Deb Putnoi

Mistakes are pathways to new discoveries. Artist and educator Deb Putnoi describes what she finds in classrooms of all ages where students are scared to draw because they are scared to make a mistake or "do it wrong." Even young children are scared. Through simple open ended drawing exercises Putnoi through her Drawing Lab method helps students and teachers in the classroom let go of fear and find ways to embrace their "mistakes" and follow the journey of their lines. Once we learn how to still our fearful minds and engage directly with our creative selves then we start to see that learning, creating and living are messy endeavors and "mistakes" may be hidden opportunities if we just let ourselves stay open to possibility.

Artist Deb Putnoi describes the first time she drew a nude model when she was 16 at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Putnoi says: "I realized that I fully clothed was more naked in my drawings than this model had been in the middle of the classroom, in front of me. My line, my drawings were a fishing pole into my inner soul to the core of who I was—my line revealed my angst in its shaky, unsure line but it was my line, one that I would continue to develop."

Leading listeners, Putnoi teaches you how to draw a blind contour drawing.  

It is a small but powerful act. One that everyone can do. Drawing. It is a pencil, ballpoint pen, charcoal on paper. It is a mark in the sand, chalk on the sidewalk. Drawing, is a visual language. Making marks on a surface is a truly democratic activity, something that everyone regardless of age, culture, socio-economic status can take part in. So why is there so much fear and anxiety about the process? If I talk to most people about drawing I usually hear, “oh I couldn’t draw a straight line.” In this episode I talk about the power of drawing together and seeing that that we all have our own individual visual voice. 

Art can change your life if you let it. Welcome to artist and educator Deb Putnoi’s Art For A Change Podcast. Putnoi is a drawing activist who believes that the power to create personal and community change can happen through the tip of a pencil. Listen today to learn how you can unlock your one of a kind Drawing Mind! You exercise your body now exercise your brain through drawing! Learn to Make Your Mark!