Make bad art

The act of imagination is an act of survival

To learn is human
To engineer is human
To create is human

Create because it feels good, not because the product is good, but because the process is.  It fufills a basic human drive to effect change, create, express.  It's good to feel good. But, if you need an excuse, make art because making art is good for us, like vegetables and exercise level good.

Remember when you were little?  You'd make something and not know that it was "bad"?  Mud pies were real.  You'd draw a picture and it was so satisfying, no, it didn't look like what you'd intended, but it felt good to do it, you liked the colors, the shape, the way it felt.  You'd hear a song, it gave you shivers, and then maybe you'd sing it, with no thought to if you were "good".

Then, probably, somewhere, you got feed back that didn't feel so good.  You handed someone a picture and the tone when they asked "what is this?" stung. Or your fourth grade music teacher told you to just mouth the words instead of singing. 

When I was a little kid I would sing, all the time.  Real songs I'd heard (or mis-heard), songs I made up, pretty random, but to me it made sense.  It was comforting.  Some time in 6th grade I learned that maybe this wasn't socially acceptable. (ya, late bloomer here)
[I think it was when I got peeved with a friend on the play ground and loudly sang at her "Anything you can I can do better, I can do anything better than you!"  You get a certain sort of rep when you do shit like that.]

Even as a teen my brother and I would play a game where we would only respond to each other with snippets of song.  Huh.  Firelord and I found ourselves doing that when the full implications of COVID19 started to hit us.  "It's the end of the world as we know it" "We didn't start the fire, 'cause the worlds been burning since the world's been turning" "Staying alive, staying alive"
So, ya, I guess I haven't really outgrown it.  It feels good.

There's research out there that shows that art is good for you. 
Making art is good for you.  The  objective quality of your work is irrelevant. 
Play.
Make art because it feels good. 
Call it a mediation if you need an excuse. 
Do it to stay sane. 
Do it to model for your kids and community this oh-so-valuable survival mechanism.

Art is for everyone

Last year I did a program called Wellspring.  One part of the program was that we had to commit to a daily spiritual practice, although what you did could vary day to day.  One of my favorite things to do as a spiritual practice is to create.  Sometimes I practiced an instrument, or wrote something, but some times I drew.

Found Zentangles

I'm doing a class called Wellspring.  Today it was my turn to share a "spiritual practice", so we zentangled while listening to How Could Anyone by Libby Roderick. 

When I was looking for extra supplies I found some old Zentangles I'd done.  It was kind of cool, like lost treasure.

Finding these, and doodling, helps me remember - art isn't about making something perfect.

  It's about making something.

In the eye of the beholder, or in the heart of the creator?

I have a confession to make.

I've been feeling sad that my oldest (almost 15 y.o.) seemed to have given up his art.  He used to draw all the time.  (Pretty good stuff too.  I'm totally not biased.)  He rarely puts pencil to paper these days.  These days he spend most of his free time on the computer.  I have to admit I am one of those moms who roll their eyes and wonder what will become of this generation of computer addicted kids.  (Writes me, from my lap top.  I know.  I know.)  The point is, I was sad because I though the computer was taking up time he could spend making "real" things.

But look:

Bit Boy "modeled" this using Blender a while back.

And last week he did this tea set:












And this self portrait, using a drawing pad (last year's Santa present), and GIMP.

 And then today this:














Which is the nicest Mother's Day card I could get, for, oh, so many reasons.

Opposite of brain fart is....

I just had a flash of inspiration - instead of a math camp, or an art camp, for kids, what about having a math night or art night for parents?

I've been toying with the idea of a math camp for kids, and/or an art camp for kids (not unrelated you know, math and art).  The trouble is that it is such a short time.  Even a week of meetings isn't enough to really let knowledge sink it.  It's just enough to set off a spark. Too many parents have told me they have a "math phobia"   or "don't know what to do for art".   Maybe what we need to do is to inspire the parents.

I know for myself that if I'm really focused on something there is no way the kids will leave me alone.  If I want them to do something and stay on task, I need to be right there.  What if we used that to our advantage?  If we can inspire the parents to experiment and play with these cool concepts, how could the kids resist budding in?

What do you think?  Ideas?  Cons?

Zentangle Letters

It's that time of year again... Christmas!  I just got done making some zentangles that I think would make nice gift tags..

.




















This last year was pretty hard.  One of the things that I did to calm and distract me was to zentangle. 
(It's a noun, it's a verb, it's ZENTANGLE!) 

Art for me!

A couple of weeks ago I found Totally Tangled waiting on my library hold shelf. I honestly don't remember how I came to put it on hold. I'm sure I found it while surfing the web or from a link from a friend, but I had totally forgotten about it until I checked it out. Now I'm hooked!

Look what I did!


But I like these better
















And then I saw the one my husband did:


















Wow!

Here's some more tangled inspiration:

Tangle Patterns
Tangle Images
Video of Tangle Mandala (Zendala!)

How do you "unschool" Art?

A friend asked, "How do you do art with your kids?" Honestly I hadn't thought about that much. I spend far more energy on "How do you get your kids to clean up after they do art?"

It's a legitimate question, so I'll try to answer. Like so much here, it just flows from our regular life. Art involves seeing, looking, perceiving, and then sharing what you see/interpret in a physical way. Understanding this helps me see art as a frame of mind, as an intention, a meditation, and a way of exploring our world.

Mostly I have supplies and idea books around and the kids pick up what they want. There's always paper, crayons, colored pencils and washable markers around. When I notice a good sale I stock up on card stock, pastels, oil crayons, tempera paint, etc. I have a supply of rubber stamps and stamp pads from my pre-kid times and let the kids use those as well. Scraps of fabric, glue, yarn from the thrift shop, and found odds and ends, round out our supplies.

We find inspiration everywhere, at art museums, local kids art shows, art and craft books, stories we're reading.... It can be fun to try some recycled art - using found or recycled objects create a piece of art. Some books we've liked are The Big Messy Art Book, Crafts for all Seasons, The Little Hands Art Book, and Look What You can make with Dozens of Household Items, as well as those I've mentioned in an earlier post, Drawing with Children, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and Making Things.


All my kids love making pottery, so they have all had classes at a couple of local pottery studios. This love of sculpture first showed it's face with play dough when they were very little. Play dough is great. You can make it cheap. It cleans up pretty well and the kids love it. It doesn't last forever though, even if you bake it. Thus the move to clay when they got old enough to take classes, and the use of sculpty here at home. (Sculpty is expensive, so I wait for sales and coupons and stock up as I can. Here's where the kids get to learn about economy.)

Mostly though, as with all of our homeschooling I've found that if I want the kids to try something they haven't come to on their own, the best way to get them to try it is to do it myself. An example comes from just a couple of days ago.
I had bought some oil crayons, which on their own, didn't seem to inspire my kids. They just couldn't see how they were different from the regular crayons that they always use. So I pulled out some sketch paper I'd gotten on sale, opened up the package, sat down with paper and pencil and set out to make a picture for myself to color.

That was all it took.

They bugged me, "What are you doing".

Me, ignoring them: "I'm busy. I want to try these new crayons."

Them: "Can I try?"

Me, vaguely: "Sure."



Here are the results:
11 yo's "red car" 9 yo's "painting turtle"



5 yo's "explorations in brown" April's "I'm easily bored pineapple" 11 yo's "Oooh, me!"


You don't need an expensive curriculum to "do art". Spend the money on supplies and field trips, classes if your kids want them, and just have some fun with it!

Talking of art, here's another fun thing to play with.
Befunky.com let's you modify photos, using existing ditigal files or, as in this photo using a webcam to get the photo. Take a look and see what you can do.

Children need art. People need art.

As we finished some tie-dye this morning I am reminded again why I make time and space in our life for creating art.

There is such value in creating art that I don't even know where to start. Just brainstorming for a minute I got this start on a list:

Persistence
Flexibility
Resilience
Expression
Comfort
Communication
Connection
Confidence
Attention

What I've seen creating art do is nothing short of amazing. Children with perfectionist tendencies learn to appreciate the unplanned and unexpected. Kinetic children focus and settle. Quiet children find their "voice". Strong feelings find a socially acceptable expression.

Being able to create something intentional is a huge gift. There is both a confidence and a humility that comes with the creative process. Confidence, because you can do it. "Look what I've done!" Humility, because, quite honestly, it hardly ever turns out just as we've envisioned it.

Also, the person who knows how to make something original never lacks for the personal touch in gift giving. (I was dyeing baby shirts for a friend expecting twins. :-) )

So, maybe I've managed to convince you to try including a little art to your own life. But where to start? It's really up to you. Art can find expression anywhere.

You could start with making your own cards. It's always a good idea to have a few "Thank You" cards on hand, and being able to make birthday cards can save a trip to the store.

How about what you wear everyday? We've extended the life of many a stained shirt by painting or dyeing it. Try colorful hand prints w/ latex or acrylic paint on T-shirts. You can also make things out of old clothes. I've got a rag-rug knit from cut up T-shirts that feels nice to walk on, and slippers made from an old felted sweater.

Artist Trading Cards were a bit hit here for a while. Just about anything goes with ATC, but it all has to fit on a card 64 x 98 mm.

Looking for inspiration? There's always the web. Etsy is a site where individuals sell home made items. While I've never bought anything there, I seen lots of great ideas. You can also just do a search on whatever materials you have on hand and see what pops up.

I admit to a preference to old fashioned books. If I had just one book on art/crafting I would have "Making Things the Handbook of Creative Discovery" by Ann Sayre Wiseman. We've also enjoyed "Drawing on the Right side of the Brain" and "Drawing with Children"

Art museums and galleries are great, but there's even more value in being able to create something for yourself. Give it a try!