AWTGH DEC 2016

As part of the year’s work students prepare a piece of work to bring home to, at report card time, and they are eager to share this with you. They are proud of the work. I wish I could eaves drop on these conversations.

Getting them to share their art work freely and comfortably and to learn about them in the process is a joy of being the art teacher. It is possible to foster the openness and enthusiasm with which they generally approach their work.

 When I look at a student’s work, before I assume what it is, I have them explain it to me. My comment might start with “I notice you …This open ended start leaves them space to “explain” it to me without feeling judged which encourages them to keep working creatively, from their own imaginations, and realizing that getting it “right” or perfect comes with practice and that sometimes the practices (or mistakes) are thought provoking, “beautiful” expressions in their own right. You may not see what they see, or what they were creating. You may see something else totally.

My teaching strategy may include “If you want someone to see the dog you need to use colors or shapes that bring the viewer to that image. Blue dog can be any color, but he has recognizable DOG traits.

 Does it matter that someone sees what you don’t see?

Sometimes a child is insulted when you don’t see the image he/she worked so hard to create. I share my personal story of a quilt I made with whites and beiges, and milk weed pods. When I have shared it in the past, many people see the beach with shells. Do I have a problem with that? Does it make it less good? How would I “fix” that another time?

Visual art is about self- expression, putting the self into images, lines, shapes, colors while learning about one self and at the same time acquiring the skills and tools for making expressions that are as close as possible to the desired product.

 http://www.phillyartcenter.com/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-their-art/