Persistence with Paper-craft

This artist has been working on a paper-made amusement park for three consecutive weeks.  She has remained extremely focused, returning to her creation with specific ideas each time she has entered the studio.  Inspiration from things she has encountered outside of the studio, motivation to try new plans she has devised in her head, and determination to work toward the goal of completion all keep her going.

Even as her classmates move from activity to activity, she remains diligent.  This isn't to say that she has missed out on those activities.  She has used her time wisely to work on projects in other mediums as well.  After spending part of class creating a new animal out of clay or painting glaze on a piece that returned from the kiln, the artist has been able to return to her project with more intention and originality.  Though sessions in the art studio eventually end, the artist can continue to expand the construction of her amusement park by building onto it at home.  

The wonderful thing about building with paper is that it is a fairly inexpensive, readily available, highly versatile and mobile material.  It can manipulated in numerous ways to make walls and balls, slides and spirals, pools and ghouls, ticket gates and landscapes.  

The artist doesn't confine herself to the limits of the weekly hour and a half class time.  She doesn't consider any rules about what should or shouldn't exist within the creation.  Instead, she has an idea and she makes it.  This is the true purpose of art.  To make something that may not have ever existed before and, more importantly, to have fun while doing it!

Self-Portraits : Personal Style

Historically, the self-portrait has been a favorite subject of many artists.  It allowed them to sharpen their powers of observation and to understand themselves from a different perspective.  Noting the exact relationships of one body part to another, in terms of size and placement, artists were able to depict what is known as the "idealized face" through a mathematical formula.  Using the head as the standard for drawing a whole human figure, they found that facial features could also be measured in relation to the nose.

Mathematical formulas may not always be put to use in the art studio, but such concepts can allow for a more focused starting point.  Most people have ideas about what a human face should look like- we know that it usually consists of a mouth, a nose, two eyes, and that ears and hair may give some additional information.  However, it takes some real concentration for an artist to pay attention to the details in various types of mouths, eyes, and noses that accompany different people's faces.

The artist here, and her classmates, were encouraged to ignore ideas in their minds about what a face "should" look like and to draw, instead, the actual images that were reflected back to them on their mirrors.  She started out by drawing shapes, which served as the outline for the head and corresponding facial features.  Referring to the mirror, the artist compared her drawing to the reflection, and continued to add other characteristic features of herself.  By using black ink, instead of color, she was able to really focus on the shapes and lines that are central to an individual's detailed face.

After drawing realistically, from the concrete image that she saw in the mirror, the artist was able to to add ideas from her imagination.  Working on a specific concept allowed her to understand the purpose of controlled drawing, and then to move from within those structured parameters toward more abstract rendering.  This incorporation of both customary drawing techniques and personal features made the final pieces quite unique.  Creators of newer generations can still learn a lot from artists of the past, but focusing on body part ratios will only get one so far.  Truly meaningful creations develop from using more than just a mathematical formula... they develop from using inspiration within.

Cool, Calm and Collected

Clay is a soft material that feels cool on an artist's hands, and often leads to relaxation and feeling calm.  Six stages of development are experienced when an artist uses clay, and they are described here, as this artist displays his collected skills from all six.

The Exploratory stage focuses on the quality of the clay- what it feels like and what it can do.  The artist here is pushing, pounding, smoothing and pushing the clay to explore its malleability.
 

The artist is engaging in the Shape stage here, by rolling the clay into balls or cutting in into shapes.  He is then lumping them together and experimenting with how they look stacked.  This experimentation with shaping and putting those shapes together leads to the next stage of design.

The Design stage is shown here, as the artist determines exactly what to do with the balls and coils of clay that he has created.  He has decided to make a cave/garage and ramp for his cars.

The artist refines and strengthens his idea during the Simple Representation Stage.  Figuring out the basic form for his piece is an important step, which will lead to the next stage of more specific building methods.

During the Detailed Representation Stage, the artist uses appropriate tools and works more with more focus to make his creation look real.  Creating the actual form of the garage by scoring and adding slip to the clay pieces, he recalls techniques that he has learned, which allow his artwork to become more sturdy and functional.  His concentration allows him to assess whether or not the garage/ramp will actually be durable and stay together when fired in the kiln.

At the Decoration Stage, the artist adds details and texture to the surface, making it more personal.  He can use tools, but chooses to use hands, which allow a more direct experience with the clay.  After the first firing of the piece, the artist can add color by glazing it and having it fired again.




It is a process that requires patience and persistence, but also a pleasing product!

Encouraging Words

For young children, art is a very sensory, kinesthetic activity.  Such movement-based exploration allows a child to use art as an expressive outlet, which can then provide many opportunities for learning and language development.  The artist here is experiencing cause and effect, engaging in problem solving, honing his fine-motor skills, and learning the names for various colors, shapes and textures.  As a result, he becomes more motivated to tell others about the process or content of his work.

That which is produced in the art studio is of great importance, but the actual process of just exploring and doing is what allows children to experience pleasure in its purest form.  When a young artist is hard at work, it is sometimes difficult for an adult to know what to do or say to be supportive, without interrupting the child's focus.  Following the child's lead is the best way to give him enough space to work freely, and then to respond appropriately with either more materials or encouraging words.

Verbal praise is best given through descriptive comments.  Pointing out what the child has created ("Look, you made a circle!"), stating a positive aspect of what is observed (You are working very carefully to fill that page with paint."), or inquiring about a discovery that has been made ("How did you get that deep purple color?" or "You seem to like how that soft clay feels in your hands.") are all great ways to encourage further exploration, while focusing on both the process and the product.

