People often ask us which kid we think is going to be “the writer” and which will be “the artist,” and though my response is usually, “I hope it’s actually ‘the accountant’ and ‘the web guru’,” I have always gotten the feeling that Alden is a keen and somewhat distanced observer and Kato is a live-in-the-moment enjoyer. It is unclear at this point whether this will translate at all into their creative lives, but there seems to be the expectation from a lot of people that our kids will naturally gravitate towards being “creative” when they grow up, and that they will learn skills like how to draw and how to write from us.
I have always been very curious about how people develop their visual vocabulary. When I have taught art classes, I’ve often started students with the idea that “art” is all about the individual’s unique voice. As a demonstration, I have everyone do a quick drawing of a house. Most draw a square with a triangle on top, door in front, windows to either side of the door and a chimney on top. The point in the exercise is to show students that even though the image communicates the idea of “house,” that particular drawing of a “house” doesn’t actually look like 99% of the houses that we see every day. And what might it say about the house or the people living in it if it had 12 porches on it and big bay windows, or if it was a tree house, or if it was underground, etc etc etc? That by using your own lens, you have the opportunity to communicate so much more by distancing yourself from these “icons” we have learned to draw since we were little (or, at least, to be purposeful about using them and what that choice might mean).
To that end, I’ve resisted teaching Alden and Kato “how to draw” – mostly out of curiosity to see when they start getting representational. Though they both love to paint, and I imagine most three-and-a-half-year-olds know how to at least draw a tree and a house and flowers and faces etc, Alden isn’t much interested in any of that yet, which I find fascinating.
She’s extremely precise with her brush – the wild broad strokes are all Kato’s – and enjoys making wobbly outlines and then carefully filling them in. She can do this for hours (with Kato standing by, practically frolicking in his contributions).
The one thing that has crept into her repertoire is the “monster,” which showed up nearly a year ago and which she probably learned from someone else. Usually a wobbly circle with eyes and a mouth and arms and legs.
Occasionally, hair will be added, but if it is, it tends to grow all over the body, filling it in, until the whole thing becomes yet another solid blob.
So, I’m not sure where all this will lead. I am probably doing a great disservice to my kids by not giving them the appropriate drawing tools to succeed in the cut-throat world of kindergarten craft hour, but I also think they’re a pretty quick read, and that if they had to, could (hopefully) figure things out without too much trouble. For now, Alden is refining her chops – becoming the next Christo. The piece below is called “Wrapped Goofy (Recumbent).”
Not that I have any expectations or anything.
I find it interesting that people assume your kids will follow your endeavors. No one asks me if Eliza will be a Marketer or an Engineer. Of course, ski racing, ballerina, artist has been her goal for years, so maybe that’s why no one asks me.
It’s interesting to hear your take on this and the learning process.
We also get asked that a lot. Although we are hoping for at least one dentist.
Milo, also 3 1/2, doesn’t draw representational things yet. He is very deliberate with his strokes, but always decides what he drew after he drew it. It is almost always a machine that shoots stuff out (ducks, books, Legos, etc.).
My dear friend’s son is also three, and drew a picture for me recently. It consisted of a full page of amorphous blobs. When he gave it to me, he explained that it was “A giraffe, but really up close.” Kids’ art is the best.
We get the same question, and Charlie is convinced that Julia plans to follow him down the artist path. I’m not so sure. She does love to draw, though. The interesting thing to me is that since she started preschool, her drawings look much more conventional (rainbows, families, etc.). But the images she makes at home are more abstract, and very precise. I think she and Alden would enjoy meticulously coloring in blobs together.
And I use that same house exercise when I teach Frank Lloyd Wright!