Layering and Learning through Light

Experimenting with color in different ways can allow an artist to gain new perspectives, both when viewing others' creations and when making a piece on one's own.  Using projectors, these young artists were able to layer different shapes to see how resulting hues looked more or less vivid.

This artist chose to carefully outline the designs and patterns that he saw.  He viewed the projected images as a whole and wanted to emphasize certain features of a face.  Completing the drawing and then taking away the colored shapes, the artist realized even more objects and scenes were hidden in his drawing.

Similar to the layers of plastic discs and molds that were portrayed brightly onto the wall, so too were layers of imagery showing up on the paper itself.  Seeing how these layers existed even after the light was turned off enabled the children to learn the different ways that an artwork can be produced and the different ways it can be subsequently viewed, in various lights or environments.  

Continuing to arrange different patterns, the artists designed their drawing and followed through with their plan to depict what was shown.  Others included some ideas of their own to create a story, adding specific animals or characters that to came mind in with the shapes and colors that were being offered visually, right in front of their eyes.  Incorporating both the concrete and the abstract in this way, the young artists' brains start to function more complexly.  Building layers of color and imagery in real life leads to building layers of thought and emotion within one's inner being.  

This then facilitates problem-solving and deeper understanding, as one learns to more easily sort through those layers.  Learning through light in this way also promotes a meaningful experience with others, encouraging both independent work and social interaction.  These young artists are continuing to show us how they are progressing in all of these areas of positive growth and development.  

Gifted and Giving

 

Often, artists come into the studio with a visual idea about what they want to make.  Others come in with a certain topic or person on their mind.  Making for the self can be a very different approach than making for others.  Sometimes the hardest critic can be the self, though wanting to impress or please someone else with a piece of art can also bring great pressure.  Creating from the heart will result in the most pleasing work, whether it is for the artist him or herself, or for a beloved someone.

With the holidays coming up, many people want to produce gifts for their family members and friends.  Utilizing the studio, and the wide variety of materials available there, is a great way for children and adults to use their imagination to construct something meaningful.  Putting forth effort to find colorful papers, soft fabrics, attractive flower petals, and shiny buttons, this artist comes up with an idea and sets out to achieve a goal.  Designing her piece ahead of time, making modifications during the creative process, and determining any additional elements that are needed at the end takes determination and skill.

The artist organizes a plan and takes time to carefully piece it all together, allowing her mental image to take on a specific form.  Envisioning her idea unfolding, working at it patiently, and keeping final intentions in mind are all for her to unify her talents.  Here, she has obtained the materials that she needs and is gluing them down, according to the layers that she wants to show or be covered.

Giving not only the actual artwork, but endless ideas and inspiration to others, is an enduring expression of love.  Creating as an artist should be a fun, enjoyable process.  Sharing those authentic gifts with others is rewarding in itself, and can lead to an ongoing bond of artful accomplishment.

Purpose Promotes Progress

When artists enter the studio, they can choose to improvise and see what happens or they can pick a specific idea and go with it.  Sometimes, in the best of situations, an artist can go back and forth between a set idea and improvising, while teasing out what does and doesn't work.

This young artist was able to do just that when she came in to create last week.  She knew she wanted to create an animal out of clay, but did not know exactly what type of animal.  After forming the soft material into balls and observing the shape of a turtle unfold, she grasped the idea and set out to work more intentionally.

With more effort then came more progress, and a specific plan developed.  Using this creative framework and remaining focused, the artist made sure to build a solid structure and then used her fingers and clay tools to add detail, giving her turtle a personality.

This week, the artist returned with inspiration and continued mapping out her intentions.  By choosing pastels in preferred colors and then applying swatches of that color to paper, she was able to see a visual sample of how her clay creation might come together.  

Once she was sure of the color combination and where each corresponding color would go, the artist took the next step to paint glaze onto her fired piece.  She began to see that her plan was working out well, but then also had an idea that the turtle should be coming out of the water.

Changing her mind at this point seemed to be a challenge, but the artist decided that she would add blue glaze to the turtle shell in order to depict this important detail.  She had expressed her desire to keep her creations in line with each other, which all have water as a key element, and didn't want to stray from this idea.

Having a purpose for the artworks, to match each other and form a set, has resulted in the artist making more progress.  The artist is eager to see how her glazed pieces come out next week.  She can then determine at that time whether she will continue to make more matching pieces, or start a new plan to begin working on something else.

