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Find more Kappan articles in the Teaching Children To Value Art and Artists Children are often surprised, Ms. Johnson says, when they are helped to see the impact that artists in different fields have had on their environment. DURING a stopover at the Seattle airport several years ago, my 4-year-old daughter was quietly riding atop a baggage cart when suddenly she exclaimed, "Oh, how beautiful, Mommy -- look at that painting! Look at all the different colors!" Her marked enthusiasm made it clear that, despite the pressures of arriving at our gate in time for the flight to Los Angeles, we would have to stop then and there so that she could alight, the better to appreciate the huge scale of a painting on canvas by Frank Stella. Racing back and forth along the length of the painting, exclaiming all the while, she also happened on a large, shiny, tubular sculpture mounted on a stand close by. "Oh look," she cried, "it's ART!" The area around the sculpture was crowded with people of all ages, both standing and seated. Many of the older people laughed out loud, while several of the younger ones remarked, "It is?" and made disparaging remarks about the piece. Older children looked askance at my daughter as she chattily circled the stand. Much as I was saddened by these children's response to a fine piece of work, I was even more bemused by my daughter's reaction. At that time, I had never taken her to a gallery, private or public. I'm not sure she had ever seen another image or object resembling this sculpture. But from an early age she has been exposed to many pictures of art in magazines, which I am happy to talk about if she shows interest. Generally, I simply explain that an "artist" made the images and that they were his or her own idea. She assumes that when she observes a thing that has no apparent practical value other than to please or interest us, she is probably looking at art. (I must admit that this concept has also been useful whenever she confronts me with certain kinds of conceptual art that would be difficult for me to explain or for her to understand!) With her concept of "art," my daughter is as much at home with a Northwest Coast Indian totem pole, her crude Play-Doh whale, or a Moorcrofte bowl as she is with the Monet poster over her bed. Her intuitive ability to zero in on aesthetic and design elements in her environment constantly astounds me. And gradually, as she grows older and her awareness increases, I am (gratefully) also seeing clear evidence that she not only recognizes art when she sees it but appreciates the efforts and creativity of the men and women who made it. This has been an important goal of those who defined discipline-based art education, and it is a gift that I wish all children might share. Recognition Precedes Appreciation In my jobs as an art historian and reviewer I pay homage to the formal criteria of artistic categories, styles, and movements -- but in my jobs as a parent and an educator I am much more interested in expanding the concept of art than in narrowing it. I find the blurred lines between fine and applied art in particular to be both pleasant and inspiring, as have many visual, conceptual, and performance artists. To the mind and eyes of a child, concepts of art with the borders left open are downright invigorating. For several years I visited schools to talk about art with children. The students were often very surprised when I described the impact that artists in different fields have had on their environment. Standing in the middle of a classroom, I would try to describe the design of the room itself and the choices made by the architect who had to accommodate its practical functions. I pointed out the choices made by the designers who picked the window treatments and the floor coverings and explained that the patterns in any of the surfaces were designed by yet another type of artist, who worked for the manufacturers. Almost all the books in the classrooms, particularly storybooks, have cover or interior illustrations created by artists. Posters and charts on the walls are designed by graphic artists and art directors. Sometimes I would compare the interiors of two books, showing the children how one used paper that was stiff and rough while the other had slick, thin pages. It is always stimulating to ask children to speculate on the reasons for a designer's choices. Choosing typefaces for the print in books and on different things in the room involves other artistic decisions, such as whether to make the letters bold, italic, with or without serifs. Perhaps because younger children are just learning the shapes of letters and older children are often trying for a personal "style" (witness all those little heart-dotted i's by 8-year-old girls), children love to discuss differences in typefaces and make conjectures about the reasons why particular ones were chosen. Not only do these discussions point out the wealth of job or career opportunities in the field of art, but they give children a clear idea of the value of artists and the breadth of their impact in our society. Teachers can ask children to do further research at home. There are artist-designed patterns on dishes and bedsheets, clothing and furniture. Any kitchen pantry will contain packages designed and illustrated by artists. From placemat designs to bath toys, any home is a showcase of work created by artists from many areas. Older children are particularly interested in the work of artists outside the home and school. For example, there are fabulous artist-created billboards in many cities, such as those along the Los Angeles freeways, which have become world-renowned. Posters on the sides of trucks and buses were created by artists, and children can often find innovative graphic displays in stores. When I show these things to children, I always point out how and where an artist has had a hand in making them, and I stress the fact that this is his or her job. I think that part of the responsibility of teaching our children to value art and artists is to make sure they understand that artists make an economic as well as a cultural contribution to society. Helping Children Respond to Art "Aesthetics" is a branch of art concerned with feelings and responses to color, form, and design. Every child has a developing sense of aesthetics. For example, one child's belongings may have a set "place." Another may prefer certain colors, small spaces, or patterned surfaces. Another may react strongly to texture in food or objects. Even the youngest child recognizes the features of his or her environment through such sensory stimuli as shape, light and dark, color, pattern, and texture. The development of aesthetics begins when we help children become aware of their own responses. Children could compare different common objects such as cups or chairs and consider both the practical and the aesthetic choices that went into their designs. Why is one taller? Why is one more comfortable to hold or to sit on? Which one is nicer to look at? Obviously there are no "right" or "wrong" answers to any of these questions, but a discussion of the properties of common objects is an excellent introduction to the realm of aesthetics. Valuing the Responses of Children A 3-year-old I know routinely greets tiled floors by announcing, "Oh, look at all the little squares." Like visual artists, she possesses the knack of being able to see the parts of the whole. Like artists, children also easily ascribe animate properties to inanimate objects. "That ladder is resting on the tree -- it looks tired," a 5-year-old told me, describing an image by the Mexican photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo. What more could be said? Perhaps one of the fastest short cuts to giving our children a firm grasp of aesthetics is to respond respectfully when they venture these kinds of comments. After all, if we cannot place the highest value on their aesthetic observations, it will be difficult for children to learn to value the aesthetic concerns of others. Completing the Cycle Of course, to complete the cycle of this aesthetic give-and-take, the same kind of respect we give our children's comments about the creations of others should also apply to their own artworks. Tempting as it is to toss out the masses of "art" that begin to arrive home almost daily once children begin school, parents need to be encouraged to exercise a cautious hand here. I recommend to parents that they store their child's art for up to a month, then have the child help select some pieces to remember. They can be spread out on the floor side-by-side or pinned closely together on a wall and photographed for the family album. The photo can be dated with the month or the child's age. Then, unless the family has absolutely unlimited storage space, the child can once again help whittle down the selection of those pieces to be kept. The selection process itself offers an unbeatable opportunity for aesthetic discussions about the work of the child's favorite artist -- himself or herself. There are many special uses for completed artwork in the classroom. Teachers can ask children whether each piece is one they would want to remember later, in the same way that galleries keep and remember the art in their collections. Would the children like to have their own picture frames to exhibit a different picture each month? They can mail some works as presents to friends or relatives or even use a drawing or painting to wrap a present. Perhaps a design from one otherwise-rejected piece could be copied again in another form: in a border pattern, to decorate the cover of a book, or as a T-shirt motif. The teacher could begin a photo album of the school's own "art history" by documenting groups of artwork. These images are very helpful for discussing changes in styles and materials used in the classroom over the years. Whether we are specialists in the area or not, by enlarging the field of possible uses for artwork we can all teach children to value art. MIA JOHNSON is an art educator and a doctoral candidate in computer technology for art and design at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She is the author of four books, including Teach Your Child to Draw and Understanding and Encouraging Your Child's Art (RGA/Lowell House, 1990; 1993). |
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