In this way, the child artist and the adult artist can both work separately on their personal creations.  Providing a safe, non-judgmental environment allows children to create more comfortably and comment more freely on the artistic process that they are experiencing themselves.  The artist here explores and imagines independently, while his emotional and social growth is supported by his mother, and other peer artists, as needed.

Taking advantage of opportunities to connect with a child through art can lead to witnessing many special moments of discovery and accomplishment.  Sharing in the simple joys of color, texture and sensation, which grown-ups often take for granted, often results in a mutually rewarding experience for both the child within the adult artist, and the child artist himself.

Problem-solving with Peers

Deciding what to make in the studio can be a daunting task.  Remaining focused on how to carry out that individual plan takes patience and persistence, with yourself and those around you.  This artist here sits down to start working, while sharing materials with her neighbors.

Taking time out from working toward a personal goal, to help someone else achieve their goal, presents even more of a challenge.  However, it can also be very rewarding.  Here, the artist responds to a peer's need for assistance in creative thinking and problem-solving.

Many artists work together, but it takes a great amount of mutual respect and clear communication to maintain an equal partnership.  These two girls brainstorm together to try various materials and eventually determine how to make the structure remain strong in a 3-D collage.  Their peer relationship strengthens while the two individual artists also gain insight into how to problem-solve cooperatively.

After helping her friend, this artist is able to return to her own work.  She takes the techniques that she learned and applies them to her own creation.  In the end, both artists benefit, and further skill on managing various tasks is developed.  Pride in one's artistic product is very important, but inner growth during the process, and sharing a discovery with a fellow artist along the way, can often have much greater personal significance.

Meaning Making with Mom

It can be great fun to make art and find new ways of doing it.  That experience of discovery and creativity is often enhanced when the opportunity is available to create with loved ones.

Children's first and most important teachers are their parents.  This mother and son duo in the open studio setting work more as artistic partners, however.  There is less emphasis on teaching right and wrong, and more importance placed on exploring and having fun together.

When a child is taking risks and trying new things on his own, it helps to have a trusted individual nearby to reinforce his efforts and make him feel comfortable during possible moments of hesitancy.  Modeling how to use a specific tool or blend paints is also an enjoyable way for a parent to gain knowledge and then share it with a child.

Building a bond through creative activity, while also developing skills together, allows this mother and son to engage in numerous meaningful moments.  They are also learning to communicate in non-verbal ways, which enhances the ability to remain expressive and lay down pathways for future positive interactions. 

The piece that the two artists created together has both elements of individuality and mutuality.  These visual details show the overlapping boundaries in a parent/child relationship, where mother works on her side and son works on his side, and then where they come together to blend their two techniques more cohesively.

Exploring the rest of the studio space is a further element in strengthening this parent/child relationship. The more tactile experience of seeing, hearing and touching things is reflected by inner experiences of feeling, thinking and communicating.  This physical/sensory development directly produces emotional/social development, which is key for growth as an individual in the world.

Having fun together and creating together go hand in hand for this mother and son duo.  Their smiling faces show how much they enjoy sharing their time with each other and exploring things in this way.

From Concrete to Abstract

Building at the light table can be a great step for an artist to find inspiration.  One here works in an architectural manner to form various structures.  He starts out using similar colors, so that his piece is not only physically symmetrical, with corresponding pieces fitting into each other, but also visually alike.

A close-up look of the patterns and shadows that appear enables the artist to focus on the here and now of how the translucent pieces and the light affect each other.  This observation is important in his next step of going beyond the concepts of shape and color to determine how his creation might work with other mediums.

After constructing with great focus and finding a pleasing angle from which to view his work, this artist begins to depict the image of the structure with pastels.  This is a great capture of his ability to conceptualize from one form to another.

Creating a further challenge for himself, the artist adds more and more pieces.  Switching back and forth from building to drawing can be a lot of work, but it can also help the creative process to flow more smoothly and easily, as both literal and metaphorical thinking ideas together.

Since the artist was able to shift his thinking, from concrete to abstract, he was also able to shift activities, designing with hard shapes then with soft pastels.  Being able to see things in both ways allows artists to use both sides of the brain to solve problems and create more complex and interesting pieces.

More than just Cut and Paste

Creating a collage also means acquiring other skills, especially for young artists such as this one.  As he makes decisions about which pieces of fabric or textured paper to use, he is discovering the nature and complexity of possible choices in the world, just on a smaller scale.  This experience is important for physical, visual and spatial development as well as social and verbal growth.

The act of exploring within the collage process encourages this artist to experiment with color, line, shape and size.  Placing materials in different areas and at different angles on the paper allows him to take it one step further, as he creates a design with these basic elements of art.  Developing such visual-spatial relationships, such as eye-hand coordination, the artist learns to further understand and label such important concepts.

Artmaking lets children convey what they may not be able to say with words.  Involvement with a rich variety of materials, and growing mastery over how to effectively use them, instills confidence and pride in the creators.  These boys are both remaining very focused as they work on their individual pieces, but are also finding a way to relate to each other and a reason to talk and reflect together afterward.  

As the artist tears the materials and glues them down, onto the perfect spots that he has found for them, he is refining his small muscle movements.  This will assist him in learning to control a pencil and write, which is key for further problem-solving in school and communicating through written word. 

After the artists work for a period of time on their creations, it is interesting to look at them as a group.  It is amazing to see how collage enables them to explore materials so spontaneously, yet also to become more in control of their actions, expressions, and final creations.  This moment of making a connection between the physical world (of things and events) and the inner world (of feelings and meanings) is a magical thing to observe.