It is like puddles of dye, you see the dye getting denser and you see the children telling you to look, because they like it, that is the allurement factor, the desire in dye.
So why water down dye i often think, when i see other teachers offering children pots of watered down dye i personally feel ripped off for them, its like you have taken away the best bit, you have offered them second hand dye when you had the brand new bottle ready to go.
Children need the inspiration of colour, colours they see in the rainbows, in the flowers, you don't see spiderman in a watered down dull kind of red do you.
How can you make a true picture if you don't trust children to have enough dye.
Instead try offering smaller amounts of dye, and really think about the brushes you have on offer, it is OK to direct children to the right kind of brushes, thick handled brushes will make the jars fall down, dye does not have the weight that paint does to hold them down, so if you have not corrected that you really don't have any reason to get upset when the dye tips out.
And it will, but just have cloths ready, art cloths or paper towels that are always available and at reach for children because being creative means making mistakes,and being an artist means using your mistakes to learn from.
When you see children with there puddles of dye teach them about pushing the dye around the page, let them know that it is all dye that wants to soak into paper and it cant do that in a puddle, its like a rain puddle outside, you have a puddle like outside this morning when it rained, remember how someone swept the puddle out (after a few children jumped in it) you can do that with your brush, then it can go to other places on the paper.
I believe that is the trick to getting the most out of children and art, you have to relate it to what they know, what experience they have.
Another technique to think about it is where to dry the pictures and how to carry these puddles that have been spread out all over the page.
Many a time i have seen people hang them up to dry and walk away completely oblivious to the puddles that are now running down to the floor, so the puddles have now turned into a serious drainpipe leak.
If a child has gone to all that effort of making and spreading dye puddles then let them learn about balance and laying there pictures out flat.
If you think we need to do this for children sure ask, but there is some great ritual about putting your work down to rest in the drying process, maybe it is the last time they will see the colours shining wet, maybe it is the final goodbye of the process of the creative, but it seems to me that there is a lot of pride children get from hanging there pictures up.
Newspaper on the floor is sufficient for drying dye work with the balance and skill children learn from carrying there puddles over it actually makes the whole experience last longer.
Of course you wont always get puddles of dye, but if you expect them then the detailed pictures are the next step, but like anything in art i believe you cant get to flowers and rainbows with out puddles and splatters.
You really have to be prepared to put the time in with every medium you work with together with children, the Italian's say it is all about a dialogue with the materials, but i think in kiwi terms it is getting past the rushness.
By rushness i mean the excitement of colour, the crowd around the dye, and everyone wanting the same thing, its about experience and practise, we as teachers just need to over come our own feeling of being uncomfortable about the mess.
Have a look in any artists studio, you will see paint and creative residue that tells a story of work that has happened before.
I also think if you do not allow children the time to clean up there own work stations and take pride in there spaces of creativity, you are not following through with the true processes of becoming an artist.
So welcome spills and splats i say.
No comments:
Post a Comment