Marc Chagall

When my daughter was about 1 1/2 years old, we took her to a Marc Chagall exhibit in San Francisco. She just ate it up. Her dad carried her from painting to painting, and she kept saying, "nother one." "nother one." We still read the catalog from that exhibit as if it were a story book.

I think Chagall's art is especially well-suited to young viewers, because it has such a storytelling quality to it. The figures are recognizable and magical at the same time. In fact, Chagall created etchings of stories like Aesop's fables. While some of his subject matter can be pretty dark, everything he made has this magical realism to it.

Kids are kind of natural magical realists, since they travel back and forth so much between their imaginations and their surroundings.

So, if you get a chance, show a child some Chagall. You can read about him on Wikipedia, or you can see a lot of his paintings here too. And this is also a nice gallery of his work as well.

Alien!

I love this. It only shows exactly what it needs to tell the story. And it looks like, at least initially, the Earthling is friendly to the alien visitor. Those empty squares make me really wonder what happens next. What do you think?

More about the Funky Diagram Part 1

As I mention in my previous post, asking good questions means changing your perspective, and seeing something in a fresh way to get your imagination moving.


For example, cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Yenawine developed something called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). This is a very simple way of looking at art and asking questions about what you see. It reveals a lot about how different people can look at the same thing and have different reactions. You can learn more about it here.


While VTS is aimed mainly at art in museums, I'd like to take it a step further and use it to look at advertisements. We are so covered in media and messages and SELLING these days it's hard to know where one ad starts and another one stops. And to me, teaching about art also means teaching about how to look at all the stuff that comes into our field of view with smart, savvy eyeballs.


So, here's something to try. Grab a magazine, and turn to an advertisement.


Now, answer these questions:

1. What is going on in this ad?

2. What do you see that makes you say that?

3. What else do you see?

4. Go back to #1 and repeat. Keep at it until you feel like you've given the ad the once-over.


Now that you've taken a really good look at the ad, you can try these questions from Common Sense Media:

1. Who made this ad?

2. Who did they make it for?

3. How does it get your attention (sizes of things, colors, pictures etc.)?

4. What is the message of the ad?

5. How does it communicate the message (pictures, words, celebrities, etc.)?


Asking good questions can turn you from a passive consumer to a smart, savvy, creative thinker and problem solver.

A couple of pointers:
- There are no right answers to the questions above - it's all about revealing what people see.
- Little kids will come up with really random answers to these sometimes! This can be great fun - and very enlightening as to how our ad-saturated world really looks to them.
- If you have more than one person looking, be sure to notice that everyone has their own answers and that's okay too.

Funky Diagram Part 1: Asking Good Questions

I said I would offer some background on my 4-step diagram that helps me design activities and art lessons. The steps are:
1. How to ask good questions
2. How to discover answers
3. How to think on your feet
4. How to communicate to others

Let's start with the first one: How to ask good questions.

Every great discovery starts with good questions, new questions, risky questions that haven't been asked before. To really see something, you have to be willing to ask questions that you are not used to.

Try this exercise in looking without drawing:
- Find a really boring object. Maybe a chair, or a box, or a pencil. Anything will do.
- Put it in front of you.
- Now, look at its shape. Let your eyes follow its outline. Stare at it long enough that it stops being a chair, or a phone, or a piece of paper and starts just being a blob in front of you.
- As your eyes follow the outline, you'll notice something. That outline has nothing to do with the shape of the object that you might have in your head. For example: a chair might make you think of a square with legs under it. But when you outline a chair with your eyes, all you'll see is a place where it goes up, then maybe to the right, then maybe at an angle, then back to the left... not very chair-like at all.

What just happened? You opened up a whole world of questions about an ordinary object. Questions that weren't there before. Like, what is it really shaped like? How does its outline go? What shapes make up this object? How does it relate to the space around it?

This what I mean by asking good questions. To ask good questions, you have to change your perspective. When you see something in a new way, it becomes a new thing. In the case of visual arts, you get past the symbols you may have in your head ("chair," "pencil," "paper,") and really start to break an object down into just its shape.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can take a piece of paper and a pencil and start outlining that shape on your paper. You'll be amazed at how accurate your outline can be, when you are not trying to draw the "symbol" of a chair and you are just following exactly what's in front of you. But you don't have to draw the shape to change your perspective.

