The Drawing Board is a collaborative artists group comprised of artist-educators Natalie Waldburger, Amy Swartz and JJ Lee, exploring the intersection of process, labour, drawing and performance. Our creative dialogue seeks to investigate the complexities of work and working relationships in the context of the institute. The artwork examines the role of creativity and collaboration mediated by institutional structures while simultaneously examining the historicized construction of racialized and gendered identity in the colonized space.
Our first public exhibition, "Back to the Drawing Board" was at Loop gallery in Toronto August 2017. Over four weeks, we used this artist-run space as a creative lab that was open to the public and focused on collaborative drawing installations and performances. All the installation and drawings exhibited alongside in the gallery were made collaboratively using materials evocative of office work. In mimicking the role of administration in relation to creative activity, we seek to perform the institutional structure and explore how this affects artistic form, engagement, activity, and individual identity.
The work results in a research activity into the role of the institute on the artistic activity of the individual. It also uses performance to explore this relationship and engage the participation of the public. This project speaks to the re-evaluation and self-critique that cultural institutions globally are undertaking. Most North American and European museums, galleries, and universities are re-evaluating their vision and mission statements to acknowledge the social and historical conditions of their origins in order to open up a critical dialogue about decolonization. Using performance and drawing, we explore the embedded systems and practices, which often exclude disproportionately underrepresented communities and individuals.
