Art Teacher

The Art of Making Jewelry

2011-10-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Creativity as an artist is not limited to drawing, painting, singing and dance. Art is creative self-expression in any form. For example, I love painting wild horses on ostrich eggs. A man I know makes hanging sculptures from driftwood. My friend, Marquesa, is in the habit of making earrings by the hundreds... and no two pairs are alike. The creative energy just flows because she is in the groove of her own creativity.

I found this very fun jewelry making membership site. What I like about these videos is that they are very close-up. I've watched many tutorials and so many of them are not close enough to really see what the person is doing. As a member, I'm really enjoying the access to so many making jewelry how-tos. Also, you can find on her site lots of free tutorials! (When you click on the image below and get to the Jewelry Making Professor's site, you will find a free tutorials link on the left side.) I've been teaching fine art and arts and crafts for years and have found jewelry making to be a wonderful self-esteem builder for girls and teenage girls. It's also a great activity for birthday party. We live in a culture that demands instant gratification, and jewelry-making for beginners is a great way to have fun being creative.

Self-Esteem and Creativity

2011-10-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

In this day and age, parents and educators recognize the intimate relationship between self-esteem and creativity. When we create, a small part of our essential nature is entwined into our creations as well as in the actual process of creating. This, of course, is why no two creations will ever be the same. With children and adults, self-esteem can facilitate bringing a more generous flow of creative inspiration into one’s life.

When someone has poor self-esteem, it’s common to feel that there isn't any point in trying to create something. They believe they most likely would not be able to do it correctly anyway, so why bother. Even if they did create something splendid, they would not see it as such and would most likely fixate over its faults and ignore any compliments received from others about their creation.

In contrast, having good self-esteem allows our attention to fall naturally on the gratification of being creative. Folks with high self-esteem are not concerned about making it perfect and experience enjoyment in their finished creation. They take pleasure in compliments from other people feel wonderful about what they accomplished.

We constantly bring our individual viewpoint and life experiences into whatever it is we are creating. And since we each have a personal view of who we truly are, this is absolutely reflected in the works that we create. For kids with low self-esteem, after school art programs have been known to do wonders.

Creativity Has No Boundaries

2011-05-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Creativity has no boundaries. It's like a Utopian dream where one perceives perfection and imperfection, a place where one's imagination reigns. It's like being Alice in Wonderland, where opening our eyes in a new way allows us to see things and make things...in new ways... just because each of us is a unique channel for life's expession. Creativity is me, it's you, allowing the energy of life to express in endless ways, moment by moment. How many times have you not noticed your own creativity, albeit in the work environment, in parenting, in which way you prepare food today or drive to work? Ignorance of your creativity does not mean it doesn't exist. So if you are one of those people who thinks you "can't draw a straight line" (you think you have no talent), then reflect within and just watch yourself for one day. You will be surprised.

A Child Sings About the World

2010-11-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Children singing... such a natural form of creativity. It's amazing how creative children can be when given the opportunity.

Bring Back Your Creativity

2010-09-17T01:19:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you can get better at creativity – with practice? This would mean that the older one gets, the more creative he or she is. The article, “Age and Creativity” (on CreatingMinds.org) states that, “Creativity even affects longevity. It has been proven that people who stay mentally active live longer even than those who stay physically active.”

This is an invitation to be creative. What exactly is “creativity”? The state or quality of being creative is believed in most cultures to be innate; a natural human gift that we all have. According to dictionary.com, creativity is also ‘the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.’

In present day culture, adults become trapped inside tradition, clichés and familiarity. We habituate ourselves to approaching life in certain, comfortable ways, and this leads to our becoming less creative. We don’t use our creativity and, so, it fades away. For example, one might eat the same thing for breakfast every day, week after week, year after year… being creative when making breakfast disappeared with the habit, with the pattern. This fellow gets so used to his standard breakfast that he never changes or varies it.

Thus we become stuck in the familiar. Not many people even read much anymore or study a topic of interest just for the sake of it. CreatingMinds.org goes on to say that, ‘Fewer still innovate for the fun of it.’

Have you spent most of your life avoiding being creative? You didn’t start your life that way – every two-year-old is extremely creative, for sure! Since our education system and family culture encourages children to conform, we eventually inhibit our creativeness and feel good about conforming.

