Taking Cues

Enjoying the feeling of paint on his hand, this artist decided to explore how paint feels on his face. 

The sensory quality of the material was too much to resist! 

Observing close by, this young artist decided to mimic 

his actions and feel how the paint  felt on her own skin. 

The explorations of both children were welcome and accepted by

parents and caregivers, as they understood the importance of this sensory exploration. 

Limits were set, of course, and the paint was washed off before they moved on 

to the next great adventure. This gave the children a feeling of safety and 

encouragement to explore their environment and the materials 

within the boundaries of the adult facilitated studio.

 

Later in the morning, the young artist observed another girl using scissors to cut colorful tape for her art work. She insisted on a pair of scissors herself and began exploring these new materials in her own way.

In this way, children learn from observing other young artists in the studio and feel free to take the lead and explore materials with the facilitation of their supportive caregivers.

June's first paintings!

Artists excitement grew as they mixed paints, making new colors from the primary colors red, blue, and yellow (along with some white), and discovering endless color combinations.

 After mixing, artists painted with their unique and personal color palette. Observing these artists at work, it is interesting to note the various styles of painting and stages of development of each child.



 

 A bit younger, this painter is very intrigued by the sensory aspect of the material. He uses all of the colors that he mixed, and is more interested in covering the paper with paint than creating shapes or designs.

This young artist had an imaginative story to go along with her painting when she was finished. There are trees on the right and an orange and yellow backpack in the middle. The backpack has a big bow on it because it is a present for the people who are resting on the ground near the tree.

Her neighbor  created a painting of a rainbow along with other details. She often used two brushes loaded with different colors simultaneously.







This young artist was a little shy when sharing about her painting, but she explained to the group that there is a bug inside a box!

The collection at the end of class was greatly admired and each artist shared a little bit about their process or the stories that accompany their paintings.

Creating more than art

The first day of our two week June class kicked off this Monday!

Artists began with mandalas to introduce themselves, telling

everyone their name and what kind of art they enjoyed creating.

 I noticed much of the remainder of the time was spent getting a

 feel for the studio as well as getting to know each other.

This young artist enjoyed building a complex structure with clay. He was very focused 

and engaged during his creation.

These builders worked together to create with blocks
a jail/dungeon for the tiger and dragon that
live at Art at the Center.

As different materials were introduced, artist explored familiar 

and new ways of creating, sharing with others as they painted, drew or built.

 The artists created works of art that reflect their observations and exploration,

 but also began to create relationships with others and the studio. 

We are excited to see these relationships develop over the next couple of weeks!

 Art making is a language children use to communicate and express themselves. This young artist is keen on exploring the many different art media in the studio. She listens as well as verbally comments on her work and the materials available to her... in three different languages!

 In between exploring the materials, she also often engages others and myself in conversation about different things she notices in the studio, from art hanging on the walls to the various materials on the shelves. Although I cannot quite comprehend the words she is speaking, being a mixture of Spanish, Turkish, and English, she is understood on many different levels.

The studio environment facilitates this young artists creativity as a means to explore materials and reflect on her art process. By interacting with others in the studio she develops verbal skills and expands her vocabulary.

With mono prints artists can explore painting a 

different surface other than paper, in this case glass, 

and printing their image onto paper.

This young artist took notice of how this method 

enabled her to create multiple prints on one paper

from the same image. After lifting her paper

she exclaimed, "Look! Now there are 

two girls together!"

  She continued to make multiple prints,
adding a rainbow and a cat to create a scene.

Searching for just the right color

Sifting through the treasures in our collage bins, this young artist was interested in finding everything and anything pink!

As she moved around the table, she collected bits of paper, fabric,

tissue, mylar, and buttons that met her color requirements.

Often the other artists offered her pieces that they found, and

while still focusing on their own work, it became a group effort

to help her find just the right pieces for her art work.

 

 

 This social interaction occurs naturally during the creative process
and is an innate value of the art studio. Others observed her particular interest
 and the group discussed her process with each other. Working side by side in the studio,
young artists become comfortable and develop a sense of community.

Chance Discovery

Every moment in the studio is an opportunity for discovery, only sometimes
that discovery is not the one we anticipated!

This young artist was busy creating her second collage when suddenly,
as her newly loaded brush went from glue towards paper, she stopped.
After a few seconds of moving her brush back and forth, she commented,
"Look at that! It's pink and green!"

 

 

It took us a moment to realize she had noticed the different color shadows that were cast by the red, blue, and green colored lights! The pair then played with shadows and light exploring and acknowledging the excitement of this new discovery!

 

Some artists are naturally very focused on 

the sensory aspect of art making. This young artist 

often becomes a bit mesmerized with more fluid

materials such as wet clay and paint.

This week, after enjoying the sensation of smooth red clay on her hands as she built an elephant pinch pot, she moved on to paint exclaiming, "This is going to be a finger painting!"


 She started making individual fingerprints all over the paper. Unlike the previous week's painting, in which she smoothly smeared paint together to create her painting, this time she uniformly touched just the tips of her fingers,
creating a stippling effect (stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating shading by using small dots).

 

At the end of class, she shared with the other artists the inspiration for this piece. She explained that she had seen in a gallery a very large portrait of a woman that the artist created using only his fingerprints.

 

Making the connection between her method of working with materials
and how this artist created the portrait, she applied her
knowledge of the art world to her own creative process.

In the studio, we love to see these connections to the art world and
watch as young artists progress with their individual styles!

(Chuck Close, Georgia Fingerprint 1)