Rarely is the act of drawing considered a monumental enterprise. But for the past four decades, Richard Serra, renowned for his massive minimalist sculptures of steel, has evolved this simple, age-old practice into large-scale interior installations that compete with the immense presence of his work with metal.

Organized by The Menil Collection, Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective marks the first survey of the artist's drawing work to be shown in the United States. After well-received runs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition concludes its national tour at the Menil, where it is on view through June 10.

The artist himself led nearly 70 guests on a Thursday preview tour of the show. It began with a display of notebooks and a gallery of early studies he told the crowd were never intended for display, but helped to tell the story of his ongoing involvement with the process of drawing.

He described much of these works on paper as "private recordings," personal documents he used to help retain what he'd seen and done in the 1960s and early '70s. Though it has taken a variety of forms, this technique of recording time through art has remained a central theme throughout his career.

"I really believe in the nature of process," Serra told his audience. "I don't think you can start at the end . . . It's important to find your own tools and your own procedures."

He cited Jackson Pollock's drips, Jasper Johns' stencils, Cézanne's paint marks and Seurat's pointillism as hallmarks in process — moments in art history when changes and evolutions in technique pushed painting in new directions.

The museum worked directly with the artist to create the main exhibition space, a chain of small galleries tracing Serra's drawing output from the mid-'70s to a final site-specific installation created for the Menil show.

Menil curator Michelle White, who co-organized the exhibit with Menil drawing curator Bernice Rose and SFMOMA's Gary Garrels, told CultureMap that Serra has been in Houston two of the past four weeks to build out the galleries.

"We've been coordinating with Richard since October," she said. "Working with models in his studio, he's been able to be extremely involved in a truly custom design."

The bulk of the show focuses on Serra's "Installation Drawings," large swaths of linen covered with countless layers of black paintstick that have been stapled onto the wall. The pieces define the architectural edges of each room as much as they seem to create mysterious dark windows and doors to galleries that aren't there.

Serra closed his exhibition tour with a look at several films he made with friend and noted composer Philip Glass. Though he more or less abandoned filmmaking by 1974, he noted the medium's ability to capture the nature of artistic process he explores with drawing. See video above.

Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective is on view at The Menil Collection through June 10. Visit the museum's website for details and upcoming programs.