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 The Joy of LearningWe began our home school journey about 8 years ago. Like most others on this road we had no idea what lay ahead. For our family it has been a fascinating trip.We have met amazing people, made lifelong friends and discovered all manner of things to learn. We have had the privilege of watching our child and others enjoy the freedom of taking in life at a pace and depth suited their individual personality. I have spent many hours teaching art to home schooled children. On these pages, I will tell about some of the enriching activities the children have participated in. I intend to update this section regularly, so if you are looking for art ideas come back soon. Enjoying Art and Creativity with your ChildrenBold TextIntroduction“Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.” Psalm 19 Art can be full of beauty and truth, or it can speak of evil and torment. Of all the artist’s throughout time, surely God is the greatest with his exquisite creation. The most important part of teaching and making art is to enjoy the process and not be concerned with the product. It takes time to build the skills to draw or paint the way we want to. But your children will never get there if they are frustrated with each piece along the way, expecting perfection. The fact that they are practicing looking and seeing will improve their skills. I believe that drawing is more to do with seeing than drawing. The more we learn to observe carefully, the better we are at drawing. Sometimes the seeing is from our hearts rather than with our eyes. Not all art is realism!!! If you only have time for one thing in art, a sketchbook journal is the most useful and powerful tool. I also can’t overstate how important it is to look at works by great artists. What is art? “I saw what the moorhen sees as it dives: the thousand rings that encircle each little life, the blue of the whispering sky swallowed by the lake, the enraptured moment of surfacing in another place. Know, my friends, what images are: the experience of surfacing in another.” Franz Marc Art is not just painting! The main forms of visual art are: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, digital art, installation. There are lots of other things all around us which are ‘art’. Think about food, graphic design, architecture, landscape design, floral arrangements, mosaics, fashion design, ceramics, textiles, fibre art, woodwork etc. What about nature, when was the last time you noticed how beautiful the clouds were? Process not Product Art needs to be an enjoyable process. The feel of moving pencils or brushes over paper is special. If children are stressed about what they are producing they are robbed of that joy. It is important to emphasise the enjoyment of making the piece and not have expectations of “correct” work. Often we begin with a plan or an idea and it develops into something completely different, either because a new idea has grown or from a “mistake”. Either way, it is ok. Art isn’t like maths, with a correct answer. It has to come from deep within our hearts or it isn’t really art. “I’m not sure what ‘coming out right’ means. It often means that what you do holds a kind of energy that you couldn’t just put there, that comes about through grace of some sort” Jasper Johns Anyone can learn to draw realistically if they are taught the right techniques and spend enough years practising, but it doesn't make their work “art”. Just like someone can press all of the right keys on the piano to play a piece of music, but if they don’t put their heart into it, it is just notes being played coldly, there is no real music. I would prefer to hear someone play with all their heart and press a few wrong notes, than someone who is technically correct but lacks life and soul. Children begin making art so freely and it is our responsibility to TRY to keep them that way. It isn’t always easy because they soon see what adult’s pictures look like and want to do the same. I constantly tell my daughter that her art is special and no less real than any adults. She won’t always have the freedom to draw and paint so naturally. I try to get her to enjoy the way she draws now. If our goal for an art project is to explore a certain medium or to look at the work of a great artist, for example Van Gogh’s Starry Night and to paint the sky with expressive marks, then it doesn’t matter so much what the finished product looks like. On the other hand, if the goal for the project is to paint a picture just like Van Gogh’s or to copy it, we almost set ourselves and our children up to fail. If an art session becomes stressful to a child or the parent, it is usually wise to change tack or leave it for another day. Or if a child really doesn’t like doing art, why make them? Sometime they will find a need to express themselves visually and when they want to do it they will gain something from the experience. “The average dairy farmer gets up at dawn because he has to go to work in the cow yard. I get up at daw, too. But it is because I want to find some leaf, hung with dew; or a spider web which the dew has made into the most delicate ropes of pearls...I take my camera with me, get down on m y knees in the wet grass, and photograph these exquisite bits of nature. Because I do this I can show these lovely things to people who never would have seen them without