From the Art Room
Dear Parents or Guardians,
I am looking forward to a fantastic year with your child! We will be exploring many types of art media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics.
Our goal in the art classroom is to teach each student skills which will enable him or her to become a better artist in addition to enhancing problem solving skills and logistical thinking. We will focus on creativity and the design process. Most assignments are not intended to look like photographs; the creative process and how our designs can evolve into interesting and meaningful works of art are our focus.
Your encouragement is crucial to your child’s artistic development. Here are some ways that we can work together to enhance his or her abilities:
· Provide your child with creative materials to work with at home. Inexpensive watercolor sets and colored pencils make great gift ideas. Ask your child to design this year’s holiday card!
· When looking at your child’s artwork, please focus less on content, avoid questions like, “What is it supposed to be?” and more on the experience. Ask questions like “How did you make this project?” “What or who was this inspired by?” Comment on the colors, textures, lines, design and feeling of the project. Ask him or her to tell you about the project and how it was made. Listen for cues to question further.
· Plan a family Art Adventure! Visit the nearby Toledo Museum of Art, with FREE admission and just a 10 minute trip, your family could enjoy a fun afternoon exploring great painters and artists of today and yesteryear! Bring a sketch book along!
· Keep a collection of your child’s artwork. It will be a source of pride and pleasure, not only for your child in later years, but for you as well. Drawings provide a unique and tangible record of your child’s growth and
development.
I hope these tips are helpful to you as we attempt together to
open new doors into the imagination of your children.
Sincerely.
Mrs. Matney
Art Educator
I am looking forward to a fantastic year with your child! We will be exploring many types of art media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics.
Our goal in the art classroom is to teach each student skills which will enable him or her to become a better artist in addition to enhancing problem solving skills and logistical thinking. We will focus on creativity and the design process. Most assignments are not intended to look like photographs; the creative process and how our designs can evolve into interesting and meaningful works of art are our focus.
Your encouragement is crucial to your child’s artistic development. Here are some ways that we can work together to enhance his or her abilities:
· Provide your child with creative materials to work with at home. Inexpensive watercolor sets and colored pencils make great gift ideas. Ask your child to design this year’s holiday card!
· When looking at your child’s artwork, please focus less on content, avoid questions like, “What is it supposed to be?” and more on the experience. Ask questions like “How did you make this project?” “What or who was this inspired by?” Comment on the colors, textures, lines, design and feeling of the project. Ask him or her to tell you about the project and how it was made. Listen for cues to question further.
· Plan a family Art Adventure! Visit the nearby Toledo Museum of Art, with FREE admission and just a 10 minute trip, your family could enjoy a fun afternoon exploring great painters and artists of today and yesteryear! Bring a sketch book along!
· Keep a collection of your child’s artwork. It will be a source of pride and pleasure, not only for your child in later years, but for you as well. Drawings provide a unique and tangible record of your child’s growth and
development.
I hope these tips are helpful to you as we attempt together to
open new doors into the imagination of your children.
Sincerely.
Mrs. Matney
Art Educator
Advice from Artfulparent.com
HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS ABOUT THEIR ART.DO:
- ASK them to tell you about their artwork
- COMMENT on the lines or colors, etc. that they are using (I see that you are making lots of purple dots. I like how the red paint is mixing with the yellow paint here.)
- ACKNOWLEDGE how hard (carefully, enthusiastically, long) they worked on their artwork
- Ask “What is that?”
- Say an automatic “That’s pretty” (cool, beautiful)
DRAWING FOR KIDS :: HOW TO ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY, SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE
1. DON’T EVER DENIGRATE YOURSELF OR YOUR OWN DRAWING ABILITIES.Show her that you have confidence in yourself and are at peace with your abilities (fake it ‘til you make it, baby).
If you sit down and draw and doodle beside her (and I think you should at least once in a while!), don’t say, “I can’t draw.” If you don’t feel like you can draw a realistic elephant, that’s okay! Realism is overrated! Or, if you don’t think so, pretend you do for a little while. Draw a completely abstract elephant in bright colors. Or just draw abstract, period. Doodle squares, circles, spirals, hash marks, letters, and whatever else you think of across the page. Enjoy the process. Keep your pen moving. Perhaps try for a design or a mandala. Whatever. But don’t utter the words, “I can’t draw” in front of your child. Children learn by example.
2. BE CONSCIOUS OF HOW YOU TALK TO YOUR CHILD ABOUT THE ART SHE MAKES. Don’t just say, “that’s pretty,” but talk about the marks she is making on the page or the colors she is using or say, “Wow! You really worked hard on that!” My default is to ask children to tell me about their artwork. If your child is a young three, she might not be assigning meaning to her art yet (or then again, she might be), but as she gets closer to four, she will likely be more and more elaborate with the stories that go along with her art.
3. MAKE ART FUN AND EXPLORATORY.Keep your child’s art activities as process oriented as possible at this age. Try not to expect particular outcomes but rather encourage her to explore the art materials (paints, crayons, shaving cream, etc), ideas (big/small, themes from her life, similar and contrasting colors), and techniques (watercolor resist, splatter painting, shaving cream marbling) in her own way. Introduce new materials and techniques, but also stand back and let her explore art on her own in her own way.
Besides giving her freedom to explore during projects that you set up for her, try to have some art materials accessible for her to use any time she likes. This could be an art caddy with markers, crayons, scissors and tape near the kitchen table or it could be her own little dedicated art space with a table or easel and a wider range of children’s art supplies.
4. KEEP YOUR ART ACTIVITIES APPROPRIATE FOR HER AGE AND DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE.
I don’t think that teaching a child “how to draw” is appropriate at age three. You can guide her through the occasional observational drawing exercise if you like, preferably in a way that is as much about observing as it is about drawing. But the most important thing at this age is to encourage open-ended exploration of art materials, self-confidence, and enjoyment in art and learning.
Let her go through the normal developmental stages in drawing and art at her own pace.
By the way, along with keeping art process oriented and age appropriate, I would suggest that you avoid coloring books and tracing/coloring-in activities as much as possible. Their emphasis on adult-drawn images and coloring inside the lines is not helpful to a young child’s burgeoning creativity. You don’t have to be militant about it, but don’t make coloring books a regular part of your life. I’ve written more about coloring books over at Babble (and received some strongly-worded comments for it!) if you’re interested.