One of the greatest blessings about being an artist at the Harrison Center is the ongoing opportunity for education and inspiration found in the experience of being surrounded by other artists. When fellow creatives come together, they often can encourage and energize one another and assist each other with practical solutions to various challenges. An example of this has grown into a program that is increasingly powerful for artists who have participated.

In April 2021, the Harrison Center took on the challenge of creating a series of “Community Engagement Drawing Sessions'' facilitated by Harrison Center artists Johnny McKee and Johnson Simon. These gatherings began as a chance to connect with other artists while taking advantage of the opportunity to draw people from life to know and love them.

While sourcing “modeling talent” for these sessions, the idea of inviting our “Greatriarchs” to pose for the artists emerged, and they seemed glad to oblige. (If you aren’t sure what a Greatriarch is, please type it into the search bar of our website and learn about these beautiful people!)

The first Community Engagement Drawing session featured Mr. Larry as the model. He was a perfect model, with long arms and legs and expressive features. That Wednesday evening, ten artists working with everything from charcoal and graphite to ink and watercolors formed a circle around the chair where Mr. Larry made himself comfortable. This would have been a great experience in and of itself, but as the first renderings were appearing in our sketchbooks, Mr. Larry began to speak.

Throughout the session, our model spoke and told us his life story in a way that captivated us and kept us listening even as we were drawing and painting. As we heard story after story, they transformed us from mere artists into members of an audience. The energy that hearing this man’s stories created brought an added element to the experience of drawing him.

Drawing Sessions featuring Abbie Robinson

Community Engagement Drawing Sessions are an opportunity to draw someone and hear that person’s story. This broadens the impact of the program and provides different levels of inspiration and understanding. We don’t just record a person’s physical form, but we have the chance to expressively render what we’ve learned about them as human beings.

Recently, I have joined in facilitating the Community Engagement Drawing Sessions that are now weekly, alternating between Friday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. During this series, our models continue to be long-term members of surrounding neighborhoods. The stories promise to be fascinating, and the interaction with other artists is always a gift.

Sign up to participate.