Drawing Together Proposal

On the Bronx River, June 2012

In June 2012, paddling in a canoe through the heart of the Bronx, my understanding of the urban landscape was transformed (the New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman took a similar  trip that summer.)  My trip was led by the Bronx River Alliance, an organization committed to environmental justice, ecological restoration and public access to the river. This experience ignited my desire to contribute my skills and knowledge to their mission.

Sewage overflow in the South Bronx section of the river is one of the ten biggest sources of water pollution in the New York metropolitan area. An innovative green infrastructure initiative is currently underway in the surrounding communities, where expanded green spaces will help absorb storm runoff to prevent sewage overflow. For this project to succeed, community members must participate in protecting and monitoring the new green spaces. The Bronx River Alliance is seeking innovative ways to enlist community support in this project.

My Pratt drawing students working
on a collborative cityscape.

Drawing together can bring people together, helping to alter perceptions and develop the kinds of understandings that lead to real change. Building on the Bronx River Alliance’s existing partnerships with local groups, I propose to involve community members in the drawing process to observe current conditions and envision future possibilities in the southern section of the Bronx River basin. In a series of guided workshops and field expeditions, participants will use personal sketchbooks and larger collaborative works to document and help secure the progress of a nationally significant green infrastructure initiative. 
 Through the drawing process, using close observation in personal field journals and bringing together multiple viewpoints and bits of information in larger collaborative works, participants will document the progress of the green infrastructure project as a way to develop ecological understanding, strengthen interpersonal relationships among neighborhood residents, and heighten participants’ commitment to their role in developing and defending the health of their communities, as they help protect the larger ecosystem.

 at a Bronx elementary school

I have been a socially engaged artist for my entire career. Early on, I worked with community and political organizers, producing posters and murals. More recently, my primary social engagement as an artist has been through artist residencies in high poverty New York City public schools, primarily in the Bronx, which has heightened my understanding of environmental justice issues.

A silkscreen poster that was used
 to raise funds for the Watsonvil

My identity as an artist was formed during an 18-month, ultimately successful strike of Mexicana cannery workers in 1987. On the picket lines in Watsonville, California, I drew portraits of the strikers and recorded their stories. Drawing from direct observation provided the time and opportunity to transcend language and cultural barriers, and build mutually respectful relationships. Silkscreen prints of some of the drawings were sold to raise money to help sustain the strike and have found their way into exhibitions, books, historical archives and museum collections.

2012 Thinking through
Drawing Symposium
 University of the Arts
London, UK

Since then, I have become something of an evangelist for the potential of drawing to slow down, open possibilities and forge unforeseen connections. Most recently, I have co-organized three annual international conferences on “Thinking through Drawing,” two at Columbia University, and one at the University of the Arts in London. These conferences have brought together practitioners and researchers from as far away as New Zealand and South Africa to discuss drawing as a tool for thinking, understanding, communication and transformation.




Through the proposed project, I plan to put “Thinking through Drawing” into action, building relationships, collaboration and community involvement through the drawing process.


Students at Teachers College, Columbia University, working on a collaborative drawing based on their own movements.