Raising Young Artists
by Skila Brown
Your refrigerator is likely covered with masterpieces. You’ve probably had chalk, paint and play-dough on every surface of your home. So it seems crazy to suggest that you’d need to take even a moment to encourage your child’s artistic side. Don’t art and children come together naturally on their own?
Yes and no. While most children feel less inhibited about art than adults, and are usually more eager and excited to create, sometimes obstacles prevent them from reaching their full potential. And many times, those obstacles are A-D-U-L-T-S.
With good intentions, many parents have expectations about what art should look like and how to help their child produce it, but artists and art educators have a different perspective.
“Art is a creative process, not a pre-planned product,” says MaryAnn Kohl, author of several art books for teachers and children. “Picture the difference. A child is given cotton balls, glue, scraps of paper, and a paper plate. These materials will become part of a creative experiment for a child, as they manipulate and explore the possibilities. There is no planned design or product. However, if someone were to require the child to make a bunny on the paper plate from a pre-designed bunny that is shown to the child as the example to follow, all creativity is lost and the project becomes a craft.”
Kids certainly get to experience their share of craft-time. Holidays, especially, seem to invite schools to line up the children to make these ready-to-assemble creations. And while there is some value in learning to follow directions during these activities, children are getting some unintended lessons.
