Drawing Resilience from the Inside Out

Dispatch from the UN & a Focusing Fave

Heelllooo my GUT peeps.

Waving from the big apple.

The United Nations General Assembly was here in New York last week. Leaders from around the world gathered to discuss the most pressing global matters: climate change, poverty and inequality.

While the critical role of visual arts isn’t often included in these urgent agendas, this year drawing had a seat at the table: I was invited to join a panel to discuss visual art as an essential tool in cultivating societal resilience.

The world’s leading medical journal The Lancet launched their “Commission on Resilience” at the Science Summit on Friday, and The Co-Chair of the Commission, Dr. Eliah Aronoff-Spencer (Director of the Center for Health and Strategic Health Initiatives at UC San Diego Design Lab) invited me to talk about how drawing bolsters resilience, including our work at DrawTogether.

Introducing what we’re all doing at DrawTogether to people makes me so proud. And the wider world beginning to recognize the essential role of visual arts in public heath and is a huge win for us all. We’re proving it every day here at DrawTogether. Whether we’re adults drawing at the Grown-Ups Table, educators using DrawTogether Classroom materials with kids in the classroom, or caregivers using it at home and beyond, we’ve all experienced first hand the power of drawing to build adaptability, confidence, creativity, and care within ourselves and our communities.

While the DrawTogether set might look like a silly cardboard studio to some, we know that DrawTogether (and the Grown-Ups Table!) is a workshop for wellbeing.

You and I know first hand how drawing cultivates resilience from the inside out.

Thanks so much to Dr. Eli for including drawing and the visual arts into a conversation that is usually strictly limited to science. That was an act of creativity in itself. I hope this was the first of many conversations, and that they lead to support for drawing and visual arts in medicine, the classroom, media, and beyond.

Assignment

FREE FOR ALL: In the spirit of public health, I’m keeping this week’s drawing exercise open and free for all. If you want to support the work we’re doing with DrawTogether - from the Grown-Ups Table to Classrooms and Strangers beyond - becoming a subscriber is a great way to do that. Along with weekly drawing lessons, you get a weekly drawing assignment and access to the GUT community: the awesome supportive community, the weekly art share, occasional drawing zooms, IRL events, AMA’s and beyond.

While the assignment is open to all this week, the DrawTogether GUT Community Art Share is available exclusively to Subscribers/Members/Supporters this week. Gotta keep that space safe and secure. <3

Five Finger Drawing

This week, I thought we could all do our part to contribute to a resilient society by cultivating resilience in ourselves - drawing a better world from the inside out. Five Finger Drawing is one of my favorite DrawTogether exercises. It calms our nervous systems, helps us focus, and settles us into our body and breath. When we have such an easy, accessible tool in our art kit, we can be more resilient under stress, and in turn show up for our communities. If that’s not a powerful public health intervention, I don’t know what is.

Five Finger Drawing Guide

And bonus: I’m giving it to you this drawing exercise in the form of a podcast. So grab your pencil and paper, and push play. Bonus exercise instructions below to turn your five finger drawing into an awesome meditative mandala-ish situation. And if you want to lower anxiety, color it. (Yup, there’s a study proving that.)

Five Finger Drawing Mandala

After you're done, share it with the DrawTogether GUT community over in the always epic GUT community chat, enhancing resilience all the more by cultivating interpersonal relationships and positive, supportive community. (See how I did that?)

Grab your pencils, paper, and click the link below. The podcast is 8 minutes long, and I guide you through the whole drawing process. Enjoy!

See you next week friends!!

xoxo,

w

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GUT GALLERY

Last week we learned about the artwork of three Palestinian artists: Samia Halaby, Hazem Harb, and Kamal Boullata, then made drawings based on their formal and conceptual approach to drawing and painting. You can read more about the story behind this lesson, the artists and how the war in Gaza has impacted them in that lesson here.

The following are a few of the phenomenal of drawings in the GUT chat. Thank you everyone for co-creating a thoughtful, open hearted, respectful and creative space over there, as always.

Therese Agnes: Obviously I took to Samia Halaby literally. Tried several of her pieces and found the lantana in my backyard spoke to me. Came in and began drawing circles of color . Appreciated all the artists and Samia Halaby’s work spoke to me.

Dana P: Studying Samia Halaby this time around. <3 <3 <3

Mara Murdoch: 10 min cloth drawing

Nancy: I found this practice very meditative. Trying to get the hang of white pen on toned paper. It’s a bit sticky. Maybe I’ll try this with pink.