The last art workshop for the Eco Design Fair was held last weekend with Shanyin Gongyi, a non-profit organization which provides educational programs to migrant women and other groups in need. In all there were 6 workshops held over the past two months with 5 different organizations, including more than 80 participants. The subject of ‘eco values’ is quite vague, but everyone was able to work out a personal point of view and a visual representation of their idea. View the symbols–>
Words and pictures are both tools we have to model ‘reality’. We often use them in connection with each other, for instance placing a caption on a photo or adding explanatory notes to a diagram, because doing so adds richer meaning. The eco values workshops put this principle into action, developing meaning through an iterative development of pictures and words: draw a picture, write a sentence, revise the picture, revise the sentence. What emerges is a picture and a sentence that together make a hazy notion more distinct.
The difficulty is knowing where to start. Without the skills and sensibility of an artist or the eloquence of a poet, most of us slip into familiar patterns when asked to freely draw or write and thereby in fact fail to be creative. Chinese characters offer a wonderful example of a potentially fruitful approach. All composite ideographs from Chinese (actually a small fraction of the total Chinese character set) combine simple pictures of things in nature, parts of the body, everyday use items, and other things to convey ideas, including quite subtle and abstract ideas.
Everyone can draw simple pictures and combine them in suggestive ways. A telephone on top of an ocean perhaps suggests long-distance communication. Add two people and maybe it suggests the value of keeping in touch with faraway friends. For the eco values workshops participants are asked to draw six things, with an emphasis on things in nature. After this step is completed people are asked to combine two or more in a way that suggests eco values. As ideas crystallize different objects are added, and in the same way as Chinese characters have evolved, the pictures are integrated, simplified, rearranged or otherwise transformed.
Does this process actually work? The completed symbols are the best measure. They were created by a diverse mix of individuals, many with very little experience with drawing. Some like Lu Juefei’s “dream” and William Liao’s “a little awareness” are stylized and sensuous. Other’s like Jim Zhang’s “shape the air” are delightfully straightforward. Many contain unexpected things: a birthday cake; firecrackers; a caterpillar; a crystal. There are quite a few fish. There may be images that to some express a new and interesting perspective on eco values. Some may seem sentimental or naive. Each of them, however, expresses something personal.
This, in the end, is the whole point. Values are often spoken about in ways that suggest they are ready-made, preconceived notions implicit in society. We don’t get enough opportunities to illuminate values as they are understood by us personally. 
Actively articulating them, through pictures, words and other forms of expression is a very necessary way we bring them up to date with our contemporary context, as well as assert them in the world.
If you are a teacher or a trainer and would like to try this art creation activity in your classroom please click here to view “ID”ographs, a workshop guide including helpful examples of Chinese ideographs, and feel free to write to us, leave a comment or otherwise get in touch.