Humor in the art room - expect the unexpected - Forum Thoughts to Share - Brief Article

Arts & Activities, March, 2002 by Gay Lynn P. Smith

The art room appears to be a magnet for the unique. It is a place where interesting projects abound, smells are musty, walls are colorful and the cabinets hold an array of equipment ranging from the usual paint and brush, to unusual metal washers, clay tools, plastic lids, cotton balls, buckets and an old hat full of real and artificial fruit.

In this room, children are allowed to be spontaneous with their imaginations. They are encouraged to experiment while holding to a discipline or guideline. Here, activities challenge both their right- and left-brain quadrants, while building confidence and esteem. But the art room also holds many humorous and rewarding adventures.

During our sixth-grade art class, I was giving a demonstration on clay mask making. I assured my students that although it looked easy, they needed to be patient in creating proportionally correct faces. As the class began the project, I was impressed by how well they were doing and their lack of frustration.

I was drawn back to reality, however, when in the quiet of the class I heard a young man announce, "No wonder God waited 'til the sixth day to make us. This is really hard!" "yeah," responded a voice from the back, "and we're just mortal kids with only an hour and a half."

Language and vocabulary are part of any curriculum, and the arts hold a language all their own. My first-graders are little bundles of excitement whenever they enter the art room. They listen to my every word and try their best to make the art supplies perform as expected.

While working on a crayon resist, I reminded the youngsters to use a "heavy" crayon. It was about 10 minutes into the project when a little girl came up to me in complete frustration. She opened her two fists to reveal a crayon in each hand. She balanced the two before me. "I'm sorry, but I can't find the heavy crayon," she apologized. "How do you know which crayon is heavy?" Needless to say, I learned to use the term "press hard" when teaching crayon resist to the younger grades.

Confidence building is also a large aspect of art education. The fifth-graders were challenged by our city to create a logo for the new downtown development center. We discussed what would make an appropriate logo and the children were sent off to create.

As I made the rounds, one young lady confessed she had great ideas, but her hand would not put down on paper what her mind envisioned. I explained this to be a common problem for all artists, and suggested that she allow her mind to just enjoy whatever developed. Not convinced, she turned in her artwork and was glad it was for a contest and not a grade.

Weeks later, at the awards assembly, the grand prize winner was announced. We laughed with delight at the shocked expression on the face of this same young lady as she walked up front to receive her award. "Wow!" was her first word. "And to think my mind didn't even like what my hands were doing! What do I know?" Her logo is still being used today.

No matter the organization and classroom management, spills and messes come with art. When using a water-based glaze on our clay projects, I asked a second-grader what color he wanted to use. "Yellow ... I think," he answered. "Are you sure?" I asked, knowing all second-graders change their minds at least once.

"Do you like yellow?" I questioned again, picking up the glaze to give it a good shake. Before I realized it, the lid burst from the bottle and splashed all over my young student. Not only was I shocked, but also the entire class came to a standstill waiting to see the reaction of the boy. Looking down at his clothes, covered from neck to shoes in yellow glaze, he calmly looked up at me and said, "Yep, Ms. Smith, I really do like yellow."

A condensed version of art history is presented in third grade. The students quickly learn to recognize the difference between realistic, Impressionistic and abstract art. Various projects are presented to help the students create the same image in different styles.

A city historian was requested to give these third-graders a short history of our city. After the presentation, she invited the class to enter an art contest. The rules entailed certain guidelines. She explained these guidelines in the simplest of terms, such as the size of the paper, what materials they could use and subject matter. The students sat politely and listened to the instructions.

"Do you understand the guidelines for the art? Are there any questions about this contest?" the historian asked. One youngster in the back raised her hand. "What style can we use?" she asked. Clearly the historian was taken aback by the question, especially after using such simplistic terms. Impatient, the 9-year-old asked, "Does it have to be realistic, or can we use Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism or Surrealism? Can we follow the style of van Gogh and Picasso, or must we use da Vinci?" The historian was speechless. "Well," she finally said. "I'll leave that up to you, and obviously, my work is done here."