Saturday, November 26, 2005
Put sugar on your toes
Yesterday, I took Lourenzo to the Brooklyn Museum so that he could draw. We walked around with a pad of paper, and whenever he saw something that was interesting enough, we'd stop, and he'd draw it.At one point, he walked into a large gallery wth a massive skylight, the perimeter lined with landscapes, portraits, and narrative paintings. Notebook and pencil in hand, he looked around the empty room and whispered, "I don't even want to talk."
Granted, that didn't last longer than about 15 minutes, but it hit me that this is likely the closest thing to church that he's ever experienced, and yet to have such an awe of art at such a young age is phenomenal. I have no doubt that if his gifts are nurtured well, he'll be an artist. It's incredible to be able to see the seeds of such a gift and talent, and it makes me wonder what kinds of paths he'll take to get there.
I look back on my own artistic journet, which started at about the same age. I was younger than he is now when I started telling and acting out stories, and by the time I was five, I was in church pageants and recruiting Esther and Jessica (and in dire circumstances, Uncle Kinne) to be my cast.
My journey in the two decades since I started exploring art has been, in some ways, a straightforward one; in other ways, it has taken me to places I never expected to go. New York, for instance. In either case, I've been blessed to be in an environment where art has been encouraged, and I haven't really faced the pressure to take a "real" major or find a "real" job. I've known since high school, basically, that theatre would be a part of whatever career I chose. The most significant variations and growth in that plan were, and still are, in the discovery of what that would look like for me.
Yesterday, Lourenzo and I spent several hours in the museum--he with his sketchpad, me with mt notebook, and we explored exhibits, stopping when he wanted to draw, like a miniature art student, stopping every now and then to do a detailed sketch of some work. It wouldn't be my typical image of an outing with a 5-year-old, but he enjoys it. He alternates between being a silly, sometimes bratty, sometimes distracted kid, and then goes to being focused beyond his years.
It's amazing to me how art brings out different aspects in people's personalities. It draws out a fuller, richer potential--particularly in those people in whom artistic potential lies dormant--than many other stimuli have the power to do.
While we were walking around the museum, I saw several other moms with children much younger than Lourenzo--18-month- and 2-year-olds--exploring the museum with their babies, instilling a sense of artistic apreciation, even from such a young age.
It's cool. I want to take my kids to museums, theatre, concerts, dance performances, galleries... the works. I think that a solid art education in any other arena of life--school, extracurriculur, whatever--is so much more effective when the value of art is reinforced at home. Education in general is always more effective when it's supported at home, but especially the areas that tend to be somewhat neglected in schools.
I can remember a few outings when I was a kid, although I don't think that I was going to museums on a regular basis at 18 months (granted, Calgary doesn't have nearly the number of museums and artistic venues that New York has). Still, much of my artistic education wasn't in professional theatre productions or museums featuring works of the masters. Much of mine was watching the process of a show or a concert coming together, seeing a community work to make the art happen.
I wonder how it might have affected me differently if my exposure had been more to the finished product than to the process, and if I'd dabbled in a wider variety of mediums from a younger age. As it is, I have an incredible love and appreciation for visual arts, dance, architecture, the written word, language, music, and of course, theatre. In some of these cases, my love was formed despite my lack of exposure and education--it was love for art in general that allowed me to be passionate (on some level) about forms that I had no training in. It was as I became more and more well-versed in my own art forms that I began to seek out and learn more about the others.
It would be interesting, though, to see how I would respond differently if I'd been to more theatre from the audience, and not as many dress rehearsals in the front row with a coloring book. If I'd seen more museums. Gone to more professional dance shows. Or maybe, I would have just taken a different path to the same end.
So, maybe, it's overload for a 5-year-old to experience everything. Maybe it's too much to expect them to pinpoint one form out of the many at that age. But then again, maybe it's not. Maybe, a well-rounded art education is just as important as a well-rounded traditional education. Goodness knows, the schools don't provide that. You're lucky to get a unit on each type, let alone a full experience. I guess, when I have my own kids, I'll figure out the balance. I'll figure out how much is enough. I just know that anyone who grows up in my house will grow up in an environment that respects any art form, and tries to display and celebrate as much as possible.
1 Comments:
Very interesting dissertation! I have another book for you to read, but you can't have this one!--How to Grow a Young Music Lover by Cheri Fuller. We did a few things right! I'm keeping it for all kinds of applications, including that of encouraging my artistically appreciative grandchildren to love music.
I think I tolerated a lot more of your youthful creativity than many parents would, for the very reason and purpose of giving you exposure and experience in such things!! Glad it had a lasting effect.
Love you,
Mom
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