Sam Bradd (editor) - Drawn Together Through Visual Practice

Drawn Together Through Visual Practice: An Anthology Edited by
Brandy Agerbeck, Kelvy Bird, Sam Bradd & Jennifer Shepherd

Copyright 2016 by Visual Practice Publishing

Cover by: Brandy Agerbeck

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0692726006

ISBN-10: 0692726004

www.visualpracticebook.com

Printed in U.S.A.

Drawn Together Through

Visual Practice

An Anthology Edited by

Brandy Agerbeck, Kelvy Bird, Sam Bradd, & Jennifer Shepherd

This anthology contains exciting and varied contributions to the growing literature on visual language and its power to draw us together. The authors offer a wide range of experience, powerful illustrations and the core message that visual language enables us to learn, think, and grow in new ways especially when considering the complex relationships that words alone cant illuminate. Drawn Together through Visual Practice reflects the power of this field to help transform organizations and communities in life-affirming ways.

Juanita Brown PhD, Co-Founder, The World Cafe

After 45 years of drawing on the wall it is extraordinary to see this field bloom in such rich and contributive ways. The authors are the cambium layeradvancing and shaping it with practice and questionsproviding inspiration for all of us who are living into this emergent, hopeful, phenomenon.

David Sibbet, The Grove Consultants International

The field of visual practice has long been nurtured by the quiet presence of artists devoted to listening and serving the groups with whom they work. It is high time that they turned and faced the room and shared the depth of artisanal practice and craft that underscores their devotion to the work. This collection is a stunning revelation of the heart of this practice. Whatever your role in group work, you will be made better by listening to these voices and stories of experience, sensitivity and careful attention.

Chris Corrigan, Art of Hosting and Harvest Moon Consulting

A first-rate look at the new world of visual practice. I know from personal experience that capturing content and discussion in real time imagery can help create communal understanding and memory. The images give participants a shared visual vocabulary that help capture complex ideas and enable the move to new discoveries and innovations. The book is a delightful dive into understanding the background and development of this new teaching/art form. Enjoy.

Deborah Ancona, Seley Distinguished Professor of Management, Faculty Director of the MIT Leadership Center, MIT Sloan School of Management

Ive seen visual practice map ideas, refresh memories, and provoke insights in many meetings involving dozens of professionals from business, government, and education. So its a special delight to discover this collection representing the art, craft, and inspiration of visual practice from multiple perspectives.

David N. Perkins, Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Professor of Teaching and Learning, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Graphic facilitation is a powerful way for a group to come to know themselves and the work they want to do together. It is no wonder that it so quickly became a part of any good meeting, conference, or problem solving session! Drawn Together is a valuable book, timely and well thought through. It should be read and employed by all wanting to improve and accelerate the rate of change and innovation within an organization, executive team or community. The more diversity in the room, the more powerful visual imagery becomes.

Gail Taylor, Co- Founder of MG Taylor, Inc., Founder of Tomorrow Makers, Inc.

At last! A compendium of stories, helpful approaches and mind sets that reflects the diversity, the richness of scope and the broad impact of the growing field of visual practice/visual language. Our visual practice not only encompasses making the invisible visible and making the visible visual through many artistic means, but also, it incorporates all the human elements of working together, listening, and inclusion that our world is crying for. The potential is unlimited. This is a must read for people who are looking for ways to make substantial change and impact in our world as a group or as an individual and who are looking for paths to go from my way to our way.

Susan Kelly, Visual Practitioner

Drawn Together offers me tools to reflect and improve on developing campaigns for Lush, and encourages personal reflection on my process. A tremendous job bringing together a picture of the evolving work and sharing best practices.

Carleen Pickard, Ethical Campaigns Specialist, Lush Handmade Cosmetics, North America

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Contents

The Visual Now

An introduction

We find ourselves in an age of unprecedented complexity, with increased globalization and access to information, while boundaries all around us dissolve. Visual practice helps make sense of this changing landscape by shifting our relationship to self, other, and society. Drawings give shape to our ideas, provide sharing of methodology, and reframe what is possible.

Visual practice makes the fleeting and ephemeral nature of spoken conversation concrete. Drawings can take infinite form: brushstrokes expressing gesture, metaphors that offer common ground, maps to guide a system, and devices for reconciliation. Individuals and groups alike make these meaningful marks. Communities of thousands can access key content through the aid of images. We see our thoughts from new perspectives through visual interpretation, and we relate with fresh eyes to ourselves and others.

Visuals draw us together. They allow us to consider where we have been, who we are, and who we want to be in the future. We mark these transitions through the acts and artifacts of drawing.

Visual practice is a rich and diverse field. This anthology connects ideas and practitioners at a moment when our practice is dramatically expanding. Lets pause and survey the field to date: What work is being done? What questions currently guide us? Which theories inform us? Who do we serve, and what is the impact of our craft? What do we learn from our individual experience? And how do we contribute back to the greater field? Now is the moment to embrace visual thinking, practice, and facilitation as a defining technology of our time.

This anthology brings 27 voices together to paint a broad picture of our evolving work and the audiences we serve.

Our imagery generates meaning and shared understanding. It opens possibility, fosters discovery, and facilitates change. For example, educators share an art-based inquiry for children and a curriculum for first-year college students. Improvisation shows up in sketchnoting and through dance. A filmmaker describes how storytelling strengthens listening. Mark-makers trace early use of graffiti and calligraphy as seeds for their current work. Climate justice, personal planning for people with disabilities, conflict resolution, and cross-cultural communication all employ visuals for societal transformation.

We also explore the development of new tools and methodologies, such as photo cards and visual dictionaries, sharing the invention and process behind products geared to facilitate.

Skilled non-visual facilitators share insights on forming strong partnerships for seamless collaborations. Articles on harvesting and organizational development convey integrated, holistic applications of visuals within change initiatives. Kinesthetic modeling and art therapy demonstrate practices which move beyond verbal language. And a research-based review names the mindsets needed to re-envision our ways of working.