Arts to Grow

Drawing - Head-to-toe Self-Portraits

The children do exercises to learn about the proportions of their bodies and then draw self-portraits. Ages 3 to 9. Plan 2 sessions.

 

KEY IDEAS

• Learning about proportion 
• Drawing from observation
• Filling the paper

Move over, math and science. It’s time to make room for art.

Employers and government alike have long advocated math and science as the primary subject areas for those who want to excel in today’s knowledge-based careers. But now art is earning its rightful place alongside its more popular and heavily promoted sister subjects. And its biggest support is coming from employers.

But the value for employers isn’t in the actual learning of how to play an instrument, draw the human figure or compose poetry. The real benefit from employers’ standpoint is the skill set that seems to come primarily from studying the arts.

According to Fred Behning, an IBM retiree who has a music background, “The fine arts carry additional developmental benefits. Whether it’s music or dance notation, sculpture or painting, or translation of written word to emotion and action, all fine arts experience is built on conversion of the abstract into reality. This is Creativity 101 as taught in no other academic setting.

“The positive correlation between possessing an arts education and achievement in the workplace isn’t proven conclusively, but there’s mounting data to suggest it” (Behning, 2007).

Some of that data comes from employer survey results. In a report published by The Conference Board, an organization that researches marketplace and business issues, 97% of employers considered creativity to be “of increasing importance in the workplace,” while “85% of employers seeking creative employees said they were having difficulty finding qualified applicants with the right characteristics” (Lichtenberg, 2008).

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There are two distinct areas of study to focus upon when teaching kids art production: the technical, and the analytical. The far easier of the two is the technical aspects of whatever media is being explored in a given project. Demonstrating and familiarizing student s with the various processes and procedures associated with a specific medium is always fun and relatively straightforward. Typically the students are excited to get to work and dive into their projects eager to make a calculated mess with the newly discovered materials. It is only then that a majority of them realize they lack the second and more important ingredient of art making: the ever illusive idea. This particular component of the creative process has long plagued both veteran artists and beginning students seemingly for as long as we as a species have been making marks.

There is a fascinatingly complex relationship for students to discover between the physical act of making art, and the psychological reasoning behind it. Art, at its core, is a form of communication; a vehicle of expression. And whether it is sophisticated or shallow, there needs to be some degree of motivation behind an artwork if it is to stand any chance of resonating with an audience. In other words, the artist needs to know why they are creating a particular image and allow that reasoning to influence the direction of the work. Otherwise the work is in danger of becoming another trite image in an ever expanding ocean of kitsch. Even work created with exceptional technical skill, if lacking a clearly defined purpose, becomes a transparent window exposing the artist’s lack of intention.

By DIANE D’AMICO, Staff Writer