Facebook
Pinterest

Let a Child Lead You

Color in art is…complicated. While working on writing a clear, somewhat comprehensive article on the subject for my curriculum, I’ve struggled far more than seems reasonable. Connected to my thoughts on color, in a round about way, is another topic I’m interested in: teaching art to children.

Color in art can be realistic, symbolic, emotive, strong, calm, or violent. Color can be a vehicle the artist is using or the point of the entire work. Color can combine to create images so real we think we can touch the fur on a coat or feel a breeze. Or colors can swirl in entirely abstract patterns that seem random and purposeless. Color can shimmer through stained glass, dancing through the air, or color can bring solemnity and weight to a moment.

Color in art can be about realistically representing our world, or it can be about something else entirely. The artist purpose is what determines how color will be used.

Which brings me to children and art. Children are artists, or at least children are artists until we convince them that they aren’t. Toddlers create with abandon, swirling colors, drawing figures that make sense only to them, until we ‘show’ them that a house really should be a box with a triangle on top and a face has to have two eyes and a mouth.

Fairly quickly children learn that their drawings aren’t ‘right’. Green skies and purple cows are rarely embraced by adults. I think this is why most young children respond to Picasso and Kandinsky with smiles and giggles…they are kindred spirits. Kids are smart, they know that cows are not purple, that wasn’t the point, and when we insist that it is the point, we steal their joy.

If you stand in a museum for any stretch of time near art that doesn’t look the way it ‘should’ you will start hearing comments, not unlike the ones given to a preschooler. The viewer is missing the point. Rather than dismissing what we don’t like or understand, it can be enlightening to dig deeper and find out why an artist has chosen to paint in a certain way. We still may not like the piece, but at least we can appreciate why certain choices are made.

I’m reminded of the story of Jesus with the children. When his disciples wanted to shoo the children out of the way Jesus responded that they should allow the children to come to Him, saying, we need to become like little children if we want to enter the kingdom of God.

Perhaps we need to become like little children when we enter museums, checking our pretentious adult persona’s at the door. Children take their ignorance as a matter of course, they know that there is much that they do not know. This innocent humility leaves them open to experience and view art with an openness of spirit we adults often lack.

Take a preschooler with you to an art museum and listen to their comments. That canvas that you dismiss because it’s just been painted orange, they run to because “Isn’t it beautiful, I LOVE that color.”  Perhaps the artist thought nearly the same thing. I’ve watched young children standing in front of an abstract Picasso giggling with delight because the ladies nose is in the wrong place. Watching a video of Pollack splattering paint across a canvas delights young kids. Make no mistake, they also appreciate the beauty of Monet’s water lilies, or will wonder aloud why the man in the portrait looks sad…many want to stroke the marble of a statue. The point is they don’t possess our prejudices and when allowed to interact with art on their own terms are amazingly perceptive and open-minded.

As is often the case, when it comes to art we can gain much by allowing a child to lead us.

Subscribe to KellyBagdanov

Join a generous group of people who help me continue to serve teachers and lovers of art. Click the button below and become a patron!

Top Posts

Affiliate Disclosure

Disclosure: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Download Your Free Curriculum

The Grand Tour Art History Curriculum

Compare 4 works of art from the Italian Renaissance with 4 works from the Byzantine era to begin building the framework we will build on in future lessons. This download will introduce you to the overview portion of the Grand Tour Art History Curriculum and will add your email to our subscription list.

More Articles

Arena Chapel Giotto di Bondone

Giotto Arena Chapel Nativity

The Giotto Arena Chapel Nativity is the subject for day 3 on our Advent in Art Series. Background of the Giotto Arena Chapel In a Northeast corner of Italy is the city of Padua. Even in 1303, Padua was a cosmopolitan center boasting a prestigious University. One of the residents was a man named Enrico

Read More »

Donatello’s The Annunciation

Donatello’s Annunciation Donatello’s Annunciation is the focus of today’s post. I’m excited that today we get to examine a work by one of the esteemed Ninja Turtles. I have four sons and the Ninja Turtles hold a special place in my heart because my son’s started checking out books from the library about the artists

Read More »

Rembrandt’s Dream of Saint Joseph

Rembrandt’s Dream of Saint Joseph emphasizes Joseph’s connection to the Joseph of the Old Testament, and to his role as the Saint of Hidden Things. Additionally, this work makes us reconsider the customary image of the sleeping Joseph. This painting is one of several that Rembrandt made of this story and I find it refreshing

Read More »