethora of colorful strings. The finished piece would be used to raise money for “The Drawing Center,” a small art museum in the city. In addition, volunteers taught crocheting and knitting with yarn, rope, and even shoelaces. Children were most attracted to the web though, crawling under it and hiding beneath the string. I was hesitant about throwing some yarn in there since it might hit someone I couldn’t see. This was the only setting where no actual sketching was done.
Nearby, another activity was taking place at the Teardrop Park. I was given a mirror and two index cards to draw my own eyes. Others sat on grassy hills to paint flora in black ink. Most of us were frying from the heat at that time due to lack of shading. Afterwards, our works were displayed on scrolls lined on the pathways.
The last destination was at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The Northern Tide Dancers (including Jeffrey Gibson and Athena LaTocha) from Alaska performed for a small audience whose objective was to draw the body in motion. The dancers sang and yelped, clad in red and purple capes with beads tied around their feet. One of the performers had on a hawk costume I was particularly fond of, with a beak-like headdress and holding feathers in his hands, moving as if he was gliding in the air. Throughout the dance, there was a lot of stomping of the feet, shrieking cries, spinning in circles, side-to-side swaying and shrugging of shoulders. On the second story, children were making stenciled designs with roll-on paint (imitation balsa wood prints) and designing oak tag boxes with images from the exhibition (resembling feast bowls) at the Rotunda.
Overall, this was a well-organized event. Although I would have loved to play laser tag, it was originally scheduled for 9:30 PM anyway, five and a half hours later. Still, I would not recommend “The Big Draw” to most teenagers or single adults. A majority of the participants were children and parents so a student like me would feel somewhat out of place. Moreover, the activities, though ranging from a variety of mediums, were rather simple and independent, and there wasn’t a good deal of artistic guidance available. For those serious about art, this event would not have contributed much to your knowledge. Furthermore, people who do decide to attend this event in the future should remember to wear lots of sunscreen since most of the activities were outdoors. Primarily for kids, “The Big Draw” was like an extensive art class in a public elementary school. Perhaps the event planners can arrange something a little more suitable for all ages next year.
