SS6 76 Reunion 1
skyangel on April 22, 2018
I've been asked by a teacher friend of mine this week if I would give some kind of art lesson to the children in her class. At first I was quite excited about the idea as it sounds fun and I'll get paid for it but having thought about it more I must admit I feel rather lost on how or what to do with them.
I learnt art through a process of studying the objects I've had the desire to copy and then progressed to trying harder to capture the character of that object, or how it affects me emotionally. This to me seems like the best and only rule you ever need to follow. From my earliest pleasures of defacing books by drawing on the end papers or going over beautiful b+w illustrations with my crayons I've always gone where the fun is and not the science. To this day I still glaze over when people start talking about colour wheels and complimentary colours etc. I used to read books talking about using brushes on Bristol board yet found ink pens on copier paper perfectly suitable for my needs. I love to learn things but at my own pace and in my own direction which is now why the art above is a combination of pencil drawing, over inked, and then scanned in and worked on as a digital image. Each stage feels flexible enough to allow me to play around but change my mind if I'm not happy enough, like with the music notes here. From what I've observed of other artists, we all have our own routines and methods for making our art and that's such an individual thing that I'd feel very arrogant saying to anyone, especially a child, ‘That’s wrong, you should do it like this.'
I don't think there is ever really a wrong on the outside, it's the way your art makes you feel on the inside that counts.
tommym at 8:59AM, July 7, 2018
Dear Sky yes closure can be very important. tommym
KimLuster at 9:29AM, April 26, 2018
As I've gotten older, and all my kids are mostly grown, my patience for small children has lessened. I feel bad about it but it's true :( Anyway, great page here!! Lovely pacing and meandering... This moment has been looming for a while!!
skyangel at 4:51AM, April 28, 2018
Kim: Haha I think I would rather deal with teenagers who ARE really interested because then they would have proper materials to work with and ask much more interesting questions. At 7-11 I feel they will probably just do as they are told, which makes me feel bad for leading them down a blinkered path.
DarkVisor at 5:33AM, April 23, 2018
Sounds (reads?) like you know what to say to the kids: just what you wrote to us. Be honest, kids don't like being talked down to, maybe show examples of different styles and types of art so they won't get frustrated if they can't do a particular style
skyangel at 4:48AM, April 28, 2018
DV: Yea, as I was just saying to Nic and Ben I really hate looking at my own work anyway so I'd rather hold up other peoples stuff and say what I admire in their art instead.
skyangel at 4:46AM, April 28, 2018
Nic and Ben: The phrase that haunts me here is 'Those who can, do; and those that can't, teach!' I think I'd be standing there looking at my drawing and continually apologising, while spending the rest of the lesson tweaking it in frustration to try and make it look right.
moizmad at 1:29PM, April 22, 2018
Laura was playing their song "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight" and it brought tears to Lucy's eyes, and still tweaks my heart as well.
skyangel at 4:41AM, April 28, 2018
Haha :)
fallopiancrusader at 11:25AM, April 22, 2018
I'm excited to hear that you will be teaching! I've never taught kids, but when I teach dance classes to adults, I have to balance similar issues. A few principles I follow: 1) I say "I can show you some techniques that will make these moves easier and more efficient, but at the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to dance, so you are always welcome to reject whatever I showed you, and do your own variation." 2)Whatever move I am teaching, I always have an easier variation ready to teach,in case some students aren't getting it. 3)I am never negative. Even if someone is failing miserably, I remind them that I am much more excited to see them trying than I care about whether or not they get it the first time. 4)I always have many different ways of explaining any given move. Different people have different ways of picking things up. 5) I always show how a simple move relates to a more advanced move later on, so that they have a sense of what to look forward to.
skyangel at 4:41AM, April 28, 2018
Fallopian: I think the one thing that worries me most is that I don't have any set views on how art should be made, so as you say, it feels nicer to just encourage them to enjoy what they are doing rather than try to railroad them. I'm very passionate about other peoples art and how it affects me and I often find that just talking about that inspires others to pick up a pencil etc, so I think I may try and suggest that to her instead.
Infected Blood at 9:24AM, April 22, 2018
I can't teach. I get annoyed and bored. I had to teach university classes and hated pretty much every single second of it. I'm guessing we gave different approaches to teaching, but the results are similar in that we'd rather not :D
skyangel at 4:35AM, April 28, 2018
Infected: Haha yea me too. I don't consider myself a teacher and I've had no training so if I show them and they get it wrong I will probably feel frustrated and bored with trying!
Ashley.Grenstone at 6:42AM, April 22, 2018
<3
skyangel at 4:33AM, April 28, 2018
Ashley: :)
BearinOz at 4:43AM, April 22, 2018
How old are the kids? I used to do a lot of stuff for my wife's grade 4 kids (unfortunately all lost now, as the clown who took over threw it all out, before she could go back to collect all her stuff). I did B&W comic style 2-3 pager stories for them to colour snd fill inthe narrative/voice balloons. If they're a year or two older youcan give them simple 'anatomy' lessons, on character drawing- face, body, hiw to buildup from basic shapes. A lot of kids would love to create simple comics - we all did, eh ? B-) p.s. I felt emotional up ^^ there. The 'musical silence' was nice.
skyangel at 4:33AM, April 28, 2018
Bear: Yea tbh the whole idea of teaching anyone art makes me cringe as I'd rather just do it than talk about it. Comic lessons would be way more fun and I might well try and talk her round to that instead as there is a very definite process to follow in converting a story to comic pages.