The drawing power of touch and observation
Drawing isn't about drawing well. It's a tool for learning and, yes, everyone can do it
The world can be divided into those who can draw and those who can’t. It’s an ability that has been invested with an almost mythical power. Drawing packs a potent currency. It makes the ordinary person special, gives kudos to the outsider and protects the geek from being bullied by the jocks. And it’s often colonised by the solipsistic parent. Most children are happy to draw. That is, until they hit puberty. When what professor of art and American culture at the Washington University and author of Stick Figure DB Dowd calls “aesthetic anxiety” descends and many give up. How many of us were told we couldn’t draw or that our drawings just didn’t make the grade? And so, shamed by our inadequacy we gave up. Responses to the importance of drawing range from absolutely to not at all. But Dowd suggests we’ve got drawing all wrong. He writes — surprise, surprise — that drawing isn’t about drawing well. Instead he promotes drawing as a tool for learning. Drawing, in Dowd’s book, helps us thi...
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