Why draw?

Why do we write? Why do we build vocabulary, learn to construct sentences and paragraphs and develop our ideas into essays? I’m sure many students ask themselves that question. The answer may appear to come in the form of the practical applications of writing. But, in truth, we learn to write because that gives us the capacity to make our own sense of reality and test it against others, to describe our emotions and experiences to others, to find meaning in the world.

Children draw when they make their first mark on a surface. Children’s drawings often say more subtle and complex things than their words can say at that time in their lives. Parents delight in these drawings, and the refrigerator becomes a gallery for them.

When school begins, though, it’s written language full speed ahead for a dozen years. The hackneyed notion that knowing is demonstrated solely by putting in words takes root, and drawing is brushed aside as a serious activity. Students soon comet believe that drawing is the talent of a gifted few and has little other than fluff value for them. This is the American educational system.

Life experience tells me that drawing is essential in ways few consider. Think of drawing as a language of expression. We don’t expect every student to be a great writer, but we educate them to write. We wouldn’t expect every student to be a great draughtsman, but each deserves the right to have access to this language.

Why? Drawing is a human instinct and a human language. Drawing disciplines seeing. Drawing stimulates idea generation and development. Drawing brings pleasure. Drawing is a form of personal expression. Drawing is a form of concentration and meditation. Can anyone have too many languages to unravel a complex world?  You can probably think of more reasons.

If you study the history of drawing, you will discover that drawing is diagram, poetry, essay, novel, treatise, a quick thought, a journal and more. Draw!