Let's Draw
to
Overture Center-James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy 201 State St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
press release: Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, February 18 from 1-3:00 pm.
also: Friday, March 31, from 5:30–7:00 pm, join local artist Josh Duncan (known locally in Madison as "The Cartoon Guy") for a workshop of drawing and family fun at Revel, a modern workshop and creative event space in downtown Madison. People of all ages are invited to learn how to make a mini notebook from a single piece of paper, and draw monsters, portraits, comics, and more! This special family event is part of our Let's Draw exhibition, now on view at the James Watrous Gallery.
Registration is $5 per individual ($4 for Academy members), all supplies included. Space is limited to 40 participants. Every registered child who attends receives a complimentary kiddie cocktail. Cash bar open for kids over 21.
Can visual art be taught through radio? The producers of WHA’s “Let’s Draw” program thought so. Through pioneering on-air lessons, "Let's Draw" brought art education to schoolchildren throughout Wisconsin from 1936 to 1970. This exhibit combines a look at the historic "Let’s Draw" program with the work of six contemporary Wisconsin artists who have very diverse approaches to drawing.
"Let’s Draw" was developed by Wisconsin’s own WHA (now Wisconsin Public Radio) as part of the station’s School of the Air program. These weekly broadcasts wove together stories, dramatic readings, music, and instruction into lively half-hour programs that brought art lessons to rural and underserved communities around the state. The driving force behind Let’s Draw, James Schwalbach, emphasized originality and free expression. Schwalbach’s mantras were "We do not copy" and “Art is fun,” and he urged students to “Sit up straight, hold the crayon loosely, and swing your whole arm with a great big grin on your face.” After introducing each’s week’s theme, Schwalbach would say “There’s that big sheet of paper, and you’re just full of ideas, so let’s draw!”
In keeping with Schwalbach’s emphasis on individual creativity, this exhibition also includes work by six Wisconsin artists whose drawing styles couldn’t be more different: Emily Belknap (Cedarburg), Tony Conrad (Appleton), Nina Ghanbarzadeh (New Berlin), Lee Mothes (Kaukauna), Zach Mory (Milwaukee), and Katie Ries (Manitowoc). Their work ranges from tightly drawn realist landscape imagery (Mothes and Belknap) and loose "field note" sketches (Ries) to finely textured, large-scale abstraction (Conrad and Mory) and fluid images built up with calligraphic script (Ghanbarzadeh).
Let’s Draw will include archival photographs, transcripts, teachers’ guides, drawings, and an interactive station where visitors can listen and follow along with an original Let's Draw lesson. Several of the artists in the exhibition will script and record an audio art lesson of their own with the help of Wisconsin Public Radio producer Erika Janik. These lessons will be available to hear in the gallery and on the web at wisconsinacademy.org/gallery