Hear Kathryn on NPR WAMU Lifelong Learning Series

Learning, Mastery and Communicating Ideas

I want to begin this post with a quote from one of my all-time favorite books on art for children (and adults) Doing Art Together by Muriel Silberstein-Storfer.

When anyone learns to ride a bicycle, usually after much effort on the part of both the guiding person and the beginner, he or she rides at first for the sheer joy of making the bike move and pleasure in controlling it. When the bicycle finally becomes a vehicle for exploration, transportation, and adventure, it is an instrument of new experience. Similarly, when anyone starts to work with art materials, he or she experiences this same exhilaration of moving the medium and controlling the brush and colors. After gaining control, studio work becomes involved with movement or communication of ideas.

This metaphor is a great illustration of the learning that happens when children are allowed an open-ended environment and opportunities to explore media. Each moves through the developmental stages of art in his or her own time and many have a favorite way of working that often precedes important new risks and adventures in communication and meaning.

Below are 3 paintings completed in one afternoon.

In this case the paintings were completed during our warm-up time, we offer a circle drawn in pencil on the page as a starting point. This mandala form provides a starting point for kids and a common routine to begin exploration of different media.

This young artist is very tactile and really enjoys exploring the sensory quality of materials and the flowing nature of the paint. The painting on the left, completed first is typical of his paintings in class. The page is full of color and brush strokes are clear moving through the thick paint.

Above, the artist begins his first painting with some awareness of the circle. As he continues in the picture below the joy of just moving the flowing colors takes over and he covers the page.

His second painting shows a bit more awareness of the shape on the page. There is still the characteristic blocks of color and visible brush strokes but a beginning of shaping the painted strokes to the circle shape.

Other children at the table chose to use the circle form to paint faces. While working on his second painting, the artist began to talk about painting a portrait of his friend from school. The awareness of the circle seemed to be a first step toward thinking about a face.

The third painting of a face was a real step forward for the artist in choosing to do a representational image and to follow through on his idea to paint a portrait. He began with eyes, nose and mouth.

He added the hair and finished with the neck and ears, narrating as he added each detail.

The series of paintings below are a lovely illustration of moving from the pure joy of materials to beginning to communicate ideas - in this case to portray a friend using those materials.

Internship: A guide on process comments...

Anna has written a great guide for parents on what to say when children are working with art materials. click the link below to visit her internship blog and read more.

Internship: A guide on process comments...: "During this past Winter session, several of the parents I worked with had questions about our model of using process comments in the ..."

Building a Boat and Seeing it Float

Over time as children come to the studio for a weekly class, they begin to bring ideas with them from school, daily life, and important events. In this case, a young artist saved a small clear container from her snack at school with plans to use it in the after school studio.

Here the artist uses tape to secure a popsicle mast into the container.

A friend is excited to help her test the boat in a tub of water - it floats!

At the end of class we share about our creative process - in this case a demonstration is in order.

The entire group gathers to see the boat sail around the bin!

Not a Tube

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis is a favorite among our preschool studio classes.

We often talk about reusing and finding new uses for things in the studio - for instance the many recycled containers that hold our supplies.
For this project, we tried using our collage supplies to create variations on cardboard tubes.
It's not a tube, it's a...

Rocket ship!

Light saber - notice the button to turn it on.

a princess

and a castle!

I was surprised by all the careful de-constructing as well as construction related to using the tubes.

Exploring the Loom

A stand-up loom is a new feature in the studio and has generated varied interest from our four to six year old classes. Almost everyone first thought it was a harp.

Soon there were explorations of weaving in and out of the warp thread with colorful ribbons.

Sometimes it was a good strategy to have a partner to pass the ribbon back and forth working out a pattern.

It seemed to progress that one child would teach another who would become the partner until one lost interest and then another would come along so a new partner was trained. As you can see above, initially there was weaving all over the loom. We tried to start at the top but realized that we were working against gravity so we switched to weaving from the bottom up. Sometimes pulling out the woven strand was part of the fun - we need to understand how things come apart as well as how the fit together.

This student had previous weaving experience in preschool ans was more focused on the task and beginning to work on patterns in his weaving. His interest encouraged his peers to want to learn in our next class.

Weaving

It has been a goal this winter to bring some fiber arts into the studio and we began with some explorations of weaving in our Thursday after school studio. We tried two methods, the first, shown below is a loom with warp strings created over the opening in a mat board.

The student weaves and the final piece will be displayed in the mat.

We are also trying out some simple small wooden looms as seen below here.

This loom is designed for the weaving to come off the loom when complete. Weaving takes time and concentration as well as attention to patterns and detail.

Fortunately, several students had some weaving experience and were able to share their knowledge as the instructors are learning along with the students.
Others branched out to improvise simple creations from woven pieces. Below is a hammock made from a small piece of weaving.

Another student warped a piece of card board on both sides and wrapped it in such a way that when her weaving is complete she will be able to take out the card board and form a bag. She did a similar project on a smaller scale at school and remembered how to wrap the warp to create a larger bag - more pictures to come when it's complete.