A few years ago, I had an experience where someone questioned my methods of teaching art to children. This person expressed disbelief that I considered painting solely on “just paper” to be hiqh quality art instruction. She uttered the words, “My child could do this at home, and all the other parents feel the same.” The look on my face must’ve told her I was appalled because she kept going, “So, you think just smearing some glue around on paper and slapping some gold leaf on it is high quality art?”

Y’all. WOW!

As if.

Misconceptions

In my many years of teaching art to students and teachers all over this country, I’d never experienced anything like that.

To say my feelings were hurt is an understatement. Even now, as I write this, I have the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach. As you will see, she had the right to ask questions. It is understandable that she didn’t really grasp what we were doing. It is important that I found a way to turn the situation around into something positive and long-lasting. It really isn’t okay that she was so mean and hateful to me, but her doing it in front of her kid and the kid’s peers just hurts me to my core. It’s the part that still stings. More on my “feelings” later. Let’s get to the intellectual part of my brain now.

A Child’s Creative Process

I explained to her that the children had been through a creative thinking process to create their work. I explained every step of this process, gave anecdotes of what I noticed about the children as they worked, mentioned how many hours they had spent on their pieces, and shared the conversations I’d had with them as they worked. 

One child’s process went something like this:

She knew she wanted to paint a beach. So, she drew up a rough draft of a beach. I conferenced with her about her draft. She talked through the decisions she’d made about what items to include on the beach: beach chairs, beach balls, etc. She thought those sorts of details would help her communicate through her artwork that the scene was a beach. I agreed, but I also took the time to chat with her about proportion and creating depth in her work. I showed her some examples of these concepts. She practiced them and applied that to her beach drawing. Once she had finished another draft that showed more depth and better proportion, she was ready for her real artist paper. This whole brainstorming, planning, and practicing process took about an hour. I was so proud of her for being diligent and persistent to get her work just right. 

Once she had her actual piece drawn, we chatted about blending and layering paint. I showed her some techniques. We talked about what other types of materials she could use to create more detail in her work. She practiced blending and layering paint before she actually painted her work. She spent some time experimenting with the paints to get the perfect color for the sand. She mixed three different colors of acrylic together to get this perfect color.  This took another good hour.

While she was blending and layering and experimenting with the colors, she thought about what other materials she might add to her work to make it more interesting. She ended up wanting to add gold leaf to the sky and a bit of glitter to the sand. It was an amazing piece. She spent so much time working on it. If my child had created that, I’d have framed it for hanging in my home. 

Opportunity to Educate About Creative Thinking

Now, I’ll admit, I can be a bit tender-hearted at times, but this incident was unlike anything else I’d ever experienced. I felt like I’d let the parent down but had no idea how I’d done so. I was teaching through a creative process as I always do after all. 

Mostly, though, I worried that the child felt the same way about her work. Oh! That was just the worst part of the whole thing. This mom has said all these hateful things right in front of her child.

It was hard for me to accept that the child might’ve felt the same as her mom because I’d been with the child as she worked all those hours on that piece. I really hated to think that the child felt that negatively about the work she’d done. I really do not believe she did, even after all this time.

Anyway, after some reflection, I realized this was not worth being upset about. I knew in my heart that the child was proud of her work. In fact, I still have the note she wrote that says, “You’re the best,” hanging on a corkboard in my studio.

Instead, I decided this situation was just a good opportunity for me to communicate even more to parents, teacher, students, and the community about the importance of creative thinking in the creation of artwork by children. So, that is why I decided to tell this story and write this post. 

Things to Keep in Mind

Here’s what I know to be true about children’s art-making processes:

1. They have to make their own decisions about their work. I can teach them about the elements of art and the principles of design, but ultimately the creative decisions belong to them. As the old saying goes, “It is important to learn the rules so you can choose to break them.” That’s exactly what this process is about.

2. Adults need to keep their own personal preferences about artwork to themselves when working with children. It is okay to share what you think about a work of art when you are focusing on critique and analysis of masterworks and such. However, when the students are creating their own pieces, it is so important to be mindful of the message you send about what you like and dislike in a work of art. Sure, I can make suggestions based on my personal art-making preferences in hopes to help the child create a more “presentable” work, but I rarely do this because I don’t think I should impose my personal likes/dislikes onto the students. I use this as an absolute last resort to help the students when I have to. You see, I believe they deserve the freedom to explore their creativity. If I tell them what I like all the time, they will think they have to create work that resembles that to make me happy. 

