to do list: item #1 "the big draw"

Starting with this post, I will begin a wish list of activities that I'll try to start in Metro Manila when my journey to Ithaka finally hits the return bend. Item #1 on my list was inspired by attending the opening day of the David Macaulay exhibit ("The Art of Drawing Architecture") at the National Building Museum here in D.C.

The opening day featured the very first Big Draw event in the U.S. -an echo of the various events that the Campaign for Drawing holds in the U.K.

I'd like to start a similar campaign back home. Here's what the Campaign's website says:

Welcome to the Campaign with a simple aim: to get everyone drawing. The Big Draw, the Campaign's annual October showpiece, proves that drawing can be a public activity as well as a private passion. 1000 venues across the UK, from great national institutions to village halls, regularly join in to offer people of all ages the chance to discover that drawing is enjoyable, liberating and at everyone's fingertips.

The Campaign was inspired by the great Victorian writer and visionary, John Ruskin. His mission was not to teach people to draw, but how to see. Each Big Draw season brings fresh opportunities to discover how drawing can connect us to our environment and heritage.

And there's the phrase that caught my fancy: "His mission was not to teach people to draw, but how to see." Also: "how drawing can connect us to our environment and heritage."

What a great way to get people aware of their city. Maybe I can get the wonderful folks from Illustrador ng Kabataan to help.

Image credit: Logo of the Campaign for Drawing
by Quentin Blake

P.S. - Blake and Macaulay, along with Chris Van Allsburg, are my favorite illustrators.

P.P.S. -If this post inspires you, you're very welcome to run with the idea. If I was back home now, I'd organize a big draw event in the pedestrian mall in Avenida. Maybe a crowd of children drawing will convince Lim to keep the street.