Art Education

Abrakadoodle Honored with “Go Green” Award

Art for kids is a wonderful way to introduce recycling activities! Abrakadoodle remarkable art education was recognized for its innovative “Green” company philosophy and art programs with a 2009 award presented by S&S® Worldwide. Abrakadoodle has developed recycling alliances with fellow franchise suppliers Fast Frames, Signs by Tomorrow. More recently Sign-A-Rama joined the Abrakadoodle’s Green Franchise Initiative by recycling unused or discarded sign materials that are used in Abrakadoodle programs to build sculptures, create fine art or provide unique painting canvases! Abrakadoodle has also introduced Eco-Papers (100-percent recycled paper frames with eco friendly dyes) in its art programs for children. Abrakadoodle is proud to paint a green path to a brighter future.

Green Kids in a Colorful World™ was designed by Abrakadoodle in 2007 to teach children about how they can help make the planet healthier while creating 2-D and 3-D masterpieces using recycled materials including plastic bottles, tubes, packaging materials and more. Students create whimsical Santon statues inspired by peasants from the Provence region of France. They sculpt masterpieces in the style of Tiffany, paint CD’s with colorful geometric designs like Piet Mondrian.

Inspired by the Cool Globes project, http://www.coolglobes.com/, Abrakadoodle program designers in 2008 created a workshop to help raise awareness about global warming while fostering art skills and creativity. The in-school field trip and workshop includes an interactive presentation that helps children learn how they can help live and create more eco-friendly. Children then make their own cool globes, applying what they have learned. Students increase their knowledge about best practices for helping the environment, and they develop a “green” vocabulary, as well as express their individual creativity about being green.

In continuing Abrakadoodle’s commitment to being green, Abrakadoodle creates and introduces new and innovative programs for children including a variety of art classes, camps and special events that emphasize creativity using recycled materials and teaches students about big and small ways in which they can care for our planet. With music, movement, phenomenal themes and cool art activities, kids will be inspired to save the planet while building visual arts skills, creativity and confidence. Abrakadoodle’s remarkable education programs help kids learn to create a more colorful, sustainable world.

Art for Kids

New thinking about doodling

Research has long shown that art benefits children in many ways. Art education opens children’s minds and helps them become more tolerant. It also improves student’s academic performance and helps them develop the skills needed for the 21st century workplace – critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication, teamwork and more. New research published February 27, 2009 in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that the act of “doodling” may help improve memory recall. Study researcher Professor Jackie Andrade, Ph.D., of the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth said, "This study suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task, rather than being an unnecessary distraction that we should try to resist doing."

Promote creative doodling at home. Encourage your children not only to draw but to be inspired to stretch their imaginations and take their minds on a mini vacation. Take a moment from the busy day to be playful with art activities. Instead of a coloring book, give your child a blank sketch pad. Suggest that your child doodle a special creature, a new spaceship, a fanciful friend, or playful word art. Have some fun by offering themes or ideas that will spark your child’s creativity. Abrakadoodle remarkable art offers some online creativity games for kids – see http://www.abrakadoodle.com/kidsgamelist.html.

Art Education

Creative Children's Art Welcomes President Obama

Art is a wonderful tool for children's self-expression, and art students at participating Abrakadoodle locations nationwide shared their patriotism and visions for America as part of a colorful welcome for President Barack Obama.

Some students learned about the art of Jasper Johns as an inspiration for their art. They learned about Pop Art, encaustic painting and the use of texture. Children tried out smaller, quicker brush strokes in the style of Jasper Johns as they created American flags.

Other students learned about the life and words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and called upon his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to draw inspiration to bring their own dreams for the future into a work of art using words, images and shapes. Some children created Presidential Seals using model magic, while others created mobiles with inspirational phrases. One student literally made Presidential "seals" as shown left.

