Ed. Magazine The Drawing Mind Posted January 22, 2013 By Deborah Putnoi [caption id="attachment_10357" align="alignleft" width="308" caption="Illustration by Deborah Putnoi"][/caption]Everything changed with 9/11. Up until that moment, I was a painter, an artist. Exhibiting my work across the country and working alone in the studio. I had made that choice, left educational research at Project Zero, and decided my calling was as an artist. But after 9/11, everything shifted. I wanted my pieces of art to be more than just passive objects. I needed to be on the front lines, with people, to change something at the core of our society. As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, I knew I needed to help people see each other as individuals, as interdependent, not in stereotypical terms. I needed something simple.The art form that is central to my work is drawing. I draw all the time. I always have a sketchbook tucked away in my bag or next to the driver's seat so that I can draw even in the in-between moments of my life. I need to draw like I need to eat. And I know that there are others out there in schools, starving in classrooms across the country because their way in the world is through the tip of a pencil, through visual thinking, and they are not being taught how to nurture or develop what I call the "drawing mind."Drawing doesn't happen in schools. If it happens at all, it is shunted to the side. I thought, How do I bring drawing into the heart of classroom learning — not as a way to develop artists, but as a thinking skill, as a language that could help students solve problems and enter different curricular material, be it a math problem or a science experiment or the journal of a historical figure? When students enter kindergarten, drawing is a natural language — stories, ideas, discoveries naturally erupt from the tip of a pencil. But quickly, students are required to learn and master writing, reading, and math. The drawing mind is shut down.Walking into any classroom, I begin to uncover students' and teachers' drawing minds. For visual thinkers, it is a relief to draw in the classroom, to be asked to draw an experience instead of write about it. For the verbal/logistical learners, although perhaps uncomfortable at first using their drawing minds, they are stretched in new ways.For most people, the mere thought of drawing something — anything — sends a wave of panic. "But I can't even draw a straight line." As an artist, I always think, What artist cares about drawing a straight line? As an educator, I think, How can I fix this problem? How can I teach people to find, embrace, and explore their innate drawing abilities? Even students as young as first grade will sometimes look at me in panic when I say, "Draw a bumpy line." They ask, "But where? How? Is this OK?"And I just say, "There are no mistakes." In some ways, this assertion in the classroom that there are no mistakes when I come in and we draw together is the most important thing I say. Your line is your line — no one else's.— Deborah Putnoi recently published the book, The Drawing Mind: Silence Your Inner Critic and Release Your Inner Creative Spirit. She also creates interactive installations called Drawing Labs and just opened a community art space in Boston called Artheads Studio, where she teaches classes for children and adults. Ed. Magazine The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Explore All Articles Related Articles Ed. Magazine Greenlight to Freedom Casey Lartigue, Ed.M.’91, helps North Korean refugees tell their stories Ed. Magazine Connecting Civics, Justice Work, and Art An alum produces civics-minded projects centering community, artistry, and advocacy News Every Child Has a Voice Building social-emotional learning skills through the arts