my help. They will get their daily quart of milk, all right. Other farmers will attend to that. But I think I am giving them something which is just as important.” Wilson Bentley (The Snowflake Man) Wilson had a passion for studying snowflakes from the time he was a small boy, he was criticised and scoffed at by the dairy farming community he lived in for his photographs of them. Learning to see “It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly” Claude Monet Slow down, spend time looking, use all your senses. If we learn to really see things, we enjoy our surroundings more. We also become better at drawing. Stop and drink in your surroundings. Grab a sketch book and draw what ever interests you. Try to draw something you would not normally notice, such as the shadows made by the branches of a tree, or the texture of old timber. Elements of Design One of the most worthwhile things you can do when it comes to learning how to see is to learn the Elements of Design. Line Tone Texture Colour Shape Size Spend a week or two concentrating on each of the elements of design. This helps you to see more clearly. Children can take photos, collect pictures from magazines, find artworks which use the element, draw in their sketch books using only the element of the week. It is amazing how much more you notice when you are tuned into seeing from an artistic point of view. “I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keeffe Enjoyment One of the things I always found hard at art school was being told to draw or paint things which I disliked or found uninteresting. It’s true that as an artist you need to be trained to draw anything, but children need to draw what they like. A reluctant artist can usually be enticed by favourite subject matter. I try to always give children as much choice as possible and never make them paint something they dislike. Sketch Books One of the ways in which to find out what we like is to use a sketch book journal. It may sound strange that we need to ‘find out’ what we like but it is amazing how much we can learn about ourselves by looking back through old sketch books. You find that the same subjects, themes and colours appear year after year. I have found that one of the things which continually recurs for me is a single feather, shell, egg or leaf. It is also interesting to compare sketch books with other artists and notice what things are absent from your own journal. For instance, I rarely draw landscapes or portraits, industrial scenes or man-made objects. Sketch books are an essential part of learning about art and are a wonderful thing for parents to do alongside their children. If you like Charlotte Mason, you probably already have a nature sketch book. It is good to keep one handy and draw as often as possible. Write down quotes, dreams, poems, thoughts etc. Don’t be precious about what goes into your book. It is very useful to get into the habit of putting your ideas down on paper, whether it is in the form of drawing or writing. A sketch book isn’t just paper to practices the skills of drawing on. It is a visual journal that speaks about your life, your thoughts, your emotions, the things you love. It’s ok for sketch books to be really messy workbooks. You can use all sorts of mediums in them, charcoal, ink, watercolour etc. “A cup of sun….. a daisy…….. a thimbleful of snow….. a leaf turned red from frost’s first touch….. this much of God I know.” Joan Walsh Anglund Some ideas for using your sketch book are: drawing people, pets, toys, places, rooms, objects landscapes, clouds, buildings, boats, cars photos or pictures cut from magazines rubbings of any textured surface stamped prints of objects three dimensional things which you have picked up, eg: bark, feathers, scrap metal colour samples of colours which attract you and combinations of colours which you find appealing photocopies, prints, exhibition invitations, postcards etc of artwork which you like newspaper or magazine articles about exhibitions you have enjoyed quick sketches or notes poems, scriptures, songs or other text Practical Ideas for lessons Where to start…….. Begin with something your children or you are interested in. Topic It could be a topic, for instance, if you are doing a unit study on the ocean you might start by finding artworks representing the ocean. There will always be artists who have a passion for whatever subject you are studying. It is good to try and find an artist who has made it their life’s work to depict the subject you are into. That way they will have lived and breathed it and made countless works on the topic. Great Artists There are so many great artists throughout history who are worth studying. I often take an artist and have children research the artist by finding at least one picture by them. Google Image is a quick easy way to locate pictures by any artist. They don’t even have to print the pictures out. Just a small bit of prior knowledge creates interest and a starting point for a lesson. We then talk about the artist’s life or an interesting story about an artwork before making a piece which is influenced by that artist. I am always careful to show the children what has influenced the artist. For example when looking at Georgia O’Keeffe’s large, close cropped flower paintings, we looked at her paintings and read quotes she had written about why she chose to paint her flowers so large and close up. Then