The Power of Doodling

As it is National Doodle Day, I thought I would base this piece around the reaction to doodling at a recent study trip in Edinburgh. Eleven students and two tutors, Jane Mitchell and Olivia Irvine, attended the study trip to the Louise Bourgeois exhibition last month. This was held in two venues. There were major sculptural works in ‘A Woman Without Secrets’ at the Gallery of Modern Art (on until 18 May) and works on paper in ‘I Give Everything Away’ at the Fruitmarket Gallery (now finished). As there has already been an informative blog written about the work at the first venue, I shall focus on the second. The exhibition was divided into two main areas- downstairs there were the Insomnia Drawings and upstairs large etchings made towards the end of her life.
A series of 220 drawings made up the Insomnia Drawings. It is important to note that Bourgeois did not intend these to be exhibited. She may not even have seen them as art. Her assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, collected them each morning where they were discarded, collating and framing them. During the years of 1994 and 95, Bourgeois suffered an eight month bout of insomnia. Rather than lying in bed tossing and turning, she sat up and drew. Sometimes she was half asleep and at others more alert. She drew, mainly with biro, on cheap paper from jotters and music manuscript blanks. She drew whatever came to her head. Many of these drawings take the form of precise geometrical patterns. Some would be fairly laboured and filled in with colour. Other doodles would be childlike and draw on deep psychological concerns fuelled by anxiety. A few were even violent, like one of a man being sawn in two. It is interesting that some of the drawings developed into themes that build up over several nights. For example, a simple drawing of squiggles led to the drawing of waves, which led to further embellishments resembling breasts.

We had a discussion about the power of doodling. Many students admitted to doodling during meetings. One student, involved in education, said that recent research showed that we shouldn’t stop children doodling during class because it helped them concentrate. Similar repetitive actions like twirling hair and manipulating sticky tack had the same effect. So, does doodling have any value beyond that? Not one student claimed to actually use their doodling in their work. They thought that the process of doodling would then become too self-conscious. If we copy a doodle does it lose its potency?
However, it was agreed that Bourgeois’ large etchings overdrawn with pencil, watercolour and ink that were made during her last decade may have been influenced by her doodles made during her earlier insomnia period. The etchings were drawn on to large plates by her unsteady hand. She could only work on one small area at a time, her assistant turning the plate for her. They contain what look like unconscious mark making and patterns. Certain symbols, like spirals appear in both. What was agreed was that they were very powerful images indeed that evoked, in many, a strong personal response. Could doodling really have this power?