Generative Scribing

What is generative scribing? Who can scribe? This is my learning path. español

When I was a kid, I used to draw. Not always well, and being the youngest of three sisters, I always admired my older sisters´ drawings, and it was easier to ask them for help to finish. And they were great sisters and always helped me out, so I had great grades at school while thinking I did not draw well.

In secondary school, our art teacher was a local renowned painter. He was called Aldo Severi. He had a very interesting strategy to grade our works: he asked us to hang them all in the front of the class, and the entire class would say what they liked or disliked from each drawing, not knowing who the author was. At the end of the class we decided which drawing was the best one, which one was the worst, and then he graded the whole class according to the ranking agreed upon.

Later, I had the chance to become his family´s friend, and, when I was at their home, he invited me to his studio and asked for my opinion on his paintings. He was a professional painter and I was only 15, I was shocked that he wanted my opinion. He listened attentively to what I had to say. He explained to me that, even if he cared about what critics said about his work, he was really interested in knowing what “common” people thought and felt about his paintings.

Many years later, I got married to the son of a renowned political caricaturist, who published his work every day in a national newspaper. And his work was seen every day by millions of people, gathering critiques, feelings, and diverse emotions depending on the political perspective of the audience. There were threats, strong emotions, opinions and debates raised by his drawings. I never thought art would be so important and strong. Sometimes I felt fear, vulnerable, sometimes proud of his courage and simplicity. When he passed away, I chose to keep his box of crayons.

Life continued and the pandemic became part of the picture. Among the thousand things I did at home during the longest lock-down in the world, there was Kelvy Bird´s course on Generative Scribing. At over 50 I started drawing again, with my new box of crayons, and it helped me stay focused during the long zoom sessions that became commonplace during the pandemic. In Kelvy´s course, I learned how to structure and give intention to my drawings. I also realized that my drawings needed the feedback of other people to be complete and connect with the heart. It was not important what I tried to draw, but what people saw in my drawings. Their perspectives made sense and connected with what needed to be sensed, what the field was showing us and I, alone, was not able to see.

Since then, we have been gathering, once a week, with a group of people from all over the world to listen, draw and feel together. A teaching and learning community to see, feel and perceive what needs to emerge.