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In the Art Room
FREE tips, ideas, and projects to enhance your child's artistic expression
DECEMBER 2010,  Issue 10
In This Issue
Art and Craftmanship
Your Question Answered
Handmade Paper Christmas Ornaments
Art and Craftsmanship

Featured Article
by Brenda Ellis

In the art room, this week, I watched a large number of children hold glue bottles in the air and magically try to land the glue onto some lines that they'd drawn previously. Wow, after twenty years of teaching, I can still be surprised at some of the approaches taken with art materials when children aren't shown how to use them. It brought to mind how important craftsmanship is to the making of art. People often refer to our art curriculum as "real art" not "craft". It has always been my goal to create projects that involve the process and types of thinking which artists use. While making a craft does not require the full use of artistic inventive thinking, the making of art does require the skills of a craftsman.

Before the 13th century man was very concerned with craft or skill. Those who were good with their hands created the valued objects of the society. The individual character that any human brought to their skills was not widely acknowledged, though it did exist. Then, great painters like Giotto, painting in the 13th century, began to be noticed for an individual quality they brought to their craft. They became "artists". Since that time it has been the individual qualities of creativity that we value most. Osho describes creativity as a "quality... and attitude or inner approach." This quality involves thinking as an individual not as a copier. When an individual puts something of himself into the work, that is to make a mental leap and do something personal, something new, then it becomes art.

The 20th century brought the unfortunate development of art without craftsmanship and brought about a separation in our minds.   Webster's Dictionary defines art as "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects".  Craftsmanship is the skill part of this collection of qualities. It involves the ability to work with ones hands. As I teach in the art room I am more aware than ever before of the need to teach children certain skills that require the use of their hands and fingers to cut, glue, and draw or paint a line precisely where they want it to go. This skill takes time to develop, however many children need a little coaching along the way. I believe we should demonstrate to children how to use the materials they are working with. I don't require perfection in the execution. I do require that they use the materials in a way that will allow them to obtain a high level of skill in the future.
Here are some common mistakes children make when using their tools that will result in sloppy craftsmanship.
  • Holding a glue bottle in the air while squeezing. Instead have them place the tip onto the surface being glued and pull a line or dot for best accuracy.
  • Not lining up a ruler at the end of the paper or allowing it to slip as one pulls a line. Teach children how the measurements on a ruler work and how to hold a ruler to the paper with one hand and pull a straight line with the other.
  • Cutting while the scissor handles have slid too the base of the fingers or flipping the scissors up-side-down while cutting. Accuracy can only be acquired when held in the correct hand, right-side-up and fingertips are used to guide the handles. 

Do a quick check the next time you get out the art materials. Teach children the craft of using the tools at hand. They will then have the opportunity to perfect their skills as they grow and as they make unique and individual art with the Artistic Pursuits program.

 

You can find information on the proper use of the most common art materials in the First Skills section of The Way They See It, A Book for EVERY PARENT about the Art Children Make. (This book is listed as our PRESCHOOL book) See pages from all of our books listed below. 

SEE BOOKS NOW
PRESCHOOL
GRADES K-3
GRADES 4-6
JUNIOR HIGH
SENIOR HIGH
Greetings!
December is a busy month for all of us and sometimes art lessons get pushed aside this time of year. I like to focus on the holiday and holiday related items and my kids do to. So this month I've created a type of mini project that your children can use as gifts, gift tags, or ornaments. Those of you who made handmade paper last month will be glad to know that you can use the scraps in this project to make something quite beautiful. Am I getting too crafty? I don't think so. I explain that it is important for children to gain skills in craftsmanship in this month's feature article. 

 I want to extend my sincere thanks for you all and best wishes and blessings for a wonderful season filled with family, love, and friendship.        - Brenda Ellis


"Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity that you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach - how you look at things...Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing is not purely economical, then it is creative."
-Osho

Your Question Answered

I am wondering what you might suggest for a 4th grader who has not been home schooled before. Would you recommend starting with the 4-6 grade material? How would he get "caught up" with the material from the earlier years curriculum?

-L.P.

A fourth grader is about to go through a change in their needs in an art curriculum. Younger children use art to express things they want to say about themselves, the people they live with, and the places they go. They use a type of shorthand for this which we refer to as symbols. They enjoy exploring a variety of art materials while expressing themselves in this way. During fourth grade most children become more aware of how things really look and they want to get that type of realism into their artwork. That is when we offer them different types of information, known as the elements of art. These pieces of information help them to draw more realistically. While a fourth grader will still enjoy exploring materials, (what artist among us doesn't?), he will not feel satisfied without the additional information we offer in Artistic Pursuits grades 4-6 Book One. 

Do you have questions about art or how to teach it? e-mail Brenda at [email protected]. View more questions answered.

Handmade Paper
Christmas Ornaments
You will need:
Dry sheets of handmade paper
scissors
pencil
Elmer's Tacky Glue or Alene's Tacky Glue
glass of water

The handmade paper in this project has beautiful color variations and is highly textured, adding beauty to the finished work. Directions for making the paper are shown in our November newsletter. We cut out pieces from the paper sheets, as shown below, to make a poinsettia and a pine cone with needles. The leaves for the poinsettia are 3 inches. The pine needle strips are 6 inches.
Pieces for Paper making decorations

For the poinsettia, cut four leaves from green and six from red paper. For the pine cone cut an oval and strips as shown. The pine needle outline was cut out from green paper as shown in the first example. Two lines were drawn down the center and slits were cut to the lines, leaving the center uncut, as shown in the second example. In the third example the needles were bent to give it more form.
Pine Cone and Needles
The  brown strips were overlapped and glued only at the edges of the oval to form a pine cone. It was then glued onto the needles.
Pinching the leaf
To form leaves for the poinsettia, dampen the dry paper leaf by quickly dipping it into a glass of water or spraying it with water. Once it is damp, pinch the leaf and allow it to dry. Do this for all the leaves of the poinsettia. When all pieces have dried, glue the ends together and add dots of yellow for the center. Allow the glue to dry completely.

Handmade Paper Poinsettia

I hope you think of many creative applications for your handmade paper ornaments.

Sincerely,

Brenda Ellis
Artistic Pursuits Inc.
2626 East 109th Ave., Northglenn, Colorado 80233
303-467-0504 [email protected]
www.artisticpursuits.com