Children also created poster art in the collage style of contemporary artist Shepard Fairey, whose portrait of Barack Obama will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Art for Kids

Art and History Prove to be a Powerful Combination

Art education has a special place at the Barrier Islands Center, an historic site on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Abrakadoodle offers special workshops, after school classes, art enrichment programs and summer camps for children. In some cases, Abrakadoodle customizes its visual arts lessons that teach children to use their imaginations as they render creative works that depict the islands’ early inhabitants, seascapes, as well as its unique vegetation, coastal birds and fish.

Abrakadoodle art students at the Barrier Islands Center participate in an Art Rocks workshop. Their art works are based upon the style of Shepard Fairey, the contemporary artist whose portrait of Barack Obama will soon grace the National Gallery Art. These creations were sent to the White House to welcome President Obama.

“Because the Barrier Islands Center is located in one of Virginia’s most impoverished communities, we are particularly grateful for the community participation of programs like Abrakadoodle,” stated Laura Vaughan, Executive Director of Barrier Islands Center. “Monika and Abrakadoodle not only provide valuable educational programming, but they also help bring dollars and boost interest and participation that are so important right now as we face tough economic times.”

For nearly four years, Abrakadoodle has been partnering with the Barrier Islands Center (http://www.barrierislandcenter.com/events.html) to creatively engage children, as well as to help raise funds to help further the center’s mission.

Artists for Kids

Art education is so important in today’s world. Creativity is an important element of children’s education. It not only helps students master traditional subjects like English, science, and math, but also brings cultural awareness. Charlotte Derain was born in Paris in 1949. She is a painter, designer, graphic designer and illustrator. Her Martinican origin was a source of creative inspiration while she found her own style. She devotes her career searching for her African roots. Derain brings art for kids by inviting them to reflect on their roots while being aware of other cultures.

What Kids Can Learn From Derain
(Art for Kids)

Charlotte Derain is known for her African figures. The figures are simple, but show movement. Children learn about stick figures and how to paint them in different poses. Also, they can practice painting clothes on the figures with swatches of paint. Charlotte brings art for kids with simple shapes.

Art education is about diversity. Derain’s artwork tells stories with her pictures. Instead of writing she paints life in Africa. Children can be inspired by her creativity to create a story representing their roots. Derain brings art to kids by introducing cultural art to their curriculum.

Charlotte Derain: Painter, inspired by "Woman wiht Basket"

Art for Kids

Stress-Busting Gets Creative

Art education can help children cope with worries. Children under stress tend to bottle up their feelings, creating emotional and physical effects. With negative news dominating our newspapers and airwaves – from a struggling economy and war to issues closer to home with worried parents, less disposable income and school stress -- children need to find healthy ways to manage. Art is one of the best ways you can help your children develop skills to express themselves and liberate their feelings to help maintain healthy emotional well-being.

The key in reducing or eliminating unhealthful stress is to provide children with the tools and attention to deal with stress and by giving them a healthy outlet that sets them up with coping skills for life.

Artful calming

Art for kids should be all about originality and creativity. You can create a space at home that promotes imaginative play:

* Set up a creativity center that your children can access, which contains lots of paper, crayons, markers, nontoxic paints and brushes, modeling compounds (like Crayola Model Magic®) and more;
* You can spiff up your creativity center by encouraging your children to add recycled materials from around the house (paper towel and toilet paper tubes; bows, ribbon, bottle caps, postcards, printer paper and more;
* Identify a place where your children can create art, such as your kitchen or a coffee table. Set up the rules, such as working on plastic or newspaper;
Instead of plopping down in front of the TV or a video game, encourage your children to grab their creativity tools and make something new;
* Create meaningful patterns, such as sitting with your children before they start their art, and teach them a relaxation technique. Tell them to shut their eyes, take a deep breath while they count to five and then slowly exhale while counting to five. Play with the idea, such as “in through the nose and out through the mouth” and “in through the mouth and out through the nose;”
* Never ever judge your children’s artwork. You want to empower them to use art to express their ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Above all, children need to know that they are loved and supported. Give hugs and model grace, calm and problem-solving. Sometimes children need just 15 minutes of your undivided attention. They need to turn off the TV and sources of distraction and learn to turn within to tap their own imaginations where a world of creative adventure awaits.

