Editor’s Note: In the January 2016 issue of Tomorrow’s Child’, in the“Dear Cathie” column, a parent expressed concern about opportunities for artistic expression in a child’s Montessori classroom.
As I edited this article for print, I couldn’t help mutter to myself: Huh? My Montessori children and grandchildren require a contractor-size, heavy-duty trash bag just to pick up their weekly artwork. Their cubbies overfloweth. Seriously, I have concluded that there is such a thing as artistic diarrhea!
Fortunately, as children age and mature, art becomes more recognizable as ‘art,’ but, in the meantime… hmmm. What’s a parent to do? Here’s a few options:
- Display it on the refrigerator and rotate the collection with new offerings.
- Review it and ask your child to tell you about each piece and then (based on your child’s interest in any particular piece) triage accordingly: save, post, frame, make it disappear.
- Throw it out (discretely) if the child shows no interest and you absolutely cannot stand one more pile of colorful paper in your kitchen, basement, floor of your car, or wherever. Note: If you are a committed environmental activist, this is NOT the time to put ‘artwork’ in the recycle bin—at least not in YOUR recycle bin. I PROMISE you that your child WILL find it. Make a deal with your neighbors.
- And last but not least: Save everything! Put everything in giant Rubbermaid™ containers. Label them if you are into that. Pay to move these bins should you change houses over the years. Pay to store them in a rental facility when you run out of room at your house. And then… wait for it…rent a truck and deliver it to your child when he/she gets his/her first home. I’ve got to say, I kind of like this last option. It seems to create a fulfilling emotional collage of guilt, love, resentment, and karma.
On that note… a few years ago, my mother sent me a present for my 60th birthday: a framed picture of a horse I drew when I was about seven. Not to brag (well, maybe a little) but it was pretty good and actually looks like the Icelandic pony I just bought for myself this year. Ironically, that was the pony I asked for repeatedly as a child and never received, which just goes to show that you can sometimes fix your dysfunctional childhood, even if you have to do it yourself… decades later.
Maybe this is only me, but when I think about children’s art, I’ve had a nagging question for years: What kind of artwork did Pablo Picasso bring home from school? Did anybody recognize his genius or were his parents advised to seek therapy?
Here’s what I found out at www.pablopicasso.org/picasso-facts.jsp:
Picasso’s First Word: Pencil / Picasso was born an artist; his first word was piz, short of lápiz the Spanish word for ‘pencil.’ His father Ruiz, an artist and art professor, gave him a formal education in art starting from the age of seven. By thirteen, Ruiz vowed to give up painting as he felt that Pablo had surpassed him.
Picasso’s First Drawing / At the tender young age of nine, Picasso completed his first painting: Le picador, a man riding a horse in a bullfight. His first major painting, an ‘academic’ work is First Communion, featuring a portrait of his father, mother, and younger sister kneeling before an altar. Picasso was fifteen when he finished it.
And this is what I suspected… (FIST PUMP!) … Picasso was a terrible student in his ‘traditional’ classroom.
No doubt about it, Picasso was brilliant: artistically; he was years ahead of his classmates who were all five to six years older than him. But Picasso chafed at being told what to do and he was often thrown into ‘detention’ for being a bad student. He later wrote:
“I was banished to the ‘calaboose’—a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I took along a sketch pad and drew incessantly … I could have stayed there forever drawing without stopping.”
Looking back, I’m kind of relieved. I don’t think I casually threw away any of my children’s ‘masterpieces,’ and I don’t think you should feel too guilty about discretely disposing of the mounds of art that your child may bring home. Scribble scrabble has value, as the young child works to perfect her fine-motor skills, but it is usually just ‘practice’ work… not ‘art.’
Personally, I would recommend glancing at everything that comes home; keep some, toss some, but regardless of the choice, I would take note of the tone of the art. Even if it’s scribble scrabble (often with a bit of snot added for good measure), are the colors ‘happy’ colors? Are the lines drawn with an ‘angry’ tone? If it’s a family portrait, is anybody missing? Do the faces have expressions?
Unassigned, freely chosen art, no matter how simple in nature, is an expression of what’s going on inside the artist. Unless you’re an art therapist or psychologist, I’m not suggesting that you spend too much time interpreting children’s art. If you observe a disturbing trend, by all means, have a discussion with an expert. A Montessori guide is a good place to start.
In any event, I have found that, sometimes, art speaks volumes. “Jason, can you tell me about this picture?” may provide much more information than the usual “What did you do in school today” question with the usual “Nothing” response. Try it and see.
Tomorrow’s Child / January 2016 / p 37
