Drawing is a skill just like reading or writing. There are some people with any skill who have deeper affinity or “talent,” but everyone can learn to draw, and everyone has the ability to create new ideas.
This website is dedicated to sharing activities structured around a practices and themes that empower anyone and everyone to get in touch with their creative side.
The Rules:
There is no such thing as a mistake, only a new opportunity to investigate.
Have fun (the most important rule!)
Art Learning Goals
Some activities are direct skill-building activities, and all activities include space for reflection. The National Art Education Association created a four part framework that informs how these groups of activities are built, and you will find the four goals of the NAEA in the tags: Creating, Responding, Presenting*, and Connecting
SEL Learning Goals
The arts are a strong vehicle for positive social emotional development and to that end, activities will be tagged with keywords related to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) from frameworks by two organizations: the Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the Weimar Center for Youth Program Quality (CYPQ). There are a plethora of SEL frameworks, and these two were chosen because of their relative predominance for in-school and Out of School time (OOST) programs respectively.
Interdisciplinary Goals
As interdisciplinary learning goals are added entries will be tagged with relevant categories from Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards upon which many state standards are based.
About the Artist
Collaborative Drawing is created by Allida Warn who is a socially engaged artist, teacher-learner, and researcher with twenty years experience across both business and non-profit arts sectors, in the United States and internationally.
Allida specializes in creating generative interdisciplinary experiences that build social emotional skills and critical lenses so that participants can learn and grow. She develops arts-based projects focused on linguistic and cross-cultural competence, as well as environmental awareness. She holds an Ed. M. From Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Arts in Education program, and a B.A. from DePaul University in Art and Education.
Individual educators or groups who are interested in specific standards and goals should feel free to reach out for additional information. Coaching services and supplementary learning packages are available upon request.
*Presenting is the general category but it includes Performing and Producing in the NAEA standards.