So how does one not feel discouraged when an opportunity to be creative arises? Begin by understanding that you can gradually bring back your creativity. Here are some activities you can use to begin...

1. Know that everyone is creative; it is a natural birthright of everyone - including you.

2. Remember that the principle of creativity says that we are being inventive non-stop. Just about everything you do and say are things you have not said or done before, or at least not in the exact same way.

3. Begin to exercise your rather dormant creative muscle by visiting a furniture store and mentally play with putting different rooms together, just for fun.

4. Visit a nearby museum and stare at a great painting. Pretend you are the artist and decide what you would change about the painting.

5. Go to a garden center and pretend you are designing the grounds for a park. Pick out trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers that you would like to see in a park.

6. Go for a walk in the mountains and gather up some sticks, stones and leaves. Lay them out in some kind of order or disorder on the ground and draw lines with a stick in the dirt to go with you pile.

7. Hold three pens or pencils in your fist so all the tips touch the paper at the same time. Start scribbling around and around on the paper with all three together.

8. Choose a letter from the alphabet and draw it 6 inches high on a piece of paper. Now make a silly character out of it.

9. Buy a bunch of fruit and make a fruit salad.

10. Think of a quirky machine that would make life easier for you, for example, one that puts your socks on or removes bird droppings from your car every morning.

11. Take a beginner art class at the recreation center and focus on the creative process.

12. Start a journal about your life and travels. Glue photos, pictures torn from brochures and magazines, keys, wrappers and souvenirs into it.

13. Sit in a busy restaurant and make up stories about people you observe, young and old.

14. Read a fiction book and pretend you are the protagonist (main character).

The idea is to stimulate your imagination, just for the fun of it. The steps above should be treated like silly games you play with yourself and should not be taken seriously while you are doing them. Their purpose is to stimulate the use of your creative ability. It’s just like learning to ride a bike, remember? At first it was kind of scary and disconcerting, but soon you were riding free. If you give yourself the opportunity to develop your creativity, soon it will become a natural flow, just like when you were little.

Creativity in Jewelry Making

2010-09-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

Creating original jewelry requires lots of beads, chain, polymer clay, wire, crystals and a variety of interesting scraps of old jewelry, buttons, vintage junk jewelry, paint, tools and imagination. The more stuff you have to play with, the easier it is to play and get the “creative juices” flowing.

When you set up a work space, keep in mind that the more you surrender to the process, the more fun it will be. I often make a piece of jewelry, for example a bracelet, four or five times over before I like it.

There is no right or wrong way to decide what you like, and you will definitely know when it’s not right. When you’re not happy with something, rather than getting frustrated or depressed, see it as an opportunity to make your piece even better. I once read about a Russian painter to spent 17 years working on one painting!

Surround yourself with all of your little bags and containers of materials. Play with your items for awhile – maybe separating them by color or by metal type to get a feel for what you might want to begin working with. Try different colors and textures together and see what feels good. And remember, again, that it can always be changed if you begin making something from components that reveal something you don’t like.

Be open to surprises with your playing. For example, I once put large lime green glass beads together with smaller round turquoise beads. Experiment and don’t be attached! Just have fun. Creative play leads to creative creating. And don’t worry about what someone else might think about what you make – opinions are like noses; everybody has one!

I believe it's important to be receptive to the creative force of the universe that lives in us and wants to move through us without obstruction. I always know that something higher is working through little me when I create, whether it is jewelry or paintings or journaling, etc. In essence, inspiration comes from the Divine Presence. So remember your higher Self and let the fun begin!

The Zen of Being an Artist

2008-12-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Most of us think of an artist as a person who creates art, often as an occupation, whose creative work shows imagination and sensitivity. An artist has also been defined as a person who is skilled at some activity, such as a dancer, a musician, a singer, a skater, etc. My own definition of being an artist has come out of my personal, lifelong experience of what happens to me when I’m in the process of creating – when the creative “flow” is unleashed. There is a unique phenomenon that occurs for me, and it is that I have the feeling and knowing that the creative force, the creativity itself, and even the skill, is coming down through the top of my head and out my hands. The first time I became consciously aware of this, and could put words to it, was when I was around eleven or twelve years old.

