A friend of mine approached me last year and asked if I would consider giving her son art lessons. I know how serious he is about art and his desire to learn so I decided to give it a try. After thinking about it for awhile, I decided to include other children. I thought he would have more fun if there were others his same age attending.
Each month, I am focusing on a different aspect of art. This month, I am having the kids focus on imagination. Imagination is a major key element in drawing. Artists don't just draw what they see. They add and/or subtract from their subject matter. Imagination is also one of the first characteristics children lose as they transition into adulthood. If an artist can utilize the imagination they had as a child, their art will benefit, greatly.
I held my second class this evening and would like to show you a little bit of what we did.
First, I allowed the kids to pick an animal from my stack of pictures. Since I had recently attended the zoo, I chose some zoo animals for them to use.
I asked them to study the animal they chose. "What makes an ostrich an ostrich, or a giraffe a giraffe?" I asked. Then I asked them to draw their animal based off of their observation.
Next, I asked them to pick a tool from the options I had placed on the table.
I asked them to study the tool they had chosen (What makes a hammer a hammer, etc.?), and then for them to draw that tool.
I then asked them to make a creature by combining the two (animal + tool). This child made an ostri-hammer! I LOVE it!
And then, going off of the picture of the creature they had just created, I asked them to make their creature in clay.
Isn't this sculpture AMAZING?! This kid did such a great job! I think he had a lot of fun tonight! I sure had fun watching him!
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