In the art room

this past year I encountered a very talented child who could not complete a picture. The problem? Perfectionism.

 

It is not my job as a teacher to dig down to the cause of this problem. I simply had to find a way to help this adorable seven-year-old  overcome it so that she could feel the thrill of accomplishing something  that stood up to her potential.

 

Sandra's own brand of perfectionism was most likely based on an idea of what her art

should look like. The model she had in her head did not match what she saw on paper. In the first weeks of classes she waded up paper and asked for another sheet continually throughout the 70 minute period. Once she found out that I would unfold the paper and look at her work and make suggestions for fixing what she felt was the problem, she began secretly throwing the work away. Materials that made broad marks, such as oil pastels, frustrated her. Any mark or drip that got away from the intended position caused her to give up on a 30 to 40 minute effort.

 

The solution was to broaden her idea of what art is so that she could experience the many varieties of materials and enjoy many types of processes and ideas. This type of information is the focus of the lessons in Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Book One, the book we were using, but Sandra needed extra encouragement.

 

Just to clarify, I am not a stickler for giving each child ONLY ONE sheet of paper. But since Sandra was inclined to give up too soon I did decline her request for more paper and sat down along with her to look at what she had already accomplished on the one she had. I pointed out the good parts of it. I asked what part she was upset about. I suggested ways of fixing it so that the thing she felt was a mistake would not be as noticeable. When working with oil pastels I told her that it was not about her tiny, perfected images but about how wonderful the colors were when they mixed. "Look at what we can do in the sky," I said as I demonstrated mixing blues, whites, and pinks to get a creamy surface. This took her attention away from the subject that she was so concerned about. As she began to try, I was aware of her need to start again and occasionally did allow it. She, on the other hand, began to need to do it less often. I continued to praise her when she did complete a work of art. I praised the things I wanted to see in her art, which went far beyond how realistic her tightly formed line work was. I believe that Sandra has discovered her creative genius this year and, as our quote of the month states, she has "(stopped) trying to conform to (her) own and other's models."

 

Perhaps more than half of her art did land in the trash can this year, but as we head to the end of the year I see her carrying her art out the door and home. I know she has a work in hand that she is proud of. She has found her voice in art, resulting in an expanded, varied, and more knowledgeable application of what art is and what it can be.

 

 

 This month each student in my classes constructed a hard cover book. Some wrote and illustrated their own stories, while others made compilations of their artwork in journals. Students used their knowledge of materials which they gained from the Artistic Pursuits books earlier in the year. Here are some examples of pages from their books and the dimensions for all the pieces. Next month I'll show you how we constructed the books.

Dimensions: Pages for the books were cut to 8 1/2" wide by 9" long. Number of pages varied from 10 to 20 per student. We used sketch paper and I had it cut to size at an office supply store.

Two pieces of chipboard (I use the heavy cardboard backs of sketch books I'd saved) were cut 8" x 9" for each student.

Colored cover stock was cut 12" x 22"(the width of the sheet) for the outside cover and two sheets were cut page size 8 1/2"x 9" for the inside of the cover.

It is important that while students are making the pages for the book that they keep the pages turned in the correct position with the 9" side going up and down. It is also important that they keep in mind that 1/2" of the inside will become part of the spine of the book and will not be seen. I continued to remind students to work near the center of the page and not to make words or important parts of the picture go near the edges.  
 
These images of students work were cropped. The actual page sizes are 8 1/2 wide x 9 long.


Sincerely,