The National Scrollathon involves the participation of over 250,000 people from all 50 states and territories to create one single artwork, which will be displayed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2026 (May 26 - September 7, 2026).
The workshop is run by New York brothers and artists Steve and William Ladd, who have collaborated and made art together for 25 years. They came up with the idea of a scrollathon back in 2006. It used found and upcycled materials to make an art object—a scroll. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum hosted the Connecticut event on February 25.
Steve and William will travel all around the country for the next year to collect the artworks from every state. They’ve already visited ten states.
“Right now, we're at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut, working with this community. But over the next year, we're working in all 50 states, five inhabited territories, in Washington D.C. …So while we're thinking about the individual artworks, we also have to think about them in conjunction with the rest of the artworks that are going to be coming together, and they're going to be positioned throughout the campus” Steve said. “And we're thinking about states working together on collaborative artworks. For Connecticut we chose these deep pinks and reds and chocolates, and it's going to sit next to three other artworks that all go from one spectrum to the other” continues his brother.
They say they notice many similarities between people from different parts of the country.
All participants are asked to make a scroll. They take two trimmings of fabric and roll them together, title it, place it in a souvenir tin, and finally share with the rest of the group the story that their scroll tells. That scroll is for them to keep.
They then get to do a second scroll, which will go into the collaborative masterwork representing the state. This time, participants roll the two fabric strips around a wooden rod that they decorate and personalize. That “becomes their representation in this larger artwork,” William said.
“So, everybody is contributing to that collaborative artwork and that act of unification is happening within the context of their community,” Steve said. “And then that finished artwork made with 100 people in the community represents the collector of contributions of people from this community. So just literally in the actual finished object, you have that unification of the community happening.”
The idea is that anyone can create art.
“Over the years, we've tried to simplify the project so much so that anyone of any background or ability can come in and, within ten minutes of being in the space, use art as a lens for personal storytelling and making this very simple scroll,” Steve said. “You know, there's no barrier to entry for that. Everyone can do it, not just artists.” “Anybody that walks into that room immediately thinks “Oh, I can do that. I can't paint, I can't draw, yeah, but you're just scrolling.” It takes a minute to make a scroll. If it’s not super tight or it doesn't feel right, then you have the opportunity to re-scroll it and make it again.”
“It's a critical moment for us in the world to come together and to hear each other's stories, and, you know, a lot of times, people don't feel valued or feel like their stories aren’t important,” Steve said. “During the scrollathon, we directly tell everyone that we value them and that their stories are important, and then their stories are the stories that make up America's stories. And when we have an opportunity to express our stories, and then directly after that experience, coming together to work together to make one work of art, everybody is working together with their community, and that simple act of coming together can demonstrate in a larger world and in our larger country, how we can all work together.”
