The SUBONE Field Drawing, done in June of 2006, was a collaborative project bringing together art, science and technology. The project was inspired by the language and form of graffiti and was realized in both virtual and actual space.

The acronym SUBONE stands for supplying urban beautification offering new experiences; it is a moniker for painter Tim Clorius who is the founder and director of SUBONE Mural Workshops. Clorius works in tandem with arts coordinator Andrew Coffin to offer mural workshops to Portland youth and has also been commissioned to do numerous public murals on the Portland peninsula. The mural workshops foster creativity and provide an outlet for youth to express their views and opinions. Clorius and Coffin teamed up with Piribeck, Deck and Gray to create a monumental tag in a large field in the East Bayside neighborhood. The idea was to provide a positive cultural sign that would be recognized by neighborhood residents, many of whom had worked with members of the team on other community art projects.

Piribeck, whose recent work centers around an interplay between Art and GISci, was responsible for creating visualizations instrumental to the planning and implementation of the field drawing. Clorius designed the SUBONE graphic, which was scanned and imported into GIS software where it was layered over an aerial view of Portland provided by the Maine Office of Geographic Information Science. Coordinates taken in the field were used to size and geo-reference key points on the graphic. The point data was loaded into a GPS data logger so that the "go to" function could be used to establish the layout for the graphic. Because the data logger can be as much as 5-10 meters off, it was necessary to manually measure the field and estimage distances visually. The final drawing was thus a result of calculation and estimation, which is much the same process used in traditional landscape drawing where perspective systems based upon geometric grids are combined with free hand drawing based upon visual comparisons, math is balanced by intuitiion and eye/body coordination. The entire process although mediated through satellite technology (head in the sky) was in the end a very physical endeavor (feet on the ground).

At the time of the project Lauren Deck was a staff member at PROP (People's Regional Opportunity Program) and through her capacity as coordinator of neighborhood projects was familiar with many of the youth living in East Bayside. One of her friends stopped by to observe and help with surveying tape clean up.

The SUBONE Field Drawing is part of larger, multi-faceted projects designed to bring art, science and technology together in public environments providing a means for cultivating creativity and community empowerment.