Category: Workshops

Scribing: An Art and Practice

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The bird comes home to nest. Finally—after some 25 years of traveling around the globe to draw during conferences, meetings, and all kinds of formal and informal gatherings—I have a unique opportunity to exhibit a range of work here in my current town, Somerville MA. Curating highlights from my archives, the ~20 drawings, digital prints, and and video recordings will present a unique window into the art and practice of scribing.

The exhibit will be on view at the Gallery at Washington Street, 321 Washington Street Somerville, MA 02143 on Saturdays 12-4pm, or by appointment 857-928-8088.

In conjunction, local “Studio Session” workshops will offer basic frameworks and tools to those interested in learning more:

  • The Art of Scribing – Sunday, October 6 from 9am-12pm
    Learn about the “art of scribing”—a practice that visually represents ideas while people talk—and its role in transforming conversation and decision-making. Participants will explore the profession, learn 4 Levels of Scribing, and experiment with scribing conversation.
  • Levels of Listening – Saturday, October 12 from 9am-12pm
    Listening is a cornerstone of all facilitative work. This session will include a review of “Levels of Listening” (by Otto Scharmer), and apply the levels directly to scribing. Participants will practice conversing and drawing with different levels: factual, relational, and generative.
  • Systems Scribing – Sunday, October 13 from 9am-12pm
    Here we dive into the basics of systems scribing and present a framework based on systems thinking, systems being, and systems living (as informed by this article and collaboration with Jessica Riehl). Participants will learn specific methods and techniques for recognizing basic feedback loops in conversation and for 2D modeling.

Who should participate?

These sessions are open to anyone who is interested in the “live” visual practice of scribing, with no previous experience required. Drawing will be our primary form of expression, and conversation the primary form of shared reflection. Ages 12 and older welcome. No childcare provided on site.

Click here for more information or here to register directly.

The gallery is a 3-minute walk from Union Square (heading towards Harvard Square on Washington Street, gallery on right), or a 20-minute walk from Harvard Square (heading on Kirkland street until it turns into Washington Street, gallery on left).  It’s also near or on the following bus routes: 87, 83, 86, 91. Parking available behind the gallery, to the right of the Bornstein Rug & Floor Coverings Company.

For example: On view, a reproduction of my first intentional “systems scribing” from the World Economic Forum – Davos 2012:

 

Visual Practice Workshop: New York

Am happy, in these challenging times, to announce that registration for another visual practice workshop is officially OPEN. To sign up immediately, CLICK HERE. To learn more, keep reading.

It’s my strong belief that visuals serve as key facilitative aids for collective seeing and navigation. And as visual practitioners, we face a particular need and opportunity to expand the awareness, mindsets, and choices that feed our outward expression.

This latest program will push the boundaries of our current delivery model. Over three days – in a dedicated residence/retreat environment – we will combine theory, exercises, reflection, and peer learning to explore the following:

  • A model of practice that grounds inner cultivation
  • Ways to locate and relax into our most authentic selves
  • Levels of listening, systems thinking, discernment, and generative scribing
  • What it means to draw from, and for, an emerging future reality
  • Mapping next steps for projects and/or professional development

The immersive program is designed for intermediate and advanced visual practitioners who wish to strengthen and deepen their existing knowledge, towards developing mastery in the profession and field. While non-scribes facilitators are welcome, drawing will be the primary form of practice; be prepared to use this expression as the main means of application over the course of the program.

We’ll start getting to know each other over dinner on Tuesday, May 16th, and work at a sometimes intense and sometimes relaxed pace through Friday the 19th. The venue is well-known to me: Edith Macy Conference Center in Briarcliff, NY – a stone’s throw away from where I grew up in Croton-on-Hudson. It’s a particular joy to bring this activity back to the place that held my youthful, wooded wandering.

I won’t go into more details (you can find them here) – will just add some pics from the latest workshop in Bologna. Please email me with any questions. And please share this post freely with anyone who might be interested.

