April 30, 1999

WILD AND WONDERFUL WAYS WITH ART:

and Our Responses to Them

By Brenda Ellis

During my years of teaching and discussions with parents and other teachers, I have come across some different approaches to drawing that I find very interesting. Had I seen any one of these in only one child, I would not have given it much thought, but this has not been my experience. I meet three or four children in nearly every group of twenty that take one of the wild and wonderful approaches to art mentioned below. These are valid approaches to art when the child chooses to take them. They are not taught. They come from a need within the child, and I believe that when we let them express it freely, good things happen! 

The Action Drawing

Most often created by boys, the child begins by drawing the subjects: men, boats, spaceships, horses, or whatever is the interest of the moment. Mom looks at the drawing with admiration. Then the child begins to play on the paper. He draws lines from one point to another, which describe the action the objects are taking as they move across the paper. Play continues as figures are covered up by the action lines, which mom interprets as scribbles and...

Poor Response: "Billy, why did you mess up your picture?" Interpretation: Art is about the end product and you messed yours up. You can't play with a picture as if it were a toy. 

Perfect Response: "Wow, Billy, a lot is happening on that page. Tell me about it." Interpretation: I like your picture and am amazed by the thought and intent that went into this entire creative process.

Using the artistic approach, an artist  plays around with ideas and makes new arrangements on the paper. Children can do this too!

Repeated Subject Matter

Drawing one subject over and over again is seen equally among boys and girls and is the most common strange occurrence in art of young children. Children are focused and if allowed to do so will obsess over their current interest. It begins with a drawing of a horse, cat, ship, or some subject of interest. The subject is then drawn repeatedly. In fact the child may go through a few reams of paper and show the 100th drawing to the parent expecting more enthusiasm over it than all the previous horse drawings. 

Poor Response: "Good, Honey, but why don't you draw something else?" or "It looks a lot like the last one." Interpretation: I'm bored with your pictures. Your improvement is too subtle to interest me.

Perfect Response: "You really are interested in horses right now. How would you like to go and see some real ones?" Interpretation: I care about your interests and I'll encourage you to pursue them. I will let you have plenty of time to absorb all the information that you need to gather from horses. Later discuss color, movement, and particulars to share in the experience.

Artists agree one must feel something toward the object drawn to create meaningful art. Let the child be passionate!

The Frustrated Drawing

Everything is going fine as the child draws a picture of his toy airplane, then with a sudden outburst of emotion the child crunches the paper into a ball to be fired at the wall.

Poor Response: Grabbing the pencil, "Here Joseph, I'll show you how to draw a plane." Interpretation: I can draw better than you and know all the answers. Follow my tried and true method for drawing planes. I don't understand that you want to draw this particular plane and I don't understand that my success may mean your failure. 

Perfect Response: "What part are you having trouble with?" "The wing." "Why don't you draw the body again on a fresh piece of paper then we'll look at the wing together." Later, "That's a good body. I see you noticed how the tail of the plane curved in this direction," and I point to that area of the toy, as well as the successful area in the drawing. "Look at the angle of the wing. Which way does it go? How will you put that on paper?" Interpretation: Mom is willing to teach me to see more accurately, and willing to let me draw my own picture so that I can feel the success of doing it. 

Artists learn by making mistakes and correcting those mistakes as they observe more closely. Art is a process of making each drawing better and better. It is not about getting it right the first time. Children will be happier when they learn that art is a process.

The Drawing Based on Other Senses

Any child may be more attuned to the senses of touch or hearing than they are to seeing. This is usually truer in the younger ages. A child shows Mom a picture of herself, which Mom thinks is great, but wonders what the weird lumps at the bottom of the ears are. 

Poor Response: "Kate, your ears don't look like that." Interpretation: My experience of what you look like is more valid that your experience of what you look like.

Perfect Response: "Kate, this is a lovely picture of you. I like the lines you used to make your curly hair. You even remembered to put in the ears. What is this part of the ear?" Interpretation: Mom approvals of my drawing and I'll show her the part of my ear that she's asked about. Your daughter then reaches up and touches her earlobe and tells you it felt like that. 

Artists strive to make us feel something in their pictures and these things are often obtained by using all of the senses, not merely copying what we see. Adults may limit themselves artistically by thinking that art is only dealing with what we see. Children are less likely to limit themselves in this way.

While sitting on the carpet, my five year old decided to draw a picture of me partially reclining on the couch. She was very aware of the texture of the carpet through her sense of touch, and when I saw the drawing, the top half showed a great line drawing of Mommy on the couch, but the bottom was filled with vertical scribbles. When I asked her about it she replied, "That's the carpet."  How cleaver! I wouldn't have noticed the carpet. None of us are perfect parents in our responses, but I must admit I like the challenge of becoming one. I think about those experts who have taught me how to teach my children reading, math, and creative writing, imparting to me in a few pages what took them many years of experience to obtain. I hope that for some, I have opened up new ways of thinking about art, as well as ways of seeing the validity of children's visual interpretation of their world. 

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 individual artistic expression. She welcomes inquiries at alltheanswers@artisticpursuits.com. 

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