You walk into your child's ECFE classroom to find the art table loaded up with paper, glue, pinecones, feathers, pom pom balls, confetti, pipe cleaners, daubers, markers, paint, crayons, toilet paper tubes, tinfoil, and other assorted items that don't seem to fit together. Your child's teacher explains how much fun this activity will be and all you can imagine is how in the world you're going to get it to hang on the fridge. This leaves you longing for the days of handprint apples and footprint snowmen.
I would like to introduce you to Process Art.
According to Dictionary.com, process art can be defined as "a style of art which focuses on the creative process and created mainly as a record of that process; an artwork produced in this way". In layman's terms, when your child creates art with the goal of experiencing the process, rather than producing a specific product, there are no constraints on their creativity. What they create displays the process that they chose and how THEY envisioned the end result. It's open-ended and child directed. There are no instructions given to the child, no example to follow, and no "right way" to complete the task. For adults, it can be challenging to not want to fix what your child creates or instruct them on how to do it. The key to remember is that when your child gets to control the process of creating art, they practice skill development that can lead to mastery, they get to flex their creativity muscles, and they get a sense of accomplishment like nothing else. Process art grows each developmental domain and gives a window into your child's developing mind. Plus, it's so much fun for them.
Here in South Washington County ECFE, you will experience process art in every early childhood classroom. Our teachers are committed to helping your child develop in wonderful and unique ways. We are going to look at two examples to see what we can learn!
First of all, in one of our preschool classrooms, the children were given paper, red paint, and a paint brush. Pretty simple, right? Ms. Ann's goal was to allow the children to make whatever they wanted and then to study the results. It was interesting and fun to see what each child came up with. Some covered the entire paper with paint while others made a few swipes and were done. None of them were given instructions, but each one produced their own creation. The paintings were then hung on the wall for display in the classroom:
In Ms. Catie's classroom, there was another unique painting experience offered to the children. They were given the chance to put on a firefighter hat equipped with a paintbrush taped on both sides. Children were given only the one instruction that they should paint with their heads. They dipped the brushes in the paint and created a painting at the easle. Notice Ms. Catie's encouraging words, too:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_RpOCDcMHz-MlktMGlScWZMTndmaVJBUDdZOExiY2UyYmQw/view?usp=sharing
Even adults get in on the fun of process art! At the Guggenheim Museum in New York, NY, process art is everywhere. The creative process is at it's best when the artist isn't confined to a set of rules or directions.
So the next time that you leave your child's ECFE class with a toilet paper tube creation that you have no idea what to do with, remember the process that he or she experienced while creating it. They learned that they were capable, creative, flexible, and unique. They felt good about the work and their self-esteem grew when you talked with them about how hard they worked to create it. They thought is was neat when you asked them about the materials that they chose to use and why. Most importantly, they want to do art again tomorrow. What a gift.
To learn more about what the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) says about encouraging process art, click here.
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