July 8, 2008
Recently I have been asked by several mothers regarding how and when young children should be introduced to art. I turned to Mollie Bozarth, a Middle School Art Teacher and Children’s Book Illustrator, to share her thoughts on some common questions.
Portrait of Emma
Watercolor
Completed in 2007
By Mollie Bozarth (age 27)
Dawn: What age is the appropriate time to introduce a child to art?
Mollie: Probably school-age...about 4-5 years old.
Dawn: How should someone (especially someone that does not have a background in art) introduce their child to art and nurture creativity?
Mollie: Read picture books! Children's picture books start tying the visual with words and language at an early age. Kids can start learning fine-motor skills by coloring (inside the lines) in coloring books. Meanwhile, you can work on the creative side by drawing pictures WITH them on blank paper. Never let a blank sheet of white paper scare you! Once, for fun on a car ride, we had a bunch of sheets of paper with 2 simple lines drawn on each. We spent the ride having a "contest" to see who could create the best picture out of their two lines. People came up with everything from a basketball, to an alien, to a landscape with mountains. The key to drawing with kids is simply having a starting point or an idea/theme to go from. Then let imagination go from there.
Also, creativity is closely tied to problem-solving. Art is just hands-on problem solving. Whether you have popsicle sticks and paper cups to build with, or paints and paper, or a poem or song to "illustrate"... anything you create uses creativity!
Dawn: Are there any specific books, websites or resources that you know about that could help someone either find project ideas or even introduce art history to young children?
Mollie: My sister-in-law homeschools. She uses the Usborne Book of Art which does a good job of covering all the major art eras with basic info about key artists from each era. It is full of pictures with text mixed in. I believe it also takes a look "behind the scenes" with some artists or techniques. I DID go through the book for her and black out a couple pages that weren't great for young eyes. But that was only 2-3 pages out of a large book, so I'd highly recommend it. I'm not so familiar with websites, but you can google "art projects" or "kids art history." Many people like the Oriental Trading Company website for ideas and supplies as well.
Dawn: In art education should there be a separation (or is there) between craft projects or learning about/enjoying fine art?
Mollie: Yes, there is a difference. A craft usually is very simplified and doesn't really teach artistic styles, techniques, history. Sometimes you can take a craft and tie it in with art history. But you have to be purposeful about it. Some things all kids can learn even at home:
* How to properly use and wash and dry a paint brush (without smashing or damaging bristles).
* How to create thick and thin line with a brush (Japanese and Chinese art are good examples).
* Colors and basic color theory (a basic color wheel helps with this).
* Breaking a complex drawing into easy, basic shapes (how-to-draw books can help with this).
* Grid drawings (draw a grid on the reference, draw a grid on the blank paper, and use the grid to help you with proportion as you transfer...this can be done with cartoons or magazine pages, etc.).
* Experimenting with textures (tissue paper, sponge-painting, collage, dry-brush in watercolor, or even gluing 3-D elements into a drawing...all are good ways to play with texture).
* Creating "recycled" sculptures or paper-mache (I do a simplified paper-mache project with 6th-grade, where we start with newspaper and recycled items and masking tape. Build the parts, wrap in masking tape, attach parts together, and keep the tape surface smooth as you go. You can paint with acrylics straight onto the tape and finish off the piece by hot-gluing extra items, such as a yarn tail or mane or hair, buttons for eyes, noodles for claws, etc.).
Dawn: What things discourage a child from making art?
Mollie: Most adults draw at a 12-year-old's level because that is the age when they stopped drawing! We praise and encourage little kids in art because the kid is cute. As children get older, they become less cute, less sure of themselves, and sometimes harder to get along with! So, we stop clapping and praising everything they do. This is the age (8-12) when you as a parent need to work harder to find something they DO connect with in art. And, this is the age when you need to encourage them to try new things, make mistakes, and keep trying. Art is all about connecting. If your student feels the project is baby-ish and they seem unmotivated, it really means they just can't connect with it. So, try to tie it to what they DO like or understand. If that is skateboarding...let them draw from skating magazines.
Other kids are discouraged because they are perfectionists...and they're afraid to start something lest they don't do it "right". It's good for these kids to get messy and experiment and learn that failure is okay. It's also fine to trace a circle or star or other shape if you're frustrated that you can't freehand a "perfect" one. But...don't trace the whole picture! Art is about creating something - about putting something of yourself into the creation.
Dawn: A mother told me that she was introducing her child (at age five) to art by having him draw out of how-to-drawing-book, so that they were trying to make things "look like the pictures." Is this appropriate at this age?
Mollie: I was copying pictures by the age of 4. I was never allowed to trace, but copying was a great way for me to exercise my skills of observation. Drawing is a very right-brained activity, which is good because most of school is left-brain (memorization, lists, facts). The key to art at any age is seeing something in the world around you that other people don't have the time or eyes or imagination to notice. I will actually sketch things rather than take pictures with a camera, because sketching forces me to study the subject and see details like buttons on the coat, number of legs on the creature, actual shape of the hair or eyes, etc.
Dawn: What do you think is the importance of being allowed to be messy and playful in art? Is this essential in the discovery of art and creativity?
You don't have to have "messy and playful" as the goal for an art lesson...art is plenty messy and playful as it is!
Let kids discover things through experimentation...like yellow + blue = green. But don't let them muddy all the colors together simply because they want to make a mess. I can tell you ahead of time...all colors mixed = yucky brown! And if they DO run their paint brush through all the watercolor colors at once...have them take the time to clean the tray on their own. Otherwise they lose respect for their tools. Art is fun...and at times it's a discipline — you have to find the balance for yourself.
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Mollie Bozarth is an Art Teacher for 6th-8th Grade in the Chicagoland area. She holds a degree in art from Indiana Weslyn University. This fall she will also be attending the University of Hartford, to begin work on her MFA degree in Illustration.