Once, when my stepson was eight, we were driving in the car and a jazz tune was playing that I was very familiar with. I was singing along, improvising with nonsense syllables, creating my own melody along with the music. My stepson, who is now a professional musician, suddenly began singing along with me in perfect harmony, out of the clear blue! I had never heard this child sing before, though he had been taking piano lessons for several years. The spontaneous, excellent demonstration of his creativity and musical ear told me that music was definitely his gift. He was absorbed only in the creating of the sound, without a thought.

I use both myself as a painter and my son as a musician as two examples of children who had been free of the mind, free of all thought and conceptualization, while in the inspired moment of creativity. The ability to create from this space has continued for both of us throughout our lives, which is true for many artists.

When I was teaching fine art to children and adults, it was the students who were listening to their minds who had difficulty being imaginative and who were hard on themselves. Those who allowed themselves to be free, who came to class with an open heart and a calm but playful attitude, enjoyed themselves completely and were able to tap into the creative flow without experiencing any stressful thoughts. The challenge of teaching art was not just about imparting technical knowledge, it was in showing each individual student, of every age, that he or she has access to this creative force simply by allowing oneself to rise above (not listen to) the mind and just let go. Every one of my students was able to do this, once it was pointed out.

It would seem that being able to allow the creative flow is an enlightened state. I was recently reading about Zen, a branch of Buddhism that developed in China during the sixth and seventh centuries. A central element of Zen meditation is to free the mind of all thought and conceptualization. Zen stresses the importance of the enlightenment experience and the futility of rational thought, intellectual study and religious ritual in attaining this.

And Boheme Magazine defines a true artist as “the revolutionary who participates with Divinity in the act of creation and the mechanics of human evolution. It is always an artist of some type - painter, writer, philosopher, teacher, scientist - who advances the enlightenment and progress of humanity.” I believe that every artist has been blessed with the ability to tap into the divine energy that already moves through us. It’s simply a matter of changing one’s perception of what creativity really is. The zen of being an artist is to simply let go of the mind and allow the creative divine light to flow through.

Free Photos

2008-11-09T01:06:00.000-08:00

A wonderful inspiration for creativity is photographs. I have designed rubber stamps, paintings and sculpture from pics put together by cutting and pasting (with scissors and glue, and also using PhotoShop). Pictures are valuable teaching aids and can be used as subjects to draw and paint from as well as for arts & crafts. I want to say how grateful I am to those who willingly share the photographs they have taken, allowing people to use them for artistic purpose. Here are a few links for you...

I also suggest looking at the public domain sites. I have spent hours at...

Creativity Flow Factors

2007-08-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Professor and psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi proposed that when one is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, with a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity, that this is a mental state of 'flow." This 'flow' concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields, such as music, writing, sports and more. When we are "in the flow," we are having an easy time creating or doing.

When we are "stuck," however, the flow has become impeded, resisted, rejected or simply stopped. To understand what I call the flow factors will help shed light on how to help your child (or yourself) overcome these perceived obstacles to creativity. When I say 'perceived,' I mean that we hold certain perceptions and beliefs - programs, if you will - that can make our vision cloudy. And if we change our perceptions/beliefs/programming, our vision clears up and we become enabled.

In fine art creativity, flow factors are the elements that allow 'flow' to occur. When they are all present, the flow is there. If one is missing, the flow gets jerky. For now I will discuss the following flow factors, although there are others to consider:

Knowing what to expect
Familiarity with mediums
Non-competitive environment
Willingness to have fun

KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT

Whenever we want to do anything, we need to comprehend what we are about to do, or grasp the idea of it. For example, if you want to drive a semi truck you need to know that you have to learn how to use 18 gears, how to back up and turn the rig and how to use the communication system. Otherwise, you will only be able to apply what you know about driving your own car. You will climb into the cab of the semi with every intention of putting the key in and taking off, because you would have no prior understanding of what you're about to take on. Once you realize that you are in the dark, or on another planet, since you had no idea what to expect, you may very well panic.

Imagine a child or a new art student sitting down at an art lesson for the first time (each time is a "first" time because it is a new moment, a new experience), knowing only that they are going to be asked to create something. If this person knows that it is a painting class, and that they are about to learn how to mix colors and how to use a variety of paint brushes on the first day, this would remove an element of fear of the unknown. There is an understanding of what to expect, what to anticipate. They know the "mystery" is about to be solved.