We interrupt this blog for: Trout!

Recently I worked with the whole first grade (4 classes) at my daughter's school to draw a mural of the lifecycle of a trout. I am very thankful to the teachers for asking me to do this!

We did it in four sections, one for each class. Groups of 4 to 5 kids worked on it at a time. I kept it folded so each class could only see their own section, so they wouldn't try too hard to make it look like someone else's section.

I drew the outlines of the mural, like a giant coloring book. The science teacher was kind enough to sketch out what went where, so I wouldn't get busted by the kids for getting it wrong.

Then, we colored it using big fat crayons.

Here's a closer look:

I left a lot of blank space so the kids could add fish, whales, plants, birds or other species. We also have lots and lots of suns.

I had each child sign his or her name, so they would see it up there when this got displayed.

I asked that each child color an area of the mural, rather than going all over the place, so that there would be space left for the kids whose turns were later.

Some kids picked one thing and colored it, some went all over the place and scribbled madly, some went around perfecting other work, and some just wanted to make stripes with each color of crayon regardless of what the picture looked like.

I did a fair amount of prompting like, "That label there needs some color. Can you make it look fabulous?" or, "We could use some more plants." I didn't want them to feel like they were "messing up" the drawing by coloring on it.

Inevitably, someone colors on someone else's work or gets in someone else's way. I dealt with this by gently moving the kids so they were all the way around the outside of the picture and making specific suggestions for what they could color to keep them focused.

These types of collaborative projects are great because when they are done, the kids can see that they helped make something really big and colorful. They also reveal all sorts of personality types while letting each one make a contribution.

The most interesting challenge here was to provide just enough coloring-book-like structure that the kids could really go to town, without getting frustrated and while adding the things that they were comfortable adding.

Me and my Funky Diagram

I have a funky round diagram that I use to remind me of four things that encourage creative thinking and problem solving. Those are:

1. How to Ask Good Questions

2. How to Discover Answers

3. How to Think on Your Feet

4. How to Communicate to Others

It looks like this:

Okay, mine actually has a lot more stuff written all over it, and the overall result is a big thing that makes you go, "Huh?" But it's really helpful to me.

Most of the games and projects that I come up with address one or more of these areas. So, in the next few posts I'm going to take each of the 4 parts and explain it a little better, with examples and challenges for you.

Two Different Kinds of Drawing Time

We've all heard the stories of people who got great ideas when they were in the shower, or falling asleep, or maybe, um, in the bathroom. This is because our different modes of thinking and problem solving kick in in different situations.


It's the same with kids and art. There is not just one way to sit down and do a drawing project. Here are two very different ones.

1. Performance Art
This where you sit with a kid and listen while she tells you the story of what she is drawing. Often her narrative will match up with the marks she is making - "The fire is coming out of the rocket -- here!" - and the drawing will actually take place over time. "And then, the snowman came, and he said it was time for lunch..."
This kind of drawing time is really informative because you can see how the drawing comes together, how the child adds detail, and you can ask questions as she is drawing. You can learn what a lot of marks mean, and then when you see them again later you can ask if they have the same meaning or if they have evolved to something else. You can also ask what might happen next, giving the drawing context and encouraging storytelling that goes beyond just one image.
But, it's also important just to sit and listen. Don't feel like you have to "interpret" everything. You don't. Sometimes I have a whole table of kids doing this at the same time, so my over-involvement isn't a problem.

2. Off By Myself
It's also important to offer unstructured, alone time with the paper and pencil. During this time there is no pressure to "perform" or to explain what is being drawn. Drawings might be made and then discarded, and then never looked at again. Others might be repeated over and over. But the lack of "oversight" allows for the child to explore his own thoughts without feeling like he has to explain himself. I really like to see kids doing this because it means that they trust themselves to draw. With littler kids, you can encourage this habit just by leaving paper out while you are doing something else like making dinner. Sometimes you might even get a bonus, when your child goes off and works on a drawing and then brings it to you to talk about it. This is a wonderful process, and all you have to do is listen.

Everybody knows what a Fridge is for.

Let's face it, the refrigerator is meant to be a rotating exhibit. That's why it's got a big display area and it's magnetic.

This is the fridge at the afterschool center, after we got done making sticky note creatures. As you can see the kids enjoyed stringing several things together, or just moving them around. Now they get adjusted every so often so the dinosaur can have an insect body. Looks like the robot needs a head - maybe the alien head at the left would work.