Growing into Knowing

The studio provides endless opportunities for children to grow creatively.  Having the ability to start with a clear, organized space encourages fresh ideas to come to mind.  Children and adults can feel free to explore and experiment as they approach new materials, incorporating these into techniques that they have already mastered and with which they feel comfortable.

This young artist just recently became aware of her love for paint.  She now shows a continued interest in the medium, and is discovering new ways to experience it.

Exploring first with brushes, then with her hands, she gets an idea of the many different ways that it can be applied. Her curiosity enables her to approach not only the shiny pools of color lying before her on the table, but also the world waiting before her.

The desire to actively engage in a new activity can be a bit intimidating.  However, the artist here has courage to jump right in and see how it feels.  Bit by bit, she can then determine exactly what she thinks about that experience and where she wants to go next.

Trying various tools, she develops further knowledge about the marks that each one makes.  She is looking for more and more ways to be purposeful in her work, while also having fun- this is the key!

Using unconventional methods, the artist gains a different perspective.  Though gaining insight about how to get a specific look may come gradually, as new techniques are attempted over time, it is exciting to immediately see the visual result on paper.

Sometimes a little direction is needed to remember exactly where the paint goes.  It is easy to get caught up in the process when having so much fun!

But being messy is okay too, especially in the studio where learning and exploration are most important!  

Only by taking risks can our young artist develop further strengths and skills.  Courage and curiosity are necessary for wisdom and knowledge to grow from an experience.  And the cool patterns that result in a pretty picture are just an added bonus!

Storytelling through Art

 

All over the studio today, young artists were telling stories with their work.  Before, during, and after creation, the plots arose and were thickened with enthusiasm and energy.  These girls worked together on a storyline, adding bits and pieces where they felt certain it would compliment what was already there.

A creature was born out of an idea in mind.  Its environment then developed, as more colors and lines appeared in the girls' vision and were put down onto the paper with the pastels.  Working together, the two friends talked about what happened in this environment, what was available for the creature to eat, and where it might go next, after leaving the scene in the drawing.

Showing off their partnership and combination of talents, the young artist and her friend take turns explaining their thought process and how the story came to be.  Bringing up this situational information and formatting it into a visual schema is important for learning how to transform thoughts into words.  Communicating the ideas to others can be the most difficult part, but images can assist with this.

These boys became more and more excited about their art as their stories became more enriched, and their stories went more in depth as they applied the paint to the brush, then putting that excitement onto the paper.  The young artist on the left had been working on this painting for a few weeks now, returning to the studio with a plan and a purpose.  His intentions had remained fairly solid, but today he had a new idea to add and was not hesitant about jumping in to alter it.

The final piece was just one image but a vast combination of thoughts and feelings.  No longer was a firetruck going to ride over the mountains to save a family and put out a fire.  Much more ended up happening, where bombs destroyed the earth and chaos was everywhere.  Yet, things were okay because a rainbow was out and the sun was still shining.  Hearing these parts of the story provoked interest and everyone wanted to hear more!  The young artist reported that he would return next week with even more to depict through his art and accompany with his words.

Here, the artist told a story through the art itself.  He used different sized brushes, moving from big to small, and expressed himself with corresponding strokes and colors.  Words are not always necessary for storytelling.  The overall feeling and general meaning of the story can often be understood just by viewing the artwork, just as one can view a book cover and get an idea of the plot line.

  Stories are often told and retold.  Our artists here connect stories that they may have already heard to their own new creations, or relate their stories to existing images from current culture.  Sometimes they continue a story that they began in the past, adding a twist and surprising even themselves.  Learning to develop characters, environments, and situations is important not only for academic development, reading & writing, or presenting to peers.  It is also a skill that can be used in every day life, for understanding that stories can change and that the characters must adapt to feel comfortable in their new surroundings.

Sharing these stories with others feels good.  It is exciting to create them as ideas and images come to mind, improvising or responding to the wonder of the audience.  The young artists here at the studio are learning so many ways to communicate, tell their stories, and express themselves, both creatively and clearly.

Taking the time to create

Learning new skills is much like making new friends.  Becoming comfortable with those skills, and getting to know those friends better, can result in a variety of meaningful experiences. 

It is necessary to take time for developing strong relationships and for mastering new crafts.  Both of these events happen often at our open studio, where young artists become more confident in their artistic abilities and also in their social skills.

It is important for children to understand that trying new things and experimenting in new situations will result in becoming more comfortable with the world around them.  Building upon this feeling, which at first feels awkward, helps an individual to trust in him or herself.

