Expressing Excitement for Complex Clay Circuits

 No matter the medium, creating art in a studio setting facilitates children's need to express and share their work with others. 

This young artist discusses her artistic process with her mother as she paints and collages beside her.

Another artist duo busily create a complex "electrical circuit" out of clay. The endeavor began when the boy noticed that the holes he created by pushing popsicle sticks into clay resembled an electrical outlet.

He bursts with enthusiasm as they work together with the clay, talking about the piece, directing what should go where, and sharing his excitement.

In this way, children build vocabulary as well as relationship and socialization skills as the process of art becomes a means of expression.

Happy Accidents Serve a Purpose

It is easy to get stuck after starting a painting. Sometimes artist get caught up

 in the details: deciding which colors to use where or trying to define the 

shapes perfectly before moving on. Other times artists develop some 

apprehension about the end product. What ever the reason, all artists 

benefit from a little nudge now and then.

 

This young artist's nudge seemed to present itself in the form of a happy accident.

The painting she had started was coming along rather slowly. 

After a spill in the studio, she became very enthusiastic about creating a print from the

paint on the floor. Near the end of the class she exclaimed how this was her 

favorite work of the day.

The next week, Kathryn presented a challenge to the 

artist: cover as much of the canvas with color in as little time possible.

She struggled a bit at first, but began to grasp the concept that spontaneity 

can be key when working with paint. A work of art doesn't have to be 

labored over for days to be a masterpiece or to evoke joy in the creator and

viewer. The young artist gained so much pleasure from the paint-spill

print, it was a helpful illustration that just as much pleasure

can come from a structured and planned painting.

Change it up!

     It's always fun to explore pastel and collage, but why not mix it up and use a different background? Such a seemingly small change from white rectangular shaped paper to black squares can be like night and day.

     These explorers started with shiny, metallic pastels, which show up nicely against the dark paper. They could also collage with colorful glue.

     They were then given the choice to add
gold, bronze, and silver paints to their artworks. 
Although the media stays the same, a slight change
in how materials are presented can allow young
artists a different experience. They inherently
welcome change as an opportunity to explore the
materials in new and different ways.

 

Inspiration from Previous Art

 

 After a warm up of sketching their glazed clay that just returned from the kiln, these artists were encouraged to paint standing up with their paper pinned to the wall.

Inspired by her glazed house, an artist first made a sketch that reflects the idea of the clay piece while not attempting an exact recreation of the work. She then used her sketch as a plan for her painting. Her process is one of reflection and reinvention, as she focused on a previous art work and cleverly recreated it in a different media.

New Ways of Thinking

 I'd like to expand on a previous blog post, as young artists continue to explore shadow and light in the studio. This class, paper was posted on the wall and light projected onto it.
Children were given markers and offered the chance to draw on the large sheets of paper.

As a mother and daughter played with the colorful transparent blocks on the projector, another child who had begun making marks on the paper noticed the movement of the blocks as they 

rolled up and down.

She began scribbling into the shapes she saw, and as they moved up she reached higher to follow.

Playing with the materials in a way she hadn't before, the young artist uses her understanding of cause and effect, as discussed in the previous post. Noticing the movement of the projection prompted a response to mimic this movement with marks on paper.

An Artist's Hands Can See

   

  







 With the help of art materials, young children observe with more than their eyes. They can notice differences in materials  by comparing how it physically feels in their hands.

   This young artist is seen here exploring the tactile sensation of first rolling, squishing, and pinching clay and then stamping paint onto paper.

While comparing different materials develops observation skills using the sense of touch, young artists also make comparisons of different methods of working with one material.

This enthusiastic stamper explores how it feels to use a small amount of paint for each separate stamping action, and on the same piece of paper proceeds to smear larger amounts of paint with a foam stamp.

Happy Groundhog Day! Did you see your shadow?

In addition to the light table, children have the option to explore light and shadow with projectors. They observed how colorful transparent blocks seemingly glow when placed on the projector, and noticed the shapes and colors that appeared on the wall as they arranged the objects. Shadows were also a fun effect, as they explored movement and the different shapes created by their hands as well as other opaque objects.  This interaction with light and shadow helps children understand cause and effect. What a great way to celebrate Groundhog Day!