Crazy Party Picture!

I don't actually know who drew this. Kids give me drawings all the time, and when we're doing Drop-In Drawing they often take off outside before I can get them to write their names on there.

But isn't it great? Doesn't it make you want to jump around?

There are four totally different figures here, each with its own shape and limbs and personality. There is some commonality to the shapes of eyes and the use of sun-like lines coming out of circles (note the sun-nose), but each character is distinct.

It looks to me like the bean-person in the middle is in charge. Maybe it is because that one is standing on the ground and has such expansive arms and legs. But he looks like, "Okay people, here's what's going on."

Anyway, I guarantee a lot of talking went on while this drawing was being made. And possibly arguments over who is sitting in what chair, and can I have that pencil, and I need an eraser, and is it snack time yet.

I just think it's great.

Language is a Virus.

Laurie Anderson said that... I don't actually know what it means. But, I do think it's useful to consider all the languages that we speak as human beings.

Music is a language. Math is a language. Body language is a language. Packaging is a language. Filmmaking is a language. Architecture is a language. And, art is a language. Each of these things lets us express complex things about ourselves and the human condition. And they also let us transcend our cultural or verbal differences.

Learning about drawing is learning visual language. Again, kids know this intuitively. They are unfinished beings who need lots of ways to get their thoughts and feelings out. They do not know what is best put in a sentence or what is better expressed as a mathematical equation. They just have feelings and opinions and ideas, in raw form.

Mark making is one of the most direct ways to externalize one's thoughts. It does not require any particular training. But the simple act of getting something out onto a piece of paper or in the sand on the beach fires off neurons and refines a person's sense of identity and ability to think... and later to adapt those thoughts in to all sorts of languages.

So, next time you are at a museum, look at the art on the walls and imagine the artist standing there painting it - or welding it, or sculpting it, or whatever. Try to imagine what that person was feeling during that process. Think about how you feel when you look at a work. Does it make you edgy? Peaceful? Ask your kids how they feel when they look at art. Look at them looking at art. Watch what they gravitate toward. Often they will look at the same piece again and again. Olivia (of the children's books) loves a Degas painting. My kids really like Chagall.

Many museums have a day each month when they offer free admission. This is a great way to get kids in there, because you are not "risking" the admission price if one of the kids involved is having a bad day or missed a nap. I know museums can be kind of stuffy sometimes, but I personally love the sound of young voices echoing through a gallery.

Supersonic Bad-Guy Blaster!

This is a drawing by my son, who is about to turn 4 (I have to use my own kids until I get permission from more parents to use their kids' work, so bear with me).

As you can see, there is a main character on the right. This is the "Iron Giant." He is blasting with his arm (that's the "Supersonic Bad Guy Blaster") - tons of ink and pen movement have gone into giving that arm all its power. Then there are two figures at the left, one is Sean and the bottom one is his friend. There's also a vanquished orange dude at the bottom. Oh, and he's blasting off at the upper left with flames coming out of his feet.

Two things of interest here:
1. It was very informative to be present at the time of creation of this drawing. Most of the lines around the main figures are emphasis, or blasts, or have sound effects that went with them as the pen was zooming around. It was more of a performance piece than just a piece of artwork. I see this a lot with Kindergarteners too.
2. I can't get over how much drawings at this early age look like Petroglyphs. (Here's a good example - scroll down a bit to see the photo). It makes me wonder if, even though these were made in rock, they may have had stories that were told as they were drawn. Maybe they needed something more durable than dirt, but didn't have paper, so they used the walls.

The Age of the Artist

When I show art on here, I will generally tell you the age of the kid who drew it. This is not to say where that kid is developmentally, just to help you picture the scene as the drawing was being created.

I do not want to emphasize developmental age here, because it goofs up what I'm trying to get at: That drawing and creative thinking give people keys to the unique world between their ears. There is a general progression that artistic development tends to follow, so I'll refer loosely to that. But age is more of an insight into an individual person and where he or she is in life, not a developmental judgment. (There can be a lot of angst in teen drawings. Go figure.)

For example, Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4 and did not read until he was 7. His parents said he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers said he was "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." Some of those foolish dreams turned out to be the basis for how we see our universe.

Perfectly Crafty? Not so much.

