Blossoming Craftsmen

Exploring materials creatively involves learning 

the different qualities and characteristics of each material. 

Children develop a sense of craft by observing 

materials and how the materials respond to different actions applied

using their hands as well as tools.

 

Children discover that clay, for instance, can be manipulated by tearing, squishing, pressing, pounding, cutting, and poking.

Often, these two artists naturally begin the clean up process with clay when they feel it is time! They enjoy the routine of caring for the clay when finished exploring the material.

Through studio clean up routines they are not only learning skills necessary to engaging in a community setting, but also continuing to develop craft as they learn to care for materials.

Helping Hands

 

Engaging in art making 

promotes in children the ability to 

focus and concentrate on the task at hand. 

With the parent/caretaker's support, young artists explore freely, leading the way to  discovering new possibilities with the different materials.

 

 

A helping hand offers suggestions for restoring

the tops of trees on this proud young artist's 

carefully built farm. 

The parent and care giver provide both physical and emotional support for young artists

as they learn and discover through 

different materials. 

At times the care giver may actively engage in the process, while in other instances merely being present offers this support. In this supportive environment young children develop a sense of mastery and build self-esteem.

Are you drawn to drawing?

 For our first exploration in the studio, our explorers were
offered warm colored pastels as well as warm colored paints to observe.

Already in their explorations, a preference for materials is starting to emerge.
While all young artists experimented with all materials,
some were drawn to a specific medium.

For the fashionable artist in polka-dots, painting on the wall with unusual brushes
offered a smooth and energetic feeling. She explored a large range of motion
with her arms as she created long and smooth brush strokes. 

 

 

This sibling duo enjoyed making more definite shapes and designs with pastels, naming objects in their drawings and sometimes telling narratives for their images.

Over the Spring session, we will see how these preferences change and/or are made stronger as they are introduced to new materials and new discoveries are made with familiar materials.

 

Friday Afternoon Studio!

In our first Afternoon Studio class this past Friday, 

children dabbled in some of the art materials we'll be 

working with in the studio for the next six weeks.

Already, they're work with clay has built excitement
 for further exploration and creative energy.

Documented below, a young artist demonstrates utmost
concentration and focus as he persists in his endeavor to use
 his entire ball of clay for a snake.

Piece by piece, he tore the clay and pressed it into this long, winding, 

representation of a snake. 

He was beaming with pride upon completion of his creation! 

We are eager to see where he and the other 

artists find themselves next week based on what they've learned

 about the materials in just this one class.

 

Everyone Can Benefit from the Therapeutic Values Inherent in Art

       For a group presentation in my Child Art Therapy course at GWU's Graduate Art Therapy program, a classmate, Stewart Morgan, and I discussed a chapter in Judith Rubin's Child Art Therapy titled, "Helping the Normal Child Through Art." In the chapter, Rubin, who has contributed to the art therapy field for over 40 years, highlights art making as a "primary form of prevention," asserting that all values inherent in art are therapeutic. Rubin lists the following qualities that art making naturally offers children:

• Manage tools and media to make personal statements
• Develop ego strength from mastering, build self esteem
• Think divergently
• Express themselves and acquire  perceptual vocabulary to organize experiences
• Create a form for difficult feelings
• Look with open eyes, encounter world without fear
• Gain insight on dealing with normal stresses
• Explore alternate solutions to problems, take risks, fail, and learn to cope in a flexible way
• Share, respect each others work, and live together in a social environment

       When reading these values, I immediately thought of the art making process with children at Art at the Center. We need only observe the children at work in the studio to see the value of art expression for self-esteem. Creating in the studio allows children to deal with everyday stresses, or even simply to processes their school day, in a productive safe environment. Kathryn has documented her observations of children in the studio and used Project Zero's Studio Thinking Framework Eight Habits of Mind as a way to organize her observations. Click here for a more in depth look at Kathryn's observations organized using Project Zero's framework. In the following chart, you can see the parallels between Project Zero's Studio Thinking Framework, Kathryn's observations, and Rubin's therapeutic values in art for the normal child. Click here to view or download a copy!

Draw on!

The studio was covered in paper last week for Art at the Center's week long

"Draw On!" event.

Artists explored things that drew by themselves, such as a friendly 

drawing robot (register for Kathryn's summer workshop!) and spinning tops 

with markers for the tips. Even the light table was converted 

to a drawing surface by placing paper over it.

Taping paper underneath table tops offers children an opportunity to

 experience drawing from a different perspective than usual.

This young artist chose to draw onto the projector with a dry erase marker

and trace her drawing onto a large paper pinned to the wall. 

The drawing was enlarged and embellished upon

 once the initial tracing was complete.