I have to tell you all how much I miss seeing your children at the art table. I feel so much joy watching children explore color, shape and line. I first discovered this joy while I was a young teenager. I had loads of art materials and my neighbor’s children would come to my house and paint. I remember putting the paintings up on the wall of my room. As a young adult I taught woodworking classes to children. I will never forget the little boy who asked me “have you ever been so happy that you had tears in your eyes?” as he held the coping saw in his tiny hands. Is there any greater reward than that? I have to confess that my love of sharing art comes with a bias. I feel very cringy about some art projects. I dislike telling children that red and blue make purple- I would prefer to give them the colors and experience the pleasure of discovering what happens when the two colors mix. I don’t like when every creation follows a pattern, or when outcomes are presented from the get-go. I will bend and offer an example to guide children, or a product for inspiration but I avoid it whenever possible. My youngest son’s grade 2 teacher gave the class instructions on how to collage a paper flower. My son went ahead and assembled the flower without following the instructions. His teacher crumpled up his flower and asked him to start from the beginning. It bothered him enough that he remembered to tell me. It bothered me more because I bawled my eyes out at the school the next day, saddened for my son and feeling really horrible because I appreciate teachers and didn’t want to complain. It was just paper, it was easy to start the flower again, the teacher wasn’t angry- but when it comes to art I am super protective of a child’s creativity.

So that is why when you come to my art table you will probably find scissors, glue, paper, oil pastels (never crayons) red, blue, yellow (primary colors) and white paint, paintbrushes and never much more. Everything creative can be found inside your child. I hope you feel joy while watching them experience art too!