Thursday, May 07, 2009

When Did You Draw Last?


The former art educator in me loved listening to a recent
NPR interview with author and illustrator Mo Willems about getting adults to draw.Why do we stop drawing? It's such a natural expression as a child. It's a prewriting activity...and we certainly don't stop writing! Mr. Willems has interesting suggestions on how to keep adults drawing. He speaks about having "family draw night". This involves  the family around a table with paper in front, someone dictating a theme and then the drawing begins. Thinking about this I get a lovely vision of time spent together. I bet a lot of good things come from this activity beyond the creative activity of drawing...family bonding, great conversation, learning more about each other, and a time of relaxation and sabbath. How does this apply to our faith communities? I see drawing time incorporated into Sunday School classes of all ages, Bible studies, confirmation lessons, leadership meetings, staff meetings and MORE! An added bonus for those of us that crave a simple life....the supplies for drawing are so easily attainable! Go dig through your drawers and set out the pencils, pens, crayons and paper (you can even go green and doodle on your unwanted junk mail!) O.K. I feel I can put my soap box away for the moment. Happy drawing!