the children painted from photos of flowers, rather than copying her paintings. When learning about Seurat’s pointillist pictures we talked about his fascination with the new scientific research into colour theory and how the small dots blend together in our eyes to produce certain colours. The children painted animals using dots. In this way, the children have learnt to analyse a picture, recognise what particular artists work is about and they don’t tend to compare their work with the artist’s work because they aren’t copying a painting, but applying the techniques in a fresh way. “It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.” Vincent Van Gogh Some all Time Favourite Artists Claude Monet August Renoir Paul Cezanne Pablo Picasso Leonardo Da Vinci Michelangelo Bounarroti Henri Matisse Piet Mondrian Jackson Pollock Mark Rothko Some of my Favourite Artists Franz Marc Rosalie Gascoigne Henry Moore Helen Frankenthaler Andy Goldsworthy Janet Ayliffe Rembrandt Van Rijn(etchings) James Abbott McNiell Whistler (pastel paintings and etchings of Venice) Art movement/period Some art movements are particularly attractive to children. The Impressionists painted light The Surrealists painted weird dreams The Abstract Expressionists were interested in showing emotions The Renaissance was a great time of new beginnings. Art periods fit well into history studies and can be linked with music periods as well. Timeline Art is an ancient practise and examples can be found from every culture and time in history. If you use a timeline for history, you can label art periods and also include artists, images of artworks and movements as you come across them. Exhibition or a Piece of Art “One of the wonderful things about a museum is how you’re jolted into confronting art from strange and wonderful civilizations and you look and learn and expand your horizons.” Sister Wendy Beckett Sometimes kids connect with a certain piece of art, that can be an inspiring starting point for making their own works. Exhibitions are a terrific place to experience art. They are so essential if our children are to see that art is alive and growing today. ‘Blockbuster’ exhibitions of famous artists are valuable, but they are not necessarily easily accessible. There are always countless local exhibitions, most of which are free. Just check your local newspaper in the “what’s on” section. Established artists are not always the most inspiring either. I find that Art Express the exhibition of HSC works is one of the freshest and most thought provoking exhibitions of any year. The teenagers have so much they want to say, they aren’t constrained by the limitations of time, money, gallery expectations etc. They have over a year to produce a small body of well thought out work. Most state art galleries/museums have children’s trails for major shows. They also often have free teacher’s guides and lesson plans to download from the internet. There is nothing more inspiring for children, than to research an artist for a few weeks and then visit an exhibition, followed by some practical work back at home. Scrap-booking or Graphic Design Scrap-booking is a wonderful craft that has made graphic design techniques accessible to the average person . There are plenty of “how to” books available from the library. They often explain basic design and layout principals in easy to understand terms. This is a great way to begin using the elements of design and think about things in artistic ways. It isn’t just for girls, although they are usually more enthusiastic about it than boys. You just don’t use the word scrap-booking with boys. You don’t even have to use the papers. You can just take on the layout ideas. They tend to show you how to simplify your design, choose a main element and compliment it with some other pieces which are colour co-ordinated. It usually boils down to limiting your pallet to a maximum of three colours and choosing some aspect of your main picture as the starting point. Resources Here is list of some resources I have found useful. Books My Little Artist by Donna Green The Art Book for Kids — Phaidon Usborne Introduction to Art (the Introduction to Modern Art is ok but I thought it was a little disappointing, it seemed to repeat quite a lot of information that was in the Introduction to Art) Linnea in Monet’s Garden Sister Wendy’s Story of Art Sister Wendy’s My Favourite Things Great Artist’s Magazines (an old newsagent series which can be found at second hand stores.) The Ultimate 3-D Pop Up Art Book by Ron Van Der Meer & Frank Whitford (DK) Art Fraud Detective by Anna Nilsen The Drawing Book by Sarah Simblet Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett There are many wonderful picture books in the children’s section of the library. They are even good for older children Internet The internet is a great ‘free’ resource for experiencing art. You can visit the most awesome galleries all over the world right from your computer screen. It isn’t quite like the real thing, but it sure is good for inspiration. There can be images which you may not want your kids to see, so I supervise art research on the net. All of the major art museums around the world have fantastic websites with all sorts of educational resources. You can cut and paste pictures into slide shows and have your own collections of the works of great artists from around the globe and throughout history. There