'Tis The Process, Not Product...

“Art is a creative process, not a pre-planned product," says Mary Ann Kohl (author of art books).

After reading an article "Raising Young Artists" by Skila Brown, I must confess that so far, the emphasis of our art projects has not been the creative process, but the end product. Having said that, I did try my best to let Sophie experiment with the art materials and create her masterpiece with as little intervention as possible (I said... try lah!). I really do not want to send her the wrong message that the end result or product is more important than her experience in the process. That is why I hesitate at getting craft kits for her although I must admit they do have their value as well. They are more or less success guaranteed and that might make children feel less threatened by "failures".

So, what now? We can allow our children to create their art pieces without any directions or plan for the end product. Let them focus on the experience of creating and the self-satisfaction of creating. Of course, it might be a little tough to do that for toddlers since all they can do is scribbling. So, I can let Sophie scribble all she wants, in any manner she wants to... then guide her in craft making. After all, she has to learn skills like cutting, applying glue, and pasting etc. I mean, what can we do with all the scribbles (come on, cut me some slack!)?

We can also watch our reaction towards our children's art pieces. We would not want them to seek our approval in how art should be created. Teach them to trust their own judgment, ideas and learn from their decisions. Their satisfaction of creating should not be based on external evaluation. At this point, all I can do is to show her how much I appreciate her work by displaying them in her room. But when she is older, I can ask her to talk about her work and her experience creating it.

In a nutshell, art is spontaneous but craft produces a specific outcome. Art encourages creativity whereas crafts are good ways to practice following directions. So, be conscious of what we do with our children and what we do to them.

Okay, back to our activity for today. I let Sophie fiddle with the paint brushes before we apply any paint. She seemed to be more comfortable at handling and manipulating the art materials now although I wish she would not tug at the bristles or paint my hands. What surprised me was her enthusiasm about our "art time" and her angry demands for me to hand over the paint bottles. No... sorry! Mama not ready for major mess yet!

I think Sophie still likes fingerpainting better. After she applied paint with her brush, she would rub at the paint with her hand. In fact, if you look at the blotches closely, you would probably see her scratch marks. Quite interesting prints...

End Product

Of course, I just have to show her "blotch" making... She was not quite as thrilled but I was happy to have created a "lobster".