Trusting in oneself then allows a young artist to also look forward to trying other new things in life.  Picking up a colored pencil for the first time, after using regular graphite, can open the door to a world of possibilities.  Saying hello to the new kid in class can start a lifelong friendship.  Taking the time to create and cultivate, personal habits and social connections, leads to positive possibilities that can grow and grow.

 

 

By observing parents, strangers, other adults and children, we learn how to interact with our environment.  In the studio, we encourage individuality, but also camaraderie.  Making something meaningful cannot be rushed, nor can it be planned by someone else.  The children of our world will soon be models for the next generation.  And the artists of the world will make it beautiful for them.  Combining both of these things makes it a promising future, and being able to slow down and appreciate this is what makes it even more rewarding.

Intentional Impressions

 

Coming into the studio with a plan is not always necessary, but can result in some really awesome things when it does happen!  This young artist had started working last week on printmaking and wanted to continue exploring with this medium during class tonight.  She wanted to continue experimenting with a newly learned skill and see what else she could do with it.

Remembering the materials that she needed, she grabbed the foam trays, scissors, glue, and other various things to use that she thought would leave an interesting impression.  Working diligently to cut and assemble pieces of mat board onto the foam, the artist remained very focused and thoughtful.  She knows that this type of art making is a process, especially if she is working with intention and a desired outcome in mind. 

To have options, she alternated from squares to circles so that she can use opposing shapes to mix and match for her print.  Cutting the squares to fit the plate and sorting through collage materials to find the right buttons takes time and patience, but was worth it to this artist, so that she can achieve a desired effect.  Putting so much time and intentional effort into constructing the design plates will result in not only a very creative product, but also an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Finishing just in time for class to end, the artist glued on the final pieces and put all the supplies back where they belong.  We are excited to come back in a couple of weeks to see how the artist uses them and what interesting prints can be made on different types of paper, with different types of inks or paints, and in different layouts.  The perseverance illustrated in this activity is important for persevering in other daily activities, especially those that need patience and practice.

When Less is More

It is nice to have options.  However, it can often be more rewarding to have limited options.  This fact was presented today when the clay tables were clear and there was only paint and paper set out to use.  Some of the young artists, who usually want nothing to do with paint and spend the entire class time working with clay, wandered over to try something new.  They experimented with different tools, smearing the wet metallic material across the paper... and liked it!  By having less options today, more learning was able to occur. 

Some of the parents were amazed, exclaiming their original assumption that the children would just opt out entirely, since their favorite activity wasn't available.  To their surprise, the kids had begun working on their own and continued to do so, diligently trying out this unfamiliar material and having fun with the possibilities.  When joined by their parents, the young artists continued to explore and felt even more comfortable in this new situation.

 

Becoming comfortable with the messy paint can be difficult for not only kids, but also for parents.  A great benefit of having a studio space available is the opportunity to get messy, to try these new things and not have to worry about ruining things at home or having to clean up again afterward on your own. 

The advantages of learning something from a new opportunity far outweigh the disadvantages of becoming a bit messy.  Beautiful paintings are created, new skills are developed, confidence is boosted and a wall of discomfort from the unknown is broken down.

 Sometimes we are forced to do things in life that we are not comfortable doing.  We are alone with a person we don't know or in a place of which that we've never been before.  It is odd at first, but is simply a new situations presenting new possibilities.  Just as trying a new material in art class can lead to mastering a new skill, learning the ins and outs of a new place, and meeting a new friend can also result in increased confidence and greater ability to face more and more unknowns in life, and to then reconsider them as fulfilling adventures.

Bloop, brush and blur

Painting can be a very energetic activity!  There are many different ways to manipulate paint, whether it is by using a brush, sponge, roller, stamp, spray bottle, or fingers.  These artists here are all using a variety of brushes, and even going from a big brush to a small brush creates a different result.

Seeing how each of these artists work differently brings attention to the notion that we are all unique.  We each go at our own pace and express ourselves differently.  This is true for verbal communication, as well as for visual representation.  Though we are all different, we can all still get along and cooperate in a way that enables further growth and learning.  Children are often the best examples of how we can work independently, while still advancing together.  There is a balance that can be maintained between the two ends of the spectrum and this is what we try to achieve, in our own lives and in sharing our lives with others.

Engaging in physical activity while also using the mind results in many benefits for us, as humans.  Being creative and sharing that ingenuity with a friend is an additional element of success, enhancing life all around.  This connection between the brain, the eye, the hand and the heart is one of the most important and can be one of the strongest, if it is practiced frequently.