FAMILIARITY WITH MEDIUMS

Recently I have been developing relationships with some Gujarati families who always feed me the most wonderful food. Everyone brings something to the gatherings and the dishes are exotic and tasty. So I decided to get the internet and search out some Gujarati recipes so as to learn and contribute. As my search unfolded, I realized that there are foods and cooking (kitchen) items required for the recipes that I have never heard of. Since the Gujarati dictionaries I found online are all written in the actual Gujarati language, rather than in Gujarati in our alphabet, guess what? This put a dead stop to my creativity in the kitchen! My flow was impeded.

For people who want to learn how to draw or paint or animate, there is a whole new world of nomenclature (words/language), objects, materials and items that are new and strange. So the very first step is to give your child or student familiarity with everything they will be using. The best way to do this is by demonstrating. As with very young children, to whom we explain what crayons are and show them how to hold them, and how to draw on paper instead of the wall, for new art students I explain each thing they are about to use; "This is a tube of acrylic paint, here is how to get the stuck lid off with pliers, here is how you squeeze and roll the tube, this is how much to put on the pallet, here is the best way to rinse or clean the brush," etc. I don't skip one tiny detail. Once I show how, the students are encouraged to try everything themselves. As they do this, I check their brush cleaning to be sure they're getting the paint out at the bristle base, I show them how to use paper towels to blot the the water out of the brushes, how much water to use when mixing colors, and how to spray water on the pallet to keep the paints from drying out. The more you show your child or students, the more you enable them.

NON-COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Whenever we compare ourselves with others, we are asking for possible attack upon our self esteem. Humans are very sensitive beings, and when we are learning something new, we are not secure in how to do it. When we create a work of art, there is a piece of us in our creation. If you have several children, or a classroom full of art or animation students, I strongly suggest that you don't do critiques of the works in front of the group. It's best to work with them one-on-one, and praise everything good you can think of that they are doing. If something needs correction, say something like, "Wow I love this. You're doing so well. Would you like me to show you how to make it even better?" Don't point out the mistakes as such, or you are taking the chance of hurting someone's feelings inadvertently. If possible, allow everyone to work on different projects, rather than, "Today we are all going to draw such and such," so they don't compare their horse with everyone else's horse. If you do "group sharing," you can tell the class (or siblings) to point out only the good elements in each movie or artwork.

WILLINGNESS TO HAVE FUN

When you are explaining to your children or students how to use cameras, art supplies, etc., keeping a light attitude will make it easier to teach and easier for them to learn. Have fun with them; laugh, tell jokes and stories as you teach and demonstrate. Explain to them that art is for fun and they should not take it seriously (like doing brain surgery). If you keep it light and playful, they will pick up on that. Show them the how-tos, then let them play. My philosophy is that it's not the final artwork or movie they make that is ultimately important; it's the process itself. Sometimes you will have someone who is very hard on themselves, so these people will need some loving care to get them to lighten up and have fun. Simply show them how. You can demonstrate how to "mess around" with the purpose of getting strong in the materials and how to use them.

Creativity is a learning process; it's the opportunity for people of all ages to discover things about themselves, it's a chance to explore and innovate, and, above all, it should be fun.

Wisdom of Rembrandt for Young Artists

2007-05-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

A great first step to involve children in visual arts is to share artists throughout history with children. Together, look at pictures of every variety of art. Seeing a work of art involves the person looking at it, and each one of us looking at it becomes a creator. This is because we each have our own individual experience. For example, when looking at a Picasso or a Rembrandt painting, our reaction to colors is personal, we each have our own unique idea of what the story behind the picture is, we like or do not, etc. We each see it in our private way, and every interpretation and exerience is unique.

A second step is to provide materials with which to create - drawing, painting, mashing clay or dough around. This should be creative play, not "make a pretty (polished) picture." There should never be any attachment to the outcome, or the final product. By allowing children the experience of self-expression, with no expectations, self-esteem blossoms. When students are told to "finish your picture," this is a judgment by the instructor that the picture should look a certain way.

One of the worst experiences for art students is when the teacher critiques each student's piece in front of the whole class. This is justified as a learning experience, but can be totally devastating for some people. In my experience, one-on-one is special, always benefits every student, and people are not forced to compare what they are doing with the artwork of fellow students. The individual artist learns something from every project, even if it is never completed.

