The girls stopped by after school the other day and had projects for class. The youngest needed to do something on her favorite animal, the cat. We pulled out cardboard, sissors, glue and an old cat calendar and started working. The older girl had to create a portfolio for her art class. I set her up in the back of the garage by the big mirror I found by the side of the road, and gave her some paper and charcoal and told her to do a self-portrait. "I CAN'T DRAW!" She said, and nothing went on the paper. Although she had many, many items from the work she had done in the garage, she didn't select those. She had an idea that it needed to be something else. I am not sure what, but I wasn't able to help her and she simply didn't hand in anything. The next day, the youngest came bouncing in to let me know her teacher liked her project, while the older sister sulked and made negative comments. She told me she failed her art assignment. My ego was not happy about that. How could one of my Art Garage girls FAIL ART? I did my best to convince her she had plenty of work to share, that we could simply go back in the garage and pull out dozens of pieces of art. She wasn't convinced. Finally, I sent her away with paper and markers and she imitated the teacher's sample. She informed me her new effort got an A. What is Art? There is an art table in the yard with layers and layers of paint. I was looking at it the other day and it looked to me like a piece of artwork. I painted the words, "What is Art?" to provoke some thought in the Art Garage kids as they sat and worked. I am not sure they pondered the message as they pulled the paint off, but I did watch them peeling off the layers, and leaving the word "Art?" Whenever I talk about art, I hear adults say, "I am not creative." Ultimately they mean, they do not have a certain skill set that basically represents fine art mastery. But creativity, and for that matter, art is not about a skill set as much as it is about seeing things from a different perspective. It is about willing to express oneself in a way other than the convention. Or even if one uses the convention, it is about turning the convention on its head. Art ultimately provides a different way of knowing the world. It is experiential. It is embodied. It is emotional. It is the outward expression of something living in the soul, or the culture, or the emotional life of the artist, or the community. Well, how do we encourage that, instead of simply having our art student copy the teacher's example?
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Abigail LarrisonEducator, Scientist and Art Maker. The purpose of all life is to spread joy. What brings more joy than making art? Archives
November 2023
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