The Joy of Seeing;  Sketching and Drawing as Mindfulness

A Practice Session with Bradford C. Grant
Friday, March 12th, 3 – 4 pm ET//12 – 1 pm PT

Free for ACMHE members
Non-member registration fee: $25

Registration has closed

How can we use sketching and drawing to see ourselves and the world more clearly? 

This session explores drawing as a route to mindfulness and reflection. Bradford Grant links seeing and drawing to self-awareness, and to transformational personal and social change. Whether you are an artist or haven’t drawn since elementary school, this session invites you to (re) discover drawing as an act of contemplative practice.  We shall focus on the process and meaning of seeing and knowing through drawing, rather than on the end product, to sketch a pathway to personal awareness. The session will include a short sketching practice, so please have a pen and notebook or journal nearby.

Bradford C. Grant is Professor of Architecture in the Department of Architecture of the College of Engineering and Architecture at Howard University, Washington DC. He has been in leadership roles at Hampton and Howard Universities as Chairperson, Director, Associate Dean and Interim Dean. As a registered architect and a distinguished educator, he has extensive experience in community design, contemplative practices through drawing in design education, and cultural factors in architecture. His community design work, research on the role of African American architects, and his teachings on “Drawing as Meditation” have earned him the Virginia Downtown Development Association Award, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Education Honor Award, the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award, and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society’s Contemplative Practice Fellowship.

Grant has served as past president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), Humanities DC, and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society (CMind). He is currently president of the board of the Healthy Building Network (HBN) and is the inaugural Instagram Artist in Residence for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Grant completed his graduate degree at the University of California Berkeley and undergraduate degree at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.