Nigel Konstam, founder of The Verrocchio Art Centre, Tuscany, Italy, in an interview by Clive O'Mahoney, says this about Rembrandt: "He was a very, very prolific artist. One fo the things that is interesting from an artist's pont of view is that he didn't exercise a great amount of self-criticism; he allowed himself this huge variety of quality. He went through life starting many new things and leaving them when he himself was satisfied. He said "the work was finished when the artist had realised his intention" - that's a very sensible dictum. The standard Dutch artist would polish every nook and cranny of his painting; it was full of very rich detail. Rembrandt was saying the oposite, that it is the artist's intention that is interesting and the finish polish of the whole thing is of very minor interest - a completely different attitude to a work of art."

I would like to recommend this book for parents of younger kids. It's a great example of how to integrate art into your child's personal growth activities via fine art.

Bonkers for Kids Doing Visual Arts

2007-05-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Educators are aware that children's experiences with the arts affect their emotional and intellectual development, as well as cultivating their creativity. The visual arts can be easily offered to children at home and in the classroom. In our busy world, however, we seem to have to delegate a great deal of our time to the musts... for techers there is the weight of getting test scores up and keeping up with all of the paperwork required by the powers that be (in order to keep the funding coming in), and for parents it's a matter of juggling kids and jobs, and this often by single parents.

If we take a moment to examine what is of primary importance for our children's development, there is no possible way to overlook the arts.

The benefits of engaging our children in the arts, be it visual arts, theatre arts, music or dance, are well known. Art activities help kids develop their own self esteem, self reliance. And when children are discovering the world through art, they also enjoy self discovery. It's universally true that everyone is different. When I was teaching the visual arts of drawing, painting, and animating, I saw children and adults develop faith in themselves, through self expression, because each one was seeing himself or herself as unique.

When children are given the opportunity for creative, open-ended play, the imagination is stimulated and they learn to think in new ways. New ideas form because in creative play they are free to see things in different ways. They begin to rearrange things and think outside of the box they normally live in. They fantacize and dream about things, and do whatever feels fun or interesting. They exercise their curiosity as well as their visual muscles. I could go on and on, and for these reasons, I am absolutely bonkers for giving children the gift of participating in visual arts.

Arts in Education in Northeast Ohio

2007-04-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio (YANEO) is an arts program enriching the lives of children and promoting creative learning by uniting arts and education.

Art Teacher - "Endangered Species"

2007-04-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

Arts in education in Northeast Ohio. Inspirational. Unusual. I had to really search to find this reference as these programs seem to be the exception now, not the rule. In my own community, forcing standardized tests ranks in importance over providing arts programs. I recently tried to hunt down schools that have theatre arts, photography, fine art, dance or even music as curriculum. And when I did find a program, it certainly was not a well-rounded offering for children that includes a variety of creative arts. These programs are usually a once a week activity, an after school program, or offered by visiting volunteers once a year.

I'm an art teacher, so teaching art has been a lifestyle for me. I'm an artist, so creating art has been a lifestyle for me. I have found great joy and beauty in my life from teaching and from creating. To contemplate life without the arts for our children makes me sad, indeed. Take a look at this comparison of arts programs in 24 sites in California showing the current status, rather the sad lack of said programs. So many children being left behind.

"I am an endangered species," said Jeff Johnson, who teaches at Westside Academy in Milwaukee. "I am an art teacher." And this protest in Milwaukee in 2004 against cutting the art and music programs is not an isolated incident. The arts have been drastically cut in public schools as education funding has been reduced by the Federal Government. Alexis M. DeAngelis, in her research paper Curriculum Issues: Fine Arts Education, states "Recent studies prove that integrating the arts into education enhances a student's development and performance. Students learning through the arts are more able to think at a higher level, collaborate with their peers, and score higher on standardized tests." Creative Arts are more than that; they contribute to the overall academic success of students.

Creative Process - Art Helping Youth

2007-04-13T08:23:00.001-07:00

I recently read an article about a 10-year mentoring program for at-risk youth in San Francisco. Each school year, 15 students are chosen for the program and paired with a one-on-one mentor to learn the basics of photography, which I consider to be a fine art form. Volunteer mentors, usually graduate students, professional or commercial photographers, spend Saturday afternoons teaching the kids image composition and darkroom secrets.

