AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWING NETWORK

"... when drawing is nurtured the language benefits flow: intellectual development, mental health, mental healing,  effective learning, empathy for others and bonding with caring adults."  - from a Drawing Network pamphlet

We’ve been around for some twenty years but there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of us. We are an informal, non-profit, unfunded, casually organized group of parents, teachers, academics and administrators who believe in the importance of drawing as a language medium. We have two planks in our platform:

1)  children have an un-coded language in spontaneous drawing. It  emerges in the second year of life and, with the help of nurturing parents and teachers, continues to develop throughout the preschool, kindergarten, primary, intermediate and middle-school years.

2) spontaneous drawing is an aid to the acquisition of  literacy.

Our mission is to spread the word about these important but neglected truths far and wide. Our method is "networking". Our target groups are parents and other care-givers, teachers and future teachers, academics and professional educators and adults seeking creative leisure-time pursuits. We focus on two approaches which can be summarized as follows:

1) the "Daily Draw"  designed for children still at home, in day-care centres and kindergarden/primary classrooms. The focus is on mental growth, mental health and personal development through the creative use of language: 1 )words alone, spoken and written 2) drawing alone and 3) words and drawings combined as an integrated language medium.

2)  drawing-as-language in the home/school curriculum, especially in science, social studies, language arts and art.

OUR PUBLISHING RECORD:

1)  DRAW ME A STORY - Portage and Main Publishing, Winnipeg,  1998, still in print (toll free: 1-800-667-9673)

2)  DRAWING PATH FOR CHILDREN - in Chinese translation, still available by contacting the Drawing Network but the first printing is nearly exhausted and the future uncertain.

3)  DRAWING PATH FOR CHILDREN (English version)  in process of revision. Contains statements by eight outstanding teachers who use drawing-as-language in their teaching.

4)  DRAWING NETWORK PAMPHLETS: master copies distributed without charge, ideal for study group activities, college and university studies, home school, school-parent groups etc.  No permission is needed for reproduction and distribution. Details on request.

OUR MOST RECENT PAMPHLET:   "The ‘Daily Draw’: Enriching Language In the Home/School Curriculum".  Eleven pages of theory and practice with  illustrations;  suggestions for parents and teachers who want to give their children a better language program (age-two - through middle school); eleven pages of practical suggestions and six drawings.

We started the Drawing Network some twenty years ago and look back on modest successes but we believe that the need for proselytizing drawing-as-language is greater than ever. Our impression is that spontaneous drawing is denied most children in the preschool years and is underused in the school years. (We make a distinction between spurious art activities based on adult formulas which are without language significance, and authentic spontaneous line drawing based on life-experiences.) We have faith in community networking and urgently ask for your help in spreading the word about drawing as a neglected but critically important language for children.

Bob Steele, 3853 West 15th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Canada,V6R 3A1