I remember doing tons of art projects at home when I was growing up. We’d roll out printing ink on the kitchen counter with a breyer to make prints, and I imagined that I’d be doing art projects all the time at home with my kids. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Six-year-old O does like to make things, but they’re often utilitarian: he has me help him cut doors and windows in a toaster box, but he’s not interested in decorating it. Once he can drive a truck into it, it is done.
Re-reading an old (Winter 2002/03) issue of Cabinet magazine, I found a nice article by artist Byron Kim about his struggles with doing an art project with his kids. Here’s a bit of what he wrote:
Whenever we set aside time to make something, it didn’t quite work. She tried her best and that was just the problem. Our attempts were too intentional, too full of effort. I found myself foisting my ideas on Ella, and she, in turn, kept trying to make Art.
This sounds familiar — I wonder if it resonates with other parents out there. O likes doing arts & crafts projects — and has a kid’s digital camera that he likes to use — but, yeah, when the projects seem labored, they really do seem like they’re more my idea than his.
Some kids have a hard time with creation outside of function. Creating details that are functional items and challenge the imagination is one way to work with this. Try creating a garage door for the car. Discuss the different ways the door could possibly work. Does the door flip up or swing out? Do we attach the door with glue, pipe cleaner or wire?
Sometimes kids just have to find the right tool. There was one kid I worked with who never spent more than 2 minutes on any art-making activity and he hated to get messy. One day we colored paper towel rolls and I was floored by the amount of time he spent on it. It was just a paper towel roll with some crayons!?! Nevertheless he colored the entire thing slowly, directly, and beautifully. After I praise the beauty of his work I asked him why he spent so much time on it. He told me it was fun to color something rounded and he thought it was interesting that to hold it one hand while he colored it with the other. He didn't suddenly find every art-making activity after that enjoyable, but I would ask to think of how to hold what we were making differently and that sometimes worked. It was a small, but important step.
Trial, error and a ton of questions might get you somewhere, but I know no trick.
Comment by Christina — 3/11/2008 @ 4:33 pm
That’s a good point — O does have an interest in making functional things, or at least practical things. He’ll sometimes make things he wants — like he’ll make a “laptop” out of a box, or the garage or fire station. If it functions, he’s pretty happy with it. And he does play with them after he makes them.
I’ve also found it helps if I am working on one of my own artworks. I was building a model of a dairy queen, and O got really interested in making his own model (not the ideal time for me to help him, since I was trying to get in studio time). But seeing what I was making, even though I didn’t think it was something he’d be all that into, was an inspiration for him. And he took his model far beyond what I built — he added all the ice cream machines, and a delivery truck, and picnic tables outside.
Comment by Margaret Pezalla-Granlund — 3/11/2008 @ 10:13 pm
My daughter, Julia (age 5)produces the best art when I am in the room, but removed from the process. She likes me to bring out new materials, lay out the newspaper and plastic to protect the floors and then show her a new technique. I then have to step away and let her go. She usually calls if she needs some help or a major thing happened.
If I sit down beside her, I cannot keep my mouth shut or hands off her work. She works better when I am across the room knitting.
Comment by K. Twigg — 4/29/2008 @ 3:14 pm