Written by Colin Secore
Photography by Maxine Leu
In all my years of working with the D.R.A.W., there has been no event that captures the essence of what we do here more than the Draw-a-thon. Inspired by a similar event held annually in New Orleans, we cover the walls and floor in paper and encourage people to draw on everything. The brains behind the operation, Lara Giordano, orchestrated the planning and execution. The PUGGsters were the soldiers who crafted different ideas for the event and carried out the creation of various elements. Everyone’s combined effort made the Draw-a-thon an unforgettable piece of D.R.A.W. history.
With the Draw-a-thon of last year on our shoulders, we had several ideas to work with. We decided which ideas to keep from the past event and which new ones to implement. Pet Portraits, Drawing in Space, and a small Origami table were brought back. Origami is self-explanatory. Pet Portraits were small portraits people would draw their pets in, and then set them up on a paper fireplace we made. Drawing in Space was a station where people would come to bend wire into whatever they liked and then hang it from blue and pink clouds.
We had some new ideas stewing in our minds since the first Draw-a-thon. One I remember suggesting back in the fall was the idea of putting prompts in plastic eggs and hiding them around the studio. What ended up happening was a paper mache stump topped with a paper nest, which we put the eggs into. People could pick one at random and draw what the prompt demanded on a leaf, but instead people ended up taping the prompts to the wall and drawing on the area around it. Nick proposed another idea where we create a large cardboard refrigerator door that people could pin their work on. We made one in bright pink and it was popular with all ages.
One major part that gives the Draw-a-thon character is the legendary Draw-a-Tron. This year its creation was spearheaded by Kaya, Nick, and Maizy. We also enlisted the help of Soapbox Derby veteran Felix Olivieri to learn several cardboard construction techniques. What the Draw-a-Tron did was create and pop out a small drawing based on whichever category the visitor chose. At least that’s the story we gave it. In reality, someone would sit inside the Draw-a-ton with pre-made drawings and activate the mechanisms as necessary. The Draw-a-Tron has become our mascot for the event, being on our merch and general marketing. It was a massive hit, leading to us running out of drawings to give out multiple times.
By the time of the event, I feel as though many of us were in need of a break. A lot of preparations came down to the very day before and produced a lot of stress. Those staying at the event for the full twelve hours would certainly face some exhaustion as well. Luckily, the Draw-a-thon was laid back, flexible, and an excellent creative outlet. I personally found it to be a satisfying conclusion to everyone’s efforts.
From 10 AM to 6 PM, the Draw-a-thon was oriented to be family friendly. From 6 PM to 10 PM, it was made to be more mature with as a space for older artists to create. I arrived at around 4:30 PM and stayed until 10. I had invited a few friends to the event and at some point we had gravitated to the bathroom. Paper was up in the bathroom as well. We started proposing questions about “stink” before more people piled in to contribute to what became the “Stink Wall.” At one point we had eleven people all at once in the bathroom. Immature it may be, I find that it was an ideal example of creative minds coming together and having a laugh about what they make.
In my praises for the Draw-a-thon, I should state that it stands for a very valuable cause. One of our goals is to further establish art as work. All of the donations received during events like the Draw-a-thon goes towards helping that goal. In the process we’re able to bring various people together under a similar interest: art. The Draw-a-thon, I believe, succeeds at this better than any event we’ve held so far.