3. Unique materials (often uncommon to the elementary art classroom) are fascinating to students. Having the chance to work with gold leaf or texture pastes is fun for students. There is also a big element of critical thinking that comes with using such materials, even if the base of the project is “just paper.” For instance, the student mentioned above had to spend creative energy deciding where to put the gold leaf so that it would enhance her work without taking over the piece. And, let me tell you, gold leaf is not easy to work with! It requires precision and concentration and serious fine motor work.

4. Even small decisions matter. To a child, the decision to include three beach chairs instead of two in their work of art is a big, critical decision. It seems small to our closed adult brains, but it is a huge deal for a young student. They have to consider the size of the paper they are working on, how the number of chairs will impact the proportion of the work, etc. This requires spatial reasoning, hand-eye coordination, and a thought process full of reasoning. 

Could Your Child Really Do This At Home?

Here’s the takeaway I hope you have from this post: 

The art-making processes of children are more complex than most adults realize. 

I communicated this to the unhappy parent, and I stand by it solidly. Authentic, creative work done by the student after learning the foundations of visual art combined with unique and exciting materials are the cornerstone to high quality student artwork. 

In the example I presented above, I know the student couldn’t have created that piece by themselves at home because I saw the original draft. I helped that student take a basic idea through the creative process to a final product that applied elements and principles. Please don’t misunderstand me. I know we always love the works our babies create no matter what. I am just providing an example of how legitimate instruction in the art form is valuable to growth and accomplishment for students. Saying your child could’ve completed the artwork by themselves at home, without consideration for the creative thinking processes described here, is like saying they could figure out how to do calculus all by themselves and don’t need a math teacher. (This is also why certified arts teachers are so important to our schools, by the way.)

Parents, as you search for art lessons for your child or consider the work they create at school, remember the four points above. Try to keep this in mind as you support your child as a creative being and as they work with a teacher to develop those creative skills.

Teachers, take deep breaths. All of us can react emotionally when it comes to kids. I know it is hard (as I so vulnerably shared above) to know exactly what to do in a situation that makes us upset or uncomfortable. So, take deep breaths, but continue to believe in what you do. Remember the four points above as well.

From the Bottom of My Heart

I want to take a moment to come back to the emotion of this post. Parents are amazing. I am always in awe of the way parents love and support their children. Parents have so many hidden talents. I feel the same way about teachers.

I recognize that most negative behaviors stem from something else. I don’t believe that people do things out of “pure meanness,” as we say in the Mississippi.

Part of the reason I was so hurt by all of this was beyond the parent’s terrible delivery of her opinion and that she did it in front of her child. I was hurt because I didn’t know I hadn’t communicated like I should’ve about what we were doing. Once the ball started rolling I couldn’t get back to a safe place. I learned so much from this, and I will always use that going forward.

I sincerely hope your child can do amazing artwork at home, especially once you begin to appreciate creative processes alongside creative products. I have found myself homeschooling due to the uncertainty that remains with the global coronavirus pandemic. I now have such an amazing network of homeschooling families as well as families in the school systems. I still work in the schools and with the schools on a regular basis. What I see time and again in both communities are adults doing their best by the children in their care. So, I know creative thinking goes on at home and at school. This particular post was an effort to help increase the instances where creativity is used in learning and to help a broader range of adults understand how children learn through creative processes.

Much love to you all. I always wish you the best. I’m here for you. I support you. Let’s chat soon!

-amanda

Below, I took the time to share a few of the products mentioned in this post. We use these things frequently, and I definitely recommend them for your classrooms. The Glue All is a pretty sturdy glue, but not above the skill level of students. In other words, it won’t ruin your classroom, their clothes, your school, your career, your clothes, their lunch, their hair, and their neighbor’s new outfit. It is strong enough to hold the gold leaf, but not strong enough to be destructive. I like to use glitter glue instead of actual loose glitter when the goal is to cover an area with a layer of shimmer. You can paint it on with a paintbrush, and it doesn’t make a mess. These Sargent Art acrylics go pretty far. They have a good pigment, and are opaque enough for student use.

Finally, I have also linked some books that can help you as the teacher or any parent get a better understanding of what a creative process looks like. I share these with educators and parents frequently. You could easily do the same!

Affiliate Disclosure: Party in the Art Room is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on this site, a commission may be earned.