Many books about creativity for kids suffer from what I'll call Martha Stewart syndrome - they show lots of super cute, creative, PERFECT projects that are not going to happen at my house.

I have one book that shows this adorable little tote for your art supplies. I think you are supposed to carry your stuff with you on vacations and such... it's covered in bright construction paper, and has this cute face with googly eyes on the lid. Then, it even has perfect little rope handles that come out the sides so that you can tote it! Yay!

All I can see when I look at this project is the expression of frustration that will appear on my daughter's face as she says, "I want to make it like THAT one!" Sigh. Even if you managed to make a close approximation, the first trip in the car would be the end of its pristine Martha Stewart-ness.

Here's an idea (and why I have the aforementioned book in my house in the first place): Use those crafty books to find out HOW to make projects work, like how to make a bird feeder that will hang straight or a box divider that won't fall out - but DON'T show the finished product to your kid. Instead, make a functional "naked" version of the project, and then let him or her have at it with the decorations. There's the mechanics, and then there's the decorating part. If your kid is a little older, he or she might also like adding some "customizations" to the mechanical aspect of the project as well.

But give kids something to start with, so there's not this shining picture out there to which all comparisons are made. Trying to make something look like a craft project that was made by a professional for use in a book just isn't fair to a kid. But giving him or her something to make an individual statement can be both fun and informative. What does your child really think a bird feeder should look like? What are the current favorite colors and materials?

And, I must say that some of the designs that kids come up with on their own are MUCH cooler than something in a book - because you can see a kid's personality all over it.

Draw, erase. Draw, erase.

When I teach a class, we can go through a huge stack of paper in about thirty seconds. Which is kind of okay, if it's recycled paper or we're drawing on the back of paper someone brought from the office (yes, we do sometimes get what look like legal docs and stuff... urp!)

Anyway, I've written elsewhere about the wonders of white boards as a way to do two things - one is use less paper, and the other is to get students to just have a process without worrying about the result so much.

I have big whiteboard I put in the middle of the table sometimes. This turns into an interesting exercise as the kids try to "divide up" the board so they each have somewhere to draw. But also, they get into a groove of just drawing something, erasing it and drawing something else. Somehow this is much harder with paper, where it seems like you are rejecting your drawing much more strongly than if you drew it on a temporary surface in the first place.

And, with a whiteboard, you can draw WITH your eraser - which gets you an entirely different effect. You can fill in an area with color and then use fingers, paper, whatever - as long as it doesn't mess up your board's surface too much. You can also kind of "stamp" with your hands to make fingerprints. Nose prints are probably not such a good idea.

Anyway, this site seems to have a nice selection of inexpensive boards - including individual-sized ones, which solves the whole "Hey, you're drawing in MY box!" problem. We're in the process of getting some as we speak.

In the future, I'm also hoping to do some whiteboard animations, where we draw something and then erase/redraw parts of it and photograph it to make it look like it's moving. I'll let you know how that works when we try it. But in the meantime, put some re-drawable surface around and let the kids have at it!

Art and Emotions 2

This is what I drew the day we had to have our cat put to sleep.

This was AFTER four years of studying painting and drawing and printmaking at Stanford.

What's my point? Sometimes mark-making is purely an emotional thing. It's not necessary to always be "making" something, or making your drawing "look like" something.

Kids understand this intuitively. And if they have drawing as an outlet for their feelings, often they can feel safer expressing them.

I write more about this in my Art and Emotions post on my other blog too.

Sticky Note Creatures!

Sticky notes are such a great creativity tool. You can make cool animations using sticky note flip books - like this one. The key with sticky note flip books is to secure them really well at the top so the pages don't come loose - and to line up the sheets really well. But we'll get into that in a separate post.

You can also make simpler sticky note games and puzzles for kids. For example, I have kids draw a bunch of heads on some sticky notes, and then a bunch of bodies on some more. Then we have great fun and hilarity matching them up. Then you can put them on a wall or door like a big puzzle.

Here are some of the methods we have come up with:
1. Putting two sticky notes together and then drawing the "whole" creature across both, then "separating" the two to mix them up with other drawings.
2. Drawing the heads and bodies separately, then putting them together to see what you get.
3. Adding a whole string of sticky notes together in a row and drawing a long snake across all of them.
4. For bigger kids, you can have them draw different animal heads and bodies and then mix them up.
5. They get even crazier if you add color.

