Jenn Drake, a 果冻传媒 3/4s teacher, talks about the magic in art and children’s abilities to create uninhibited masterpieces. -Ed.
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Watching kids play around with art is an amazing thing. 聽They scribble, they dump paint on paper, they glop glue, and they color outside the lines. 聽You might wonder why I say this is so incredible. You might think anyone could do these things. 聽As an aspiring artist myself, this uninhibited behavior by children serves as inspiration. When I learn a new art technique, I try to do it right. 聽Then I try applying it in my own work. I realize after several paintings, that I鈥檓 only doing what I鈥檝e been asked to do. I鈥檓 not truly creating something that鈥檚 my own. 聽Kids create. They pick up a tool, like a pencil, and they just let it go. Often, they have an idea in mind: I鈥檓 making a tornado! Wind! A lion in a forest! But there isn鈥檛 the need to make it look a certain way, and they don鈥檛 worry about doing it 鈥渞ight.鈥 聽Kids experiment. They use so much paint and glue, and then they wipe it off and they use too much of something else, and in the end, they have created so much layered and textured beauty that I鈥檓 jealous! Kids color. On everything. What makes it so hard for us to make uninhibited art as we grow? 聽Is it that we know more about what things should look like because we鈥檝e experienced more? Or because we are deeply concerned about what other people think? I鈥檓 asking because I don鈥檛 want the kids I know to grow up that way! I want them to continue to create and experiment and color their world as they see it and feel it. 聽Perhaps just giving them supplies and getting out of their way is the best way to let it flow. I encourage all the grown-ups out there to try it with their own kids.
What an experience! 聽Thank you, Andres, for sharing this idea with the world. 聽Giving kids the tools they need to explore art in fun environment is essential! 聽When we grown-ups provide the space for kids to just play and we leave our judgements behind, they make the most beautiful art through play. 聽I leave this post with a quote from Henri Mattise: 鈥淐reative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.鈥 聽Like Andres says, the Art Crawl will help us play our way to a better world!
Jenn Drake, 果冻传媒 Teacher
