Artists for Kids

Exposure to art, creativity and art education can have an important impact in a child’s life. John M. Barber discovered his destiny at the age of seven while visiting North Carolina's Atlantic shore and watching an artist creating a lighthouse and the vast sea beyond. Years later, he studied art in Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. There he was introduced to the nearby Chesapeake Bay, where he fell in love with the sea and the story of the Chesapeake and its people.

Barber’s work is a great reference for any art education teacher. He painted more than 500 pieces of art illustrating the bay's every aspect. While he also painted other subjects, the effect of light on his scenes always captivated him. Inspired by Barber’s creations, children can learn how to create light on their own artwork. Often, organizations and individuals commission Barber scenes imagined by them. John Barber creates the scenes, but he always imprints the pictures with his creativity and unique style.


What Kids Can Learn From Barber
(Art for Kids)


Barber’s work is about environment and all his paintings have a beautiful glow of light in them. Children can learn about a technique called bull’s eye painting from the art of John Barber. In bull’s eye painting the main subject is painted with a light color while darker colors are painted around the outside. This effect directs the viewer’s attention to the main object of the painting.

John M. Barber: Painter, inspired by "A Winter's Evening on the Hill"

Art for kids needs to be fun and creative. The wax resist method is an easy technique that challenges the children while they learn to create light on a painting. Children can draw a seascape using a white or light color crayon. After wetting the paper with clear water they can paint the picture with watercolor. Starting with yellow at the center of the paper they can add darker colors in a circular fashion creating light on the painting while revealing their drawing.

Learn more about Barber on the web at:
http://www.johnbarberart.com/

FW: [Art for Creative Kids] New comment on Art Education.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Art Education":

This little gem ought to be one of the top featured articles in our next newsletter- so many parents use the words interchangeably "arts AND crafts" when they talk about Abrakadoodle and this is a great yet brief outline as to how both are beneficial but how ART is what Abrakadoodle does.

Posted by Anonymous to Art for Creative Kids at August 11, 2008 9:04 PM

Art for Kids

Use Guided Imagery to Spark Your Child’s Imagination

Guided imagery is an educational technique that is used in quality art education programs to help children tap their imaginations. You can make art for kids a magical experience that can transport your child on a journey of creative discovery. Your child does not have to visit an unusual location in order to illustrate his or her vision of it. An adult can lead this imagination-boosting activity. First, you’ll want to set up an art activity area. Don’t forget a protective table covering, depending upon what kinds of art supplies you plan to make available to your child. Have different sizes of white paper with lots of paints, markers and/or crayons and tools to draw and create. Guided imagery helps children tap their mind’s eye. Ask your child to close his/her eyes. Speak slowly with inflection as you read the passage below, and then see what blooms from your child’s imagination.

A Rainforest Adventure
Let’s visit the rainforest. Close your eyes. Grab your pretend camera and let’s climb aboard a magic carpet and fly over our neighborhood and out of town and though our country until you reach a tropical rainforest far, far away. Hold on tight as you swoop down through the dense grove of trees. You settle down upon the soft earth below. Keep your eyes closed and let your senses explore your environment. Smell the rich scent of tropic flowers and moist earth. Do you feel the sticky, warm air? Hear the buzzing of insects, whirring of small birds flying nearby, as well as the rustling of animals in the high tree canopies. A snake is lazily coiling around a nearby tree trunk. Is that a monkey overhead? Let your imagination capture what you see. Snap a few pictures of the amazing scenery. Perhaps it’s a colorful flower, a vast tree canopy, a tropical bird, a big bug, a slithering snake, or a long-tailed monkey swinging from the high branches. One thing is for sure: these are not sights you see at home!
Now, open your eyes and draw some of the pictures taken by your inner vision. Add color and detail that brings the images to life. This is art for kids at its best.

Art Education

Art vs. Craft
When you consider art for kids, wording can be confusing. Check out many community education catalogs and enrichment camps descriptions, and you’ll often see “arts & crafts” listed as an option for children.

What distinguishes instruction in art vs. crafts?

Process and outcomes tend to separate a visual arts experience from making crafts. While a craft workshop entails following directions to produce a specific product, a visual arts class provides instruction and encourages an exploration of materials and ideas that do not necessarily lead to a particular outcome. Creativity in craft-making tends to be limited to individual choices in terms of using color and embellishments. Creativity in the visual arts is expansive, because children generate ideas and develop them, drawing from their experiences, knowledge and imagination.

What are the benefits of each activity?
In a craft class, children follow directions, which is a valuable skill. They may also become more adept at using tools, such as scissors. Fine motor skills can be enhanced with such activities as beading a necklace. In terms of outcome, most completed projects are similar because they result from following direction and basing their work on a sample or model. Children derive satisfaction from completing a project.

