Artful Tips for Young Artists (and Parents)
Dear parents and members of the Gibbes family,
We know that you are all juggling many different hats right now, including homeschooling your children. While the schools have sent some materials home to cover the next few weeks, the Gibbes would like to provide some additional resources to help you in this daunting endeavor.
Make sure to follow us on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter)! We will be uploading videos, demonstrations, virtual tours, and more activity ideas each week, and encourage you to join in. Tag @theGibbesmuseum when you share your own creations and we’ll repost them.
ART MATTERS
Why is it important to include art in your child’s life