Erik Auerback, the education coordinator for the program, known as SF Camerawork, said, “Photography is a unique medium for them because it can be a chance for them to honestly explore their surroundings. When kids pull out their cameras, it gives them a chance to think a little bit more about the world. They get to look at what they do and selectively edit and choose how to communicate their stories.”

This is a beautiful example of a creative process being used to give young people a chance to see something wonderful coming out of themselves. This photography arts program is helping them special and appreciated, gain self confidence, and learn creative spontaneity from focusing energy on their own creative ideas through the simple process of creating. Kudos!

Arts Education on Endangered List Across Country

2007-04-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have always believed that creativity should not be an add-on to our educational system. What it should be is an intrinsic part of the teaching and learning process. What I see, however, is that creativity is being educated out of our children. Schools that encourage creative expression in all kids are the exception, not the rule, in the U.S. educational environment. As I scoot around the internet trying to find out where our education in the arts went awry, I'm finding a great deal of information as to why the arts are important.

There are white papers endless studies proving that the arts matter in education. For example, according to Andrea Mulder-Slater, in an article Published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, early exposure to the arts promotes activity in the brain, helps students understand other subjects much more clearly and contributes to the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, self-motivation and cooperation. Dee Dickinson, CEO and founder of New Horizons for Learning, states that the arts provide the means for every student to learn and improve academic achievement - enhancing test scores, attitudes, social skills, and critical and creative thinking. And students who take four years of arts in high school academically outperform those who don't on their SAT scores.

The National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign insists that "A Little Art is Not Enough!" There's not enough art in our schools or in our children's lives. But ask almost any parent, and they'll say that arts education is very important to their child's well being. Which makes it so surprising that the arts have been allowed to virtually disappear from our children's learning experiences."

So why have the arts lost sure footing in education in the U.S.? In today's Pittsburge Post Gazette I discovered a very apropos article in the Education section entitled Arts Education on Endangered List Across Country. Tim Grant writes, "As school administrators turn greater attention to the subjects that states are required to test under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, mathematics and reading are the main entree, while art and music are the delicious but fattening dessert they can do without."

Seems as though many children are being left behind in the process of "no child will be left behind."

Self Expression is Not Just for Twenty Somethings

2007-04-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

I love the wild expressions of individuality I see all over the internet. I see creative MySpace pages, YouTube movies, posters, blogs and poetry. We have found our venue to express ourselves. We're really going at it.

Meanwhile, I personally know many parents who are keeping their children busy with sports and more sports. Lots of physical exercise and competitive activities. Karate, horseback riding, skateboarding, and more. It's interesting to me that personal creativity doesn't seem to rank in importance to the physical endeavors that children are encouraged to participate in. When I was teaching fine art the children who were truly interested did not usually participate in sports too. Some did, but mostly not.

Children and self discovery are two flowers that naturally grow in the same divine garden. We have the responsibility to nurture and care for this garden. Did you know that creative arts provide an opportunity for children to honestly explore themselves? To discover what they like and what is beautiful to them? To realize self esteem from creating something that others respond to?

As adults, we find ways to express ourselves for these very reasons. It's important to give our children the same opportunity for self discovery and self expression. How to do this? Turn off the TV, turn off the video games, and always have a variety of papers, pencils, pens, watercolors, glue, embellishments, magazines and books that can be cut up or torn up. Allow your children to enjoy the creative process of making things without having to finish the project or make it for some purpose. Allow creativity - creative spontaneity - to find its place in every child's life.

Who Should Foster Creativity in Children?

2007-04-11T03:45:00.000-07:00

It is the responsibility of parents to foster creativity in your children and help them find real confidence that they can be creative. Children feel successful with their creative endeavors simply from the joy of doing a creative activity. Nothing reinforces the creative spirit and nourishes a child's soul more than providing large blocks of time to engage in spontaneous, self-directed creativity. The possibilities are endless. It's important to provide children lots of time to explore materials and pursue their ideas. When I offered stop-motion animation summer camps, this included time to think about how to plan, design, construct, experiment and revise their animated movie ideas.

