Experiencing Art Week 1

"Art lessons need to be in touch with Children's lives and center around things that have meaning for us all. Instead of exercises, art lessons need to be inspiring, tapping in to universal experiences and memories. Art or art lessons are real because they are deeply motivated from the artist's heart." George Szekely

I like to start each class by talking to the kids. We sit on the floor and talk about art and what they want to do in the class. Today we talked about what kind of art they most liked. Most of the kids said drawing was their favorite. A few enjoy making crafts. I also asked about their bedrooms and their beds. I like to know how each child decorates or plays in their own safe space. Here are my favorite points during that discussion:

-Maggie and Ellie are twins. Maggie tells Ellie, "Tell her what you made yesterday." Ellie says, "O.K." She smiles and whispers to Maggie, "What did I make yesterday?"

-Maggie tells us that Ellie likes to make things out of garbage and Justus tells us, "If we are using garbage I am out of here!"

-Sam tells us that he has some beautiful fish on his wall that have many different colors. He says he likes to go to the state park and fish. He also tells us that he was just bitten by a shark. I think Sam is going to be a writer.


We finished our discussion by talking about Art Books. I showed my art books filled with things that inspire me. It is my hope that the kids will use their books everyday and fill them with interesting items that we can talk about. As artists, we have to learn to see and feel before we can learn to draw or paint.

The kids made their art books. Here are some pictures of their work.




Encourage your kids to put things in their book and bring them back next week. It would be great for them to feel free enough to put more than drawings in their books. My art books are filled with pictures I have cut out, candy wrappers, cards, trash and anything else that seems too cool to forget about.

Next week we will be making small models of their fantasy bedrooms. They are supposed to put some things in their art book to share about their reality bedroom. Anything that they want to bring to add to their fantasy model will be happily used.

Here are some activities you can do to help them feel freedom in their art books:

- Look at magazines together. Encourage your child to cut out pictures they like and paste them in their art books. Have them write down what they liked about the picture. Walk around the house and find objects that remind your child of the picture they cut out.

- Take a walk. Encourage your child to pick up little scraps of "garbage". If your home is anything like mine they will find lots of interesting surprises under the beds and behind the TV. Have your child organize all the toys/trash/junk that he/she has found and take a picture to put in their book. Or you can have them draw a picture of their sculpture. Or they can even glue some of the junk in to their books.

- Go through the junk mail with your child. Have them make a collage from the patterns on the insides of envelopes.

Have fun!
Mary