I wish I had more opportunities to explore different kinds of arts as a child. I grew up to be quite musical, but I am NOT AT ALL artistic when it comes to visual arts. To be frank, although I tell children that paint is not dirty and encourage them to mess around with it, I still need to take a deep breath before I get my own hands into paints. When it comes to papier mache, the first thing that crosses my mind is not how to make something beautiful, but how to wash off the papier mache that is going to get stuck on my wedding band.
This is sad.
I'm not the most convincing person when it comes to promoting creativity through visual arts. So I like watching examples and artists interviews to make up what's lacking in my own creativity development.
I like this video. It's an art studio for kids in New York; students are having an ordinary art class (similar to what some of the art centers offer in HK).
I liked what the teacher said in the video, "Children should know the differences between a mess and a masterpiece." When it comes to children's work, it is sometimes hard to draw the line between creativity and chaos. The teacher speaks what I think is the essence of arts class. Certainly, the technical skills are important. However, is creativity only a by-product of skills demonstration or are children exercising their creativity using the skills learnt?
