Artist Prompt: Sound Drawing
At Dia, our education department works closely with artists. These artist-designed prompts encourage people of all ages to connect with their surroundings as they relate to the body and find ways to be creative within the home.
Sound Drawing
Designed by Audra Wolowiec
1. Tuning
Listen very closely to your surroundings.
Are you in a comfortable position?
Try closing your eyes.
What do you hear?
Try listening in different places. Can you notice the subtle differences?
How long are you able to listen?
2. Drawing
Can you draw the sounds that you hear with a pencil on paper?
Try to focus on one sound and create marks that describe the sound.
What might the sound of a bird look like?
The sound of traffic?
The sound of a dog barking?
What does something loud look like or something quiet?
Can you draw all the sounds together at the same time?
What happens when you listen to music? Can you draw your favorite song?
3. Playing
These drawings are sometimes called a “score” or “notation” and relate to how we read musical notes.
Can you play your sound drawing, so that each mark makes a sound?
What might a long line sound like, a curvy line, or lots of little marks?
How will you make the sounds? Will you use your voice or your body (like clapping or tapping your feet)?
Do you have instruments at home to play these sound drawings?
Musical notation is created on special paper that looks like this:
If you have a printer, try printing out this blank music sheet to create sound drawings directly onto it like a musical score where each drawn line or mark will create different sounds.
Download music sheet
We would like to see your creations and add a selection of them to the blog. Please share images of your work by emailing submissions@diaart.org.
Audra Wolowiec is an interdisciplinary artist whose work oscillates between sculpture, installation, text, and performance with an emphasis on sound and the material qualities of language. Wolowiec currently teaches at Parsons School of Design in New York City and is also the founder and director of the publishing platform Gravel Projects. Wolowiec is an artist educator at Dia Beacon working with the Arts Education Program.