In a visual arts class, children learn about art using basic shapes and bright colors inspired by an artist, such as Sophie Harding. Students develop their technique, learn an arts vocabulary and benefit from using their imaginations to create original works that forms, techniques and styles. A lesson may focus on painting methods in a “Naïve” style reflect the discovery process. The discovery process helps children to understand cause and effect: what happens when I mix orange and green? Working with independent ideas facilitates the development of problem-solving skills. Art students explore abundant creative materials and experiment with color, line and form. Art education nurtures many transferable skills, including creativity, innovation, teamwork, lateral thinking, intuitive reasoning and thinking outside the box. Fine motor skills are enhanced, as well. Children tend to take great pride in creations that reflect their vision, emotions and sense of style. This is art education at its best!

Artists for Kids

Teachers of art education will be interested in Sophie Harding. She is a creative model role for children. Harding is a British artist and was raised in Southern England. She was the eldest of seven children and she was encouraged to study art by both sides of her family. She gained a diploma in General Art &Design and later a BA degree in fashion and Textiles at central St. Martins.
Harding is a blend of creativity and diverse types of artist media. For a while she worked in NY as a textile designer. She is now a successful illustrator of children’s books, magazines, greeting cards, giftwrap, calendars, diaries, tableware and textile designs. Her painting style is called Naïve Art. It is a primitive art style of art that is used by self taught artists. Harding brings art to kids by painting with bright colors and simple shapes.



What Kids Can Learn From Harding
(Art for Kids)



Art education should be about creativity and originality. Sophie Harding brings creativity to children with her simple shapes. She is inspired by animals and nature. Children can learn to paint their best friend or pet by using basic shapes. They can draw ovals for heads, circles and triangles for eyes, and squares and rectangles for bodies. Later they can paint with bright colors and add more details.

Young children can use stencils of shapes or animals. They can trace the forms and then paint with complementary colors. Harding teaches art for kids with simple elements all while they learn about creativity and Naïve style.

Sophie Harding: Painter, inspired by "Zara de Zebra", "Nellie the Elephant", "Quirky Animals II and IV:

Art Education

Process Art is the best approach to art for kids

When art for kids entails experimentation and imagination, then children can derive the greatest possible benefit and enjoyment. There is actually a name for this type of experience: process art. The idea behind process art is that a child’s finished product is not nearly as important as the self-satisfaction and discovery involved in creating it. Creativity is a cornerstone of process art, as children work with a variety of art materials and learn from trying out their ideas.

Process art is essential to children's art education. Children begin to delve into real time problem solving, and they see cause and effect as they experiment with visual expression. They can get comfortable with their own ideas, which results in their very own outcomes. They can also find great joy and take pride in their own creations.

In the process of playing with paints, children might mix orange and green resulting in a muddy shade that may or may not be what was intended. This active discovery is a wonderful, hands-on way to learn. While a heavy hand with the paint brush may overwhelm a design, children will become increasingly adept at applying art technique that suits their vision.

Process art truly engages children’s creativity as they explore design, shapes, color, balance, form, techniques, depth perception and so much more. They learn that there are many solutions to challenges they face and that uniqueness is good. Very importantly, children who practice process art know that there is no right or wrong way to create art and that they can always create something fresh and new. Process art helps children develop confidence, imagination, and an appreciation for the visual arts born of personal experience.

Rev up your child’s creativity at home by offering art experiences that enable your child to explore and to create freely. Remember not focus on the end product but instead on the process: “How did you do that?” “What happened when you mixed those colors?” “Tell me about this creation?” “Did it turn out like you expected – why or why not?”

Artists for Kids

Art education not only improves children’s creativity, but it also educates them about other countries and cultures. Art for kids should engage children to think in new ways. Elisabeth Estivalet invites children to travel with their imagination. Her artwork depicts hills, villages and roads from her beloved adopted Provence region, in France. Estivalet is a famous Polish artist, but she is well known for her landscapes inspired by Provence where she moved in 1978.

Estivalet was trained in philosophy and economics, but she decided to follow a career in creativity, reflecting her longstanding passion for painting. A self-taught oil painting artist, her artworks can now be found in collections worldwide, including the U.S., Switzerland, France, Germany, South America, Japan and Australia.

What Kids Can Learn From Estivalet

(Art for Kids)

Elisabeth Estivalet’s style incorporates basic shapes and lots of color. This is helpful when you’re talking about art for kids, because children will feel capable of creating their own original works in her style. Estivalet creates landscapes inspired by the south of France. A landscape painting is artwork that shows an outside view. Estivalet’s artistic expression inspires creativity and imagination in children. She uses lots of simple shapes, lines, angles and curves. Children can close their eyes and imagine that they are traveling to Provence. They can visualize a landscape and create a collage of their vision with basic shapes. They can use semi-circles for the hills, squares for the houses and rectangles and circles for the trees. Her artwork is an invitation to travel..

Estivalet uses warm colors such as red, orange and yellow and cool colors like blue, violet and green in her art. Her art teaches children about colors. Children can draw hills, houses, bushes and trees with a pencil. Then, they can use tempera and choose warm colors or cool colors to paint the picture. Her style lends itself to art education at its best!