Art Every Day
This summer Poiema Visual Arts will be holding its very first biennial art conference, “Finding Our Place: The Artist, the Church & Placemaking,” in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As we prepare for this exciting event, we want to introduce you to some of the unique individuals who will be presenting this year. Our speakers bring together a rich mix of experiences that we feel sure will encourage and challenge all who attend.
In this post, we are privileged to introduce you to Deana Swanson, an arts educator with a passion for introducing her students to new, creative possibilities. Deana will be presenting a breakout session at our conference titled “Using Folk Art to Learn About Different Cultures.” We invite you to lean in as she shares with us in this article about a fundamental belief that has become foundational to her classroom process.
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I greatly enjoy spending time in the classroom working with children. I thrive there, and one of my most adamant desires is to see my students reach their full potential – much the same as God wants each of us to reach our full potential; using the talents He has given us to serve Him and the body of Christ. A main aspect I employ in aiding children to do this is exposure to as many different edifying areas as possible. This far surpasses a rudimentary knowledge of math, English, science, and history, although those are certainly necessary. It extends to music, art, physical activity, languages, architecture, cultures, and learning how to function effectively in the body of Christ. Striving to achieve this holistic endeavor, the school where I teach has adopted a goal: Art Every Day.
This doesn’t mean that we sketch or oil paint every day, but it does mean that for about twenty minutes every afternoon, we do something wonderfully creative using our hands to develop our own versions of whatever project we are currently working on. I believe that creativity is essential to a student’s well-being. It uses a different realm of the brain, gives students a mental break, helps coordination, and unleashes creativity. I then see this creativity present itself in different thought patterns in algebra, a writing assignment, or in history as students “connect the dots” across different subjects.
Our goal is further achieved by leaving art supplies out and readily accessible to students all day long. I often see a student weaving or painting once they have finished a test or assignment. As they engage, the value of those few extra minutes before their next class become exponentially increased. These activities foster creativity, give the brain a much-needed break, and fulfill the goal of enabling a whole-hearted, well-rounded child to not only excel in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but to also achieve some level of proficiency as they sketch, paint, weave, and create. It enables them to think in non-conventional ways because they have been exposed to different activities and different ways of doing things. I know it works because I’ve experienced this very often, and that motivates me to keep doing it. It’s also why I rarely refuse if a student asks to take some art supplies home to work on a project, or to create another version of it applying different aspects of what we’ve learned.
Art has endless possibilities in schools. Besides being exposed to art in a regular art class, I feel that it is important to introduce and use art across the curricula. In math, geometry is art. We create string art and use geoboards to create line designs. We write, draw, and sketch in our creative writing journals. We create art from different time periods in our history classes, and we draw and label whatever we are learning in science in our science sketchbooks. Handwriting is in itself an art, especially if it is done neatly. I enjoy exposing my students to cursive writing, italic writing, calligraphy, and fractur. Even if one does not consider themselves an artist, art is inherent in much of what we do, and students’ efforts deserve to be acknowledged and appreciated. The more a skill is practiced, the more adept a student becomes at doing it.
In addition, art simply makes life more enjoyable, so why shouldn’t we view it as a necessary part of a child's education, and to teach children how many different areas art can apply to? The benefits are multi-faceted, and the rewards are bountiful. “Art Every Day” is a good goal for all of us!