are plenty of sites selling posters of artworks, historic and contemporary. A subject search in Google with the key word ‘art’ will also come up with thousands of artists sites. Most famous historic artists have museums dedicated to their work in their home town, these also tend to have informative websites. Art Materials “When we see a finished painting we tend to assess it for such things as composition, emotion, colour and perspective. But what the artist experiences moment by moment in his or her turpentine– smelling studio is the scrape or smear or splatter or stir of one substance against another” Victoria Finlay There is such a huge and wonderful range of artist’s materials for sale, where does one start? I very much believe that children should use the best quality art materials you can reasonable afford. Having said that it is best to buy ‘student grade’ materials rather than ‘artist quality’ because the pigments in ‘artist quality’ materials contain heavy metals which can be a health hazard, especially if you get them all over your hands or in your mouth. The better the quality of materials the easier it is for little artists to get a pleasing result. It is really hard to make a picture you are pleased with using cheap watercolours which hardly contain any pigment and nasty brushes that don't hold a good shape. For drawing with pencil or charcoal, decent paper is essential. Cartridge paper (which is found in most sketch books and pads) has a slightly rough surface (called tooth) which enables the medium to grip onto it and work well. Pastels, oil pastels and conte crayons work well on thick coloured pastel paper (Canson Mi-Teintes or Ingres are both standard) For painting, acrylics are ok on cartridge paper but watercolour gives a much better result when you use it on watercolour paper. Canvases are available cheaply from newsagents and bargain shops. These are a treat for children who always feel like ‘real artists’ when they paint on them. A good art kit would be: Graphite pencils 2B, 4B, 6B Willow charcoal Ink (comes in a huge range of colours, just one bottle lasts for ages) You can use a nib pen, a feather with the end cut off in a slant or sticks. Often sticks give the best result and they are free. Student grade oil pastels. There are some which are water soluble, they can double up as watercolours if you are just starting out. Student grade watercolours. They are usually cheaper to buy in a set, but if you buy them by the tube, the following colours are basics: Warm Red (Cadmium), Cool Red ( magenta, looks like bright pink), Warm Blue (cerulean), Cool Blue (Ultramarine Deep), Warm Yellow (Cadmium), Cool Yellow (lemon), Black and White. 2 or 3 student quality watercolour brushes, size 4,6 and 8. Sketch book Watercolour Pad You don't have to be an expert to use the different materials, the best way to learn how to use them is to experiment, have fun and don’t be too precious. Ages and Stages “There is no ‘must’ in art, because art is free” Wasilly Kandinsky People often ask what should their child be able to do by a certain age. There are varying opinions on this subject, just as any other. Here is the conclusion I have come to after research and experience teaching children and adults of all ages. I think it is possible but not always helpful to teach young children to draw realistically. We rob them of their childhood if we try to make them see and draw like mini adults. It is so beautiful to see what children will paint or draw if they are given freedom. They are wonderfully uninhibited and can come up with pictures that adult artists can only wish to do. So, firstly I think it is important to let them draw in their own childlike way for as long as possible. Children do often want to learn drawing skills and I think it is fine to teach them some so long as they still feel free to draw like little kids. By teaching them how to see shapes, colours and textures around them, we can help them to begin to develop their drawing skills without imposing outside influences on the way they draw. There is nothing worse than “paint-by-number” art made by children who could be using their imaginations instead of following a series of dry instructions. Children’s ability to draw a lifelike representation varies greatly. It depends on their interest, concentration span, fine motor skills, hand-eye co-ordination etc. As a general indicator, most kids aren’t really ready to draw realistically until they are at least 10-12. Even if it is later it doesn’t matter. Children under the age of 12 usually feel more inclined to draw or paint something from their imagination. How precious! Some children however are desperate to be able to draw from as young as 6. I think as long as the child is initiating the interest, and asking questions it is fine to help them along from any age. Just don’t expect too much of them at too young an age. Some people never really have the desire to do much with art and that’s okay too. Most people can find interest in some type of visual creation if given a choice. Conclusion “Drawing never dies, it holds on by the skin of it’s teeth, because of the hunger it satisfies………. the desire for an active, investigative, manually vivid relation with the things we see and yearn to know about……………” Robert Hughes Relax, have fun, enjoy the richness of making and experiencing art.
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