Visual Practice Workshop: Bologna

Having experienced a fruitful workshop in Taipei November 2106 (above photos), we are happy to announce an upcoming workshop in Bologna, Italy 15-17 February 2017. Costs: Individuals €1,800 – Students €600 – Scholarship on request.

This workshop is designed for intermediate and advanced visual practitioners and facilitators who wish to strengthen and deepen their existing knowledge, towards developing mastery in their profession and field.

DOWNLOAD FLYER: English – Chinese
REGISTER HERE or contact Alfredo Carlo: alfredo.carlo@thevalueweb.org

THE CALL:

In times of widespread transition, visuals serve as key facilitative aids for collective seeing and navigation. Live scribing–giving form to the content of a social body, in the moment and across boundaries–is a method especially suited to address today’s great challenges. As visual practitioners seeking to meet and influence these current realities, we face a particular need and opportunity to expand our awareness, mindsets, and choices that feed into our outward expression.

THE LEARNING:

Over the three days we will combine theory, exercises, reflection, and peer learning to explore the following topics:

  • Highlights of work from around the world to surface trends and leading examples
  • The call of our times for visuals as a primary means of communication
  • A Model of Practice that grounds inner cultivation
  • Extensive work in areas of Presencing, levels of listening, systems thinking, discernment, and generative scribing
  • Dialogue on what it means to draw from and for an emerging future reality
  • Review of experience with large scale change initiatives

PARTICIPATION:

Drawing will be the primary form of practice. It is not required that participants be skilled scribes – but be prepared to use this expression as the main means of application over the course of the workshop.

GUIDES:

The workshop will be led by internationally recognized practitioners:

Kelvy Bird has been working as a scribe in the fields of human and organizational development since 1995, with a focus on leadership, collective intelligence, and systems thinking. As part of the Presencing Institute’s core team since 2007, Kelvy has helped shape many of the global community offerings, most recently the edX course: U.Lab: Leading from the Emerging Future, for which she provides extensive visual material. In 2016, Kelvy co-edited the anthology: Drawn Together through Visual Practice, and is currently completing her manuscript: On Scribing. At heart, Kelvy is an abstract painter, having received a BFA and BA from Cornell University.

Alfredo Carlo, born in 1975 in Brussels, is a designer of collaborative processes and a graphic facilitator. He’s the founding partner of Housatonic Design Network and since 2011 partner of Matter Group. Together these organizations deliver graphic facilitation and collaborative sessions to facilitate complexity in organisations and in communication. Alfredo is a member of The Value Web, a not-for-profit organization made of an international facilitators and designers network, which helps big and medium organizations all over the world in their processes of research for systemic and complex problems solutions.

Jayce Pei Yu Lee is big at heart, small in size, and organic in spirit. Born in 1972 in Taipei, Taiwan, she studied Typographic Design and Fine Arts while lived in New Zealand for 8 years. She has diverse professional experience ranging from graphic design, visual merchandising, retail marketing, and sales. She devotes her time to creative work and bilingual graphic facilitation (Mandarin/ English) with the MGTaylor Methodology and, since 2010, in collaboration with The Value Web at the Summer Davos in China. She is a member of The Value Web, a fellow traveller of Theory U, and a visual collaborator with the u.lab MOOC since 2015.

LOGISTICS:

Dates: Wednesday 15th February (starts 09.00) to Friday 17th February (ends 16.00)

Venue: Housatonic Studio, Via Battindarno 159/2, Bologna, Italy

Costs: Individuals €1,800 – Students €600 – Scholarship on request.

Fees include lunches & coffee breaks every day, as well as course materials and basic supplies. Accommodation and dinners are not included. Recommended hotel options will be sent with registration info.

REGISTRATION: CLICK HERE or contact Alfredo Carlo: alfredo.carlo@thevalueweb.org

To receive notices about the upcoming North America workshop 17-19 May 2017, please sign up for our general mailing list here.

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Images by Tsunami Lin from the Taipei Workshop, November 2016