By the way, some kids really, really want to match up the heads and bodies "right." That's okay! Mixing up or putting together are both great. But you might need to give one kid some to mix up and another kid some to put together so you don't get into a world war over which way is correct.

Good things to mix up are: Boys, girls, family members, cats, dogs, bunnies, dinosaurs, astronauts, insects, and snowpeople. Snowpeople are great because they are already in sections... You can make a three-sticky-note-tall snow person and then give each segment a different personality -girly head, punk middle, spotted bottom - then make some more and mix them up.

The refrigerator at the afterschool center is currently covered with sticky note creatures.

Now, sticky notes ain't cheap. So if you can lift some from work, or get some at a discount store, great. They are worth it for all the cool projects you can do. Don't worry about the size or color, although bigger is better for the littler kids.

Coming soon, we'll get into sticky note animation and all the great things you can learn from it!

Tools are Not Talent.

I gave a talk at a local high school last week, and this was one of the quotes I used. I was talking to a group of Juniors, all of whom loved to draw. I was there to illuminate the world of life after high school, and how to have a creative career. I pointed out the need for writing and drawing skills and professionalism too of course.

"Tools are Not Talent" is a quote that I've had with me for many years. I'm not exactly sure where I got it. I carry it around on a little piece of paper that's been stuck up in various cubicles and offices over the years.

It means, it's not which software you have or how fancy your pens are, it's what you do with them. Sure, if you want to be a great watercolor painter you need to learn the properties of the medium -- but, in terms of exploring your own ideas, the materials don't matter. Your personality and life experience are going to come through whatever medium you choose - writing, drawing, movies, computer software, whatever. The key is to focus on what you have to say, not so much on which fancy technical pen you can't afford.

Recommended Reading!

I highly recommend these two books for anyone who loves art, loves kids, or loves both. They sum up how I feel about art and creativity. And, they do a great job getting at some of the frustrations young artists encounter. You can get them at Amazon or your local bookstore - or even better, try your local library.

The Dot
Ish
both by Peter H. Reynolds

Creativity can be so Untidy.

Don't get me wrong, there is no problem with helping kids be successful in creating beautiful art. It can be very gratifying - and educational - for a child to make something that looks right, and that is pleasing to the eye.

However, the work my students produce tends to be distinctly untidy. This is because I am intrigued by the individual personality taking shape and letting that personality take hold of the pencil or crayon or pen or chalk. A child who is drawing is getting to know his or herself in a new way. So while the results may be chaotic at times, I can learn a great deal about a personality just by watching.

Then, I find that a child's drawing impulses will yield ideas about what that child would really like to be able to draw. Once a story or a character takes shape, then I can make suggestions for how to express it - what to show or not show, different poses, how to use speech bubbles, and the like.

When I was a kid I used to get a very strong urge to just draw anything. I would grab paper and just start in. I see my own kids get this same urge. I think that it comes from the depths of their developing brains, when something needs expressing. It turns out that in places where pencils and paper are scarce, kids will use sticks in the dirt to do the same thing. And it's not just kids who are considered "talented." All kids need to express themselves.

So, when things are really messy, I know I'm on the right track.

Welcome to The Drooly Dog Blog!

This is a blog all about creativity, art, kids, and kids with art, kids with creativity, art with creativity, and all of the above. It's for kids, parents, teachers, families, and anyone interested in fostering creativity. Welcome!

A little about me: I'm a longtime cartoonist and creator of "Brainwaves" and "The Mommy Track'd Funny Papers." You can see more about those here, at my website. I've also worked as a designer, information architect and creative director in film/video production, software, design consulting, and games.

A little about why I'm starting this blog:
1. Let's face it, our educational systems suffer from a chronic lack of resources and the arts are always on the losing end of that equation.
2. The arts teach creative thinking and problem solving, some of the most important skills that we can give our kids in an ever-changing world.
3. As an art instructor I have found that I don't have enough hours to meet the demand for workshops and classes. So I'm hoping to benefit more people faster this way.
4. I just love doing this stuff.

This blog is an offshoot of my other blog, because I felt this stuff needed its own home. So, there are several posts over there you should read too.

Check back often, and be sure to subscribe via email so you can get updates, special projects, and anything else I can think to throw at you. There will be email stuff that does not appear in this blog, so be sure to sign up!

Thanks for reading!