I can think of many reasons why kids should be given the opportunity to create just for the sake of creating. Art offers opportunities for self-discovery and self-definition, and has endless benefits! Art is for enjoyment, and it also engages children's interest and allows them freedom to play in their own way. Kids need to use their creativity to develop their imagination and other strengths. For example, it encourages kids to interact with the world around them and build their confidence, develop decision making skills and problem solving skills. Creative play is where children learn and discover about themselves, which is vital to their development. This is how they learn to express their own interests and ideas, and learn adaptability and flexibility, which are fundamental to positive behavior.

Playful discovery is a gateway to learning and helps to establish very child's sense of confidence and self-worth. When I was teaching fine art, I discovered that for children who were not succeeding at anything else in their lives, success in art would give birth to a beautiful self concept that would overflow into every other aspect of their lives. Learning how to make a wonderful picture or a little animated stop-motion movie brought out the spontaneity and self-confidence that are essential to the creative spirit.

I believe that children develop creativity when you show them how. I found the following quotes I'd like to share about creative play for children:

Richard Louv, senior editor of the Washington, D.C.-based group Connect for Kids, said that "Children need adults in their lives who understand the relationship between boredom and creativity -- and are willing to set the stage so that kids can create the play. Constructively bored kids eventually turn to a book, or build a fort, or pull out the paints ... and create, or come home sweaty from a game of neighborhood basketball. But kids need the guidance of parents or other adults if their boredom is to be constructive, and lead to creativity," Louv said.

Stanley Greenspan, a child psychologist, urges parents to remember one key fact: "The value of a toy is proportional to the degree that it invites imagination and creativity."

"I feel as if we are creating a culture where we are giving children all the content that we think they need for their imagination, without realizing that in the process we are stifling their imagination," said Joan Almon, an educator who heads the U.S. Alliance for Childhood. “With such a lack of child-initiated play, we are short-circuiting a lot of their development," Healy adds. "That's because play is the way that children work out their emotional issues, their fears, their anxieties. It's the way they develop a self, a way they develop a sense that they are important people who have ideas to share and who can get along with other people."

Jean Piaget showed us "children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge but active builders of knowledge -- little scientists who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world."

"It's such a tragedy," said Jane Healy, a Colorado-based psychologist, educator and author of Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It. “Adults have really lost touch with the basic needs of the child. I just don't think parents -- or even policy-makers -- understand that children's spontaneous, self-generated play has tremendous potential to actually enhance brain development and increase kids' intelligence and academic ability."

What Every Art Teacher Should Know

2007-04-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

Many years of teaching fine art taught me what works and what doesn't when teaching [anything] to children of all ages (including adults). The truth is that every student is an individual and must learn at his or her own pace, individually, and there are two elements to this that work miracles in the classroom or studio:

1) Without lots of demonstrating that which is being taught, students will not duplicate; they won't understand and they won't be able to do it themselves. The information will not become their own understanding. For example, telling somebody how to blend the edge of a charcoal drawing to create depth means nothing to a beginner. Showing how to do this creates a tangible reality - it can be seen, the lesson makes sense! I want to mention here that this is true with academic subjects as well. Lectures put most students into stupor mode. Teachers who are talking heads are not inspiring. Interesting presentations with diagrams, slide shows, music, etc., and especially practicals, are more stimulating and are much more likely to be remembered. Most of all, when students (all ages) are engaged in their learning process, learning becomes becomes fun and memorable.

2) Studies show that when children are actively involved in their learning process , hands-on, they learn better. When a learning environment is process-oriented, skills are developed through the link between the hands and the brain. This is because there is an opportunity for the child to savor and explore a particular activity or material to make it his or her own. A good example is using XOW!, Inc.'s stop-motion animation software, Xipster FullStop, in the classroom. Having fun while learning makes students want to learn. This is why people enjoy arts and crafts... creative engagement plus self expression brings joy. Teaching fine art together with animation is the perfect venue to practice the "art of demonstration," which I've found incredibly successful; whether you're an art instructor or regular classroom teacher or a parent, I suggest that you demonstrate, demonstrate, demonstrate.

Note: Although I used FullStop for animation summer camps and school programs where kids were animating fine art, I have found a science lesson (click here to see the lesson plan) that exemplifies kids being actively involved in learning. This science lesson has children combining science and poetry using the simple animation tool mentioned above that I will demonstrate in a future blog video.