Art classes are another wonderful way to promote stress-busting, while fostering imaginative learning and developing new visual arts skills, technique and vocabulary. Learn more about Abrakadoodle remarkable art classes, in-school field trips, workshops, camps and parties: http://www.abrakadoodle.com/programs.htm.

Artists for Kids

Teachers of art education will be interested in Jasper Johns. His most famous artwork, Flag, is a good example of citizenship, creativity and art for kids. Johns was born in Georgia, grew up in South Carolina, and he moved to New York City where he studied briefly at the Parsons School of Design. In NY he met Robert Rauschenberg (visual artist), Merce Cunningham (choreographer) and John Cage (composer). Working together they explored the contemporary art scene.

Initially Johns supported himself by working in a bookstore and designing window displays for prestigious stores. While visiting Rauschenberg’s studio, his creativity was discovered by Leo Castelli, who promoted his artwork on his gallery. Jasper Johns is often called the “Father of Pop Art” because he represents subjects that are popular in our culture.


What Kids Can Learn From Johns

(Art for Kids)

Art education is also a tool to educate children about citizenship. Johns’ most famous artwork is the painting Flag, which he made after having a dream of the American flag. Through his work children can learn about the American flag’s colors and the meaning of the stripes and the stars.




Jasper Johns brings art for kids by introducing Pop Art to their curriculum. Pop Art uses images from the popular mass culture. Children can be inspired by comic books, advertising, TV and everyday cultural objects. Jasper Johns likes to repeat the same object over and over and color them with different colors.



Learn more about Jasper Johns on the web at:

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pbio?65280

Artists For Kids

After working in art education for several years, Alma Thomas enrolled at Howard University in Washington, DC to study costume design. She became the first African American woman to hold a fine arts degree. Following a long career as a teacher, she retired to focus on her own creativity and art.

Thomas's work was included in the important show Contemporary Black Artists in America, held in 1971 at the Whitney Museum in New York. She was the first African American woman to have a solo art exhibition at the same museum. Three years after she died, a retrospective exhibition was held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art. Besides a distinguished career teaching art for kids, her work can be found in many major museums.

What Kids Can Learn From Thomas
(Art for Kids)

Alma Thomas loved children and she had an important role in art education. But, she also loved to learn. She was interested in space programs and she often painted from satellite photographs. She often looked at her garden and watched its changes. She could hear the wind playing music in the trees, and she loved to watch the grass color change after the rain. She enjoyed all these changes that inspired her artwork at the same time that she was learning about nature. Her creativity was inspired by science and nature.

Thomas loved to smile and she liked to paint with bright colors. Primary colors were often used in her artwork to make her paintings look happy and vibrant. Thomas brings art for kids by inspiring them to look closely at nature and to use patterns and colors to create art that makes them happy. Can you see the flowers in your neighborhood singing and smiling on a sunny day?

Alma Thomas: Painter, inspired by "Iris, Tulips, Jonquils and Crocuses"

Learn more about Alma Thomas on the web at:

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1040

Artists for Kids

Contemporary artists should be part of any art education program. LeRoy Neiman was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, De Paul University, and at the University of Illinois. Neiman started his career as an illustrator. He became famous largely because of his creativity illustrating sports, ranging from basketball, boxing, billiards, and hockey to gymnastics, swimming, and cycling. But, he also portrays people, animals and events. Neiman brings art to kids by inspiring creativity, while they learn to paint their favorite sport or favorite animal.

Neiman was also a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago’s school for several years. He was the official artist at three of the Olympic Games for ABC Television. His images appear in the form of etchings, lithographs, silkscreen prints, sculptures as well as paintings.You can see his works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg

What Kids Can Learn From Neiman
(Art for Kids)







Teachers of art education will be interested in this artist. Neiman likes to use primary colors in his artwork. His artwork is a great opportunity for children to learn about color theory. Children can learn about the three primary colors: red; yellow; and blue; and their capability for creating new colors.

Neiman likes to use fast-moving strokes. His artwork is dynamic and his strokes give the impression of fast-moving action. Children can learn to paint in various directions while they create their favorite animal. Art for kids promotes opportunities for freedom and self-expression.

LeRoy Neiman: Painter, inspired by "Portrait of the Lion"

Learn more about LeRoy Neiman on the web at:

www.leroyneiman.com

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/

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!

Artists for Kids

Art education today takes many new twists. Creativity can be exercised in any daily activity. Lisa Cherkasky is a food designer and she creates art using food. Cherkasky graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1979 and since then she has been applying her creativity in several fields.
She is a Washington, DC-based food stylist, chef, pastry chef, culinary educator, writer and crafter. She is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post Food and Home sections, Vegetarian Times and Ducklings magazines, and the author of the Artful Pie. Her creativity can be a source of great inspiration for children’s imaginations. Cherkasky brings art to kids by participating in the Abrakadoodle Artist of Distinction program.

What Kids Can Learn From Cherkasky
(Art for Kids)

Teachers of art education will be interested in this artist. Cherkasky’s art can expand children’s creativity boundaries. Cherkasky’s broad work can motivate children and invite them to use their imaginations in a number of ways. Children can start by designing a menu or a cookbook. They will learn how to create new recipes, how to design a lay-out, how to create a logo for the restaurant and how to balance all of these elements.


Cherkasky’s food designs show children possibilities in creating with food. Children may want to set up a food picture for their menu or cookbook. Using colored paper or tissue they can cut and glue a collage picturing their favorite recipe. While creating a hamburger, an ice-cream treat, a salad or a pizza and naming their food, children will be developing their imagination. Cherkasky’s artistic ways with food lends themselves to art education at its best!


Learn more about Cherkasky on the web at:

http://www.lisacherkasky.com/

Art for Kids

Host a Neighborhood Art Gathering & Show for Children

Art education takes a fun spin when you make an event out of it! What better way to promote creativity in your neighborhood than to host a get together for kids to make art and then show it off for everyone to appreciate. Dust off your easel, pull out a laundry line and get ready to whip up a fun outdoor art display! Add some lemonade and light refreshments and let the creative celebration begin!

Art for kids need not be elaborate. You can set up a couple of art stations, where kids can create model magic sculptures, paint and draw, as well as experiment with a group project (see below).

Creativity Gear - You’ll need some art supplies, such as:

Watercolor paints, brushes or sponges (fingers and hands work, too), bucket of water, roll of art paper (perfect for a group of kids), recycled computer paper, construction paper, box of crayons & markers, model magic, old newspapers (both to protect surfaces and also to roll up and sculpt), string, ribbon, a laundry line, an easel or a picnic table to display creations.

How can you inspire creativity? You can give the children a theme, such as fantasy creatures, outdoor plants or critters, or you can play music and have children tap their own imaginations.

Recycled newspaper art

What you’ll need:

Stack of old newspapers; a narrow wood rod (about 10-12 inches long); tape; scraps of ribbon or fabric and string

What they'll do:

• Take a couple of sheets of newspaper and place the wooden rod on one corner


• Roll the sheets of newspaper on a diagonal


• Gently shake the rod out of the rolled paper and tape the seam


• Collect a bunch of these rolls


• Have kids work together to create a paper sculpture, which may look like a piece of modern art or perhaps it will take on a specific shape.


• The rolls can be tied or taped together, although an adult may need to help the children (depending upon the ages) to secure the growing sculpture so that it does not fall over.


• Kids can paint or embellish their work(s) of art as they see fit.

Art Education

Is My Child Creative?

An important element of children’s art education is creativity. Award-winning author and art expert MaryAnn Kohl offers a special watch list for parents.

Observation, the ability to really see, is a valuable part of the visual arts and the art of parenting. How does your child respond to and interact with creative art materials, toys, games and objects in his/her environment? Keep an eye out for the following signs of a creative child and know that you can always build upon these desirable skills by fostering originality and providing your child with creative open-ended activities, such as art classes!

You know your child is developing important creative abilities if your child is …

• Filled with a spirit of wonder and magic
• Open to inner feelings and emotions
• Curious, exploratory and adventurous
• Imaginative with the power to form mental images of what is not actually present
• Intuitive in terms of problem solving without logic
• Independent in his or her thinking – able to find answers on his/her own and question authority
• Able to immerse in meaningful activities
• Motivated to create in new ways instead of accepting things the way they are or have always been
• Drawn to create new, original patterns, which is characteristic of divergent thinking
• Playful when it comes to ideas and innovating with concepts
  
  Creativity is coming center stage and is recognized as an incredibly valuable tool, in addition to a source of personal satisfaction and happiness. To compete in a global economy, children need to be equipped with both the ability to demonstrate creativity, along with a solid educational background. Art classes and activities can help children tap their imaginations and build confidence, too.
  
  Stay tuned for more posts regarding creativity and process art.
  
  Thanks to MaryAnn Kohl (http://www.brightring.com/) for sharing her artful insights!

Artists for Kids

Teachers of art education will be interested in John Ichter since his artwork can be a great inspiration for children’s creativity. Ichter’s love of nature is contagious and inspires kids to create their own landscapes.

His colorful and bright paintings, watercolors and pastels are represented in several galleries across the country. Ichter lives in Atlanta with his two dogs. He recently sold the gallery and frame shop that he owned for twelve years to allow him to travel and dedicate more time to selling his paintings. He enjoys people watching while he paints and he loves to travel, especially to Europe.


What Kids Can Learn From Ichter
(Art for Kids)










Ichter’s art is perfect for kids’ creativity. His landscapes and dragonflies show bright and simple lines that are easy for children to follow. He uses pastels on textured surfaces to give a unique look to his artwork. Children can explore colors and textures while creating their unique landscape.







Art education is very important in today’s world. Not only because of the creative experience, but also because some artists’ work can inspire children in many other ways. Ichter’s love for nature can teach kids to appreciate and to protect the environment while developing their art skills.


Learn more about Ichter on the web at:

http://www.ichter.com/

Art for Kids

Creating Art in the Key of Rhythm & Fun

Art education can come to life when you engage a child’s senses during the creative process. Creativity is such an important part of every child’s development. You can inspire your child’s creativity by adding music and even movement. Art for kids can be made more magical when you combine art forms, such as tuning your child into some Japanese folk music while working with Chigirie (paper art) – for an activity go to: http://www.abrakadoodle.com/press/chigirie_0906.htm. It is a great way to give your child an appreciation for the arts and cultures while exploring them. Music can also help set the tone for a creative sketch. Your child may find that certain classical or jazz or contemporary soundtracks help activate his or her imagination. Encourage your child to show movement in an art creation – whether it be a modeling compound or swirling paint on paper – and then suggest that your child move or dance as a further expression of that creation.

Use art combined with music and movement next time your child wants to express his or her creativity. Ask your child what kind of music will help set the mood for making art. Play with creative movement by suggesting that your child demonstrate how a butterfly moves, and then set it to paper while listening to music reminiscent of spring and summer. Talk with your child about his or her feelings and the energy of his or her creation as this creative process continues, because emotions, beliefs and ideas are such a big part of art education. Your child will love it! Art for kids can come to life in beautiful ways by adding a few art supplies, music, movement and interactive encouragement with just a dash of guidance.