Over the course of three months, Frank Olive and 30 fourth-grade students from The Children’s Studio School in downtown Washington DC, collaborated on over 600 drawings. Olive, known to the children as “Baba Frankie”, sent written phrases daily via fax machine, which were then photocopied and distributed among the students to be incorporated into their own drawings. The phrases and subsequent drawings focused on family, race, language and popular culture in an attempt to address topics relevant to the children’s daily lives.
A selection of the 200 collaborative drawings was exhibited in an empty classroom at the school, along with twenty drawings by Olive placed around the room on wooden signposts. These ‘signs’ directed the students and visitors to perform simple activities focused on recognizing aspects of their surroundings. Some of the signs posed questions; others suggested manipulating objects, while others voiced strong opinions.
