March 30, 2004
AWARENESS OF NATURE - First Step to an Art Education
by Brenda Ellis
As you ponder the
best approach to teaching art, consider, not whether the method teaches the student
to make images, but whether it incorporates in its method a purpose for making
those images. Will it give the student a reason to make art? Will the act of making
art be so delightful that it draws the student back to the activity repeatedly?
A student’s
skills will develop with time spent in true observation of life and living things.
Teaching techniques from a book alone, without true observation, thwarts the very
purpose of making art. Artists create in order to share their view of the world
with others. They must first have a view of the world, and that means that they
have developed awareness in some area that has enough depth to bring enlightenment
to others. Students can and often do show something in a way that we adults have
not thought of or seen. With this as the true reason for making art, we can see
that it is training in seeing the world that comes before a study of the technical
skills of art.
When teaching
homeschool students within a classroom setting, once a week we look at artists and
their artwork, learn new techniques for making art, and delve into a project. Some
students are not prepared for the task and some eagerly jump in. Those who jump in
have brought something to the classroom that the others have not. It is a wealth of
knowledge based on their own observations of the world. They draw from what they
know, and what they’ve looked at. In their art, we see their world.
These students’
parents claim that they have not trained their children in the arts because they do
not have a sufficient knowledge of the arts. One mother said that she always tries
to point things out to her boy to get him to observe them more closely. This may be
the structure of a flower, a sunset, or the way the ice hangs on the trees to make
a winter wonderland. She showed him artworks by other artists, but they did not
talk too much about them due to her lack of knowledge. These close visual
observations are what make this young boy so able to make a masterful artwork
during each class period. Sometimes he fails because he experiments with an idea
that does not quite turn out, but he is never discouraged and comes back eager to
try again in the next class.
When asked why her
children tuned into art, another parent said she does nothing special, that the
boys draw on their own and draw a lot. Further into the conversation she said that
she reads many classic adventure stories to them and made the radical move of
giving away the TV. She supplied her
sons with the environment and opportunity to make art. Their days are filled with
quiet hours spent dreaming and visualizing heroic adventures. They also show a
natural curiosity for the outdoors. Paper and pencils are available at these times.
Both of these
parents found something bigger than art techniques to share with their children.
They present them with a view of life, and an appreciation for living things. They
lay the groundwork for many subjects, and especially the subject of art, which is
simply a study of life through visual means.
In the teaching field there is so much pressure to measure through testing.
Can we separate ourselves from these ideas and dare to offer our students a rich
body of knowledge in which we cannot measure the true depth of the outcome? Can we
dare to trust that a natural curiosity about the world is worth the time the
student invests in it? We cannot measure the influence that close contact with
nature has on the student’s ability to make beautiful art. Art is the expression
of life. We, who may have been taught to color within the lines, to use “correct”
colors, and follow all rules spoken from the teacher’s viewpoint, must abandon
that meager helping of knowledge for the rich wealth that is obtainable from nature
alone. To do this we need to trust that nature is a good teacher. Time must be
spent in the natural landscape that surrounds us.
With my children, I
have cherished our freedom to explore the world, not only by planned activities
like trips to the park to draw birds, but the unplanned adventures as well. Heavy
rainstorms meant a recess was in order. We watched the storm build to a frenzy and
then put the books down, ran outdoors, and spun around in the yard. A big snowfall
meant that morning would be devoted to play. Afterward, with our minds invigorated,
we settled down to a warm meal, dry clothing, and school subjects as the sun melted
our snowmen.
It is difficult for some to believe that students benefit from such
excursions into nature. They avoid nature for the sake of cleanliness. In my
classes, it is those that worry about messy hands that are afraid to make art.
Their fears interfere with the mental freedom it takes to conceive of a picture.
Yes, children get
wet, dirty, and messy when allowed to enjoy the outdoors, but they also get filled
up inside with an appreciation for the world. They acquire knowledge of what it
feels like to have cold hands, run in rain-soaked clothing, or dig into soft earth
with a small shovel. Their minds work as they figure out ingenious ways to get
large amounts of sand from one part of the lawn to the next. Well-manicured lawns
may suffer a bit, but they are easily repaired. I have not been particularly fussy
about what the kids do in the yard. When they wanted a mud hole, I told them where
they could make it, and later turned the bald patch into a flowerbed.
Students need nature if they are to become creative individuals. They need to experience it, manipulate it, and gain some knowledge and control over it. They then bring the knowledge they’ve gained to every experience they encounter. If its art, they make it well. They treat their art as they treat the world. They experience it, manipulate it, and gain knowledge and control over it. Students benefit in knowing how to handle the materials they come in contact with in art. However, this information alone will do nothing to give them an understanding of the purpose of art; which is the expression of a personal experience. Students, who learn to see the world, will find the robin hopping in the yard a fascinating part of their own world and worthy of including it in their next artwork. An art program should first point the student to nature as a good teacher in the visual arts. It can then present the use of art materials and technical skills, once an acquaintance of nature is firmly established within the student’s methods of creating art.
Brenda Ellis is the publisher of www.ArtisticPursuits.com and author of the series, Artistic Pursuits, a comprehensive art program for home or classroom use, grades K-12. These user friendly books offer art instruction, art appreciation and art history in a self guided manner while encouraging artistic expression. She welcomes inquiries at alltheanswers@artisticpursuits.com.
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