We all love the idea that our family is writing its own story. What a beautiful picture it paints of unity and understanding of core values as well as collaboration and joy. And yet this family cohesion is made up of individuals who all perceive life in their own unique ways and with their unique interests. When we talk of art giving children a voice, we talk about a way of communicating, beyond words, to others in our family unit. Making art is the opportunity to express what the individual sees, feels, and values. Expressing these various loves through art is powerful when we come across it. Monet’s love for gardening has become an icon for Impressionism. While we can understand that this movement was about time and immediacy, it is Monet’s garden images that stick foremost in our minds. What better way is there to understand art as a language for storytelling, than to see how people living in times very different from our own, chose to express their stories?
Art history can be used as a base of knowledge and then as a spring board for the child to jump into his own story. We tell a story looking for common ground as we see the master artwork and then we invite the child to tell his story through art. It is such a joy to see what’s on our children’s minds and in their hearts; to see their confidence grow as they share the stories of their families and their place within it. Many of the lessons in the ARTistic Pursuits program have asked children to tell their stories for years. Children draw from experiences as vast as seeing a golden dome on a trip in Japan to dad mowing the backyard lawn in the dark. In an age when we all want to be heard and want to share our uniqueness as family, let’s equip our children to be heard through the language of art.
Here are examples of how ARTistic Pursuits uses great artworks of the past to encourage children to share their own experiences:
- For young children, we look at a scene such as The Birthday, 1915 by Mark Chagall and discuss the imaginative elements within the artwork. We ask your child to think of a special event in his life, such as a birthday, and create a scene with elements of imagination mixed with the real. (Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, Grades K-3 Volume 1, Lesson 2)
- Older elementary students explore textures in an American landscape painting by Asher B. Durand. The student is asked to walk through their own spot of wilderness, whether it is a park, walking trail, or the backyard. They then sketch a scene on location which they have chosen. (Grades 4-5, Book One, The Elements of Art and Composition, Unit 3, Lesson 2)
You can put together these types of lessons on your own. At Artistic Pursuits Inc., we’ve put together lessons of this kind for you at all grade levels. It’s made simple for you; perfect for teaching the language of art to your children. Children often need the opportunity, direction, and the time set aside to tell their stories. Put that opportunity into your homeschool schedule and you’ll see how the unique stories of each child are being woven into one beautiful story of your family.
Brenda Ellis is author and illustrator of the ARTistic Pursuits art program for children, which has become a staple in the homeschool community for 20 years. Her combined experience as a homeschool mom and classroom art teacher of twenty years has been used to help families get a great art education at home. You can contact Brenda by email at: alltheanswers@artisticpursuits.com