Encouraging Children’s Artistic Behavior and Appropriate Interference
“What art teachers should ask is, ‘what is timeless in art?’ The answer is children’s artistic behavior. - Goerge Szekeley.
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When I was in graduate school we read a book called: Engaging Learners Through Artmaking - Choice Based Art Education in the Classroom. The forward by art educator George Szekely always stuck with me. It is not about techniques or skills, projects or materials…it is about children’s artistic behavior. Szekely goes on to say that, “A timeless art curriculum includes the appreciation of children’s artistic behaviors”.
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Children are naturally inquisitive and experimental. Their imaginations are on fire and they are excited to learn. They are natural artists. Many adult artists spend their lifetimes trying to channel their inner child in the studio. So whether we are teachers or parents, we must set up safe places for children to be creative so that we nurture, instead of squash, this behavior. Part of setting up a safe, creative space that encourages children’s natural creative tendencies is letting them know that we are there if they need us or if they get stuck. But we have to be careful about what kind of help and advice we give. I am reminded of an email my grandmother, a retired art teacher, recently wrote me on teacher interference. She wrote: “I remember the stab of pain I felt (at about 10 years old) when the otherwise wonderful art teacher, watching me struggle to make eyes in a clay horse I’d made, took a wood tool and SHE stuck it into the clay, making really good eyes. The eyes were like a stain and every time I looked at my horse, I always saw those foreign eyes. 84 years ago and I remember…perhaps that’s why I resolved to never, ever correct, add, or make marks on another person’s work.”
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Sooo…..how do we show children how to do something or fix something in their work without putting our mark on it and contaminating it? Always have scrap paper available for children to use and practice on. If they are working in clay…have some scrap clay available. Whatever the material….have some extra out. That way children can watch you as you model some ideas, techniques, or options for them on something other than their work. Students can then practice on the extra materials until they are ready to go back to their wonderful, personal, imperfect, masterpieces. Parents…whatever materials your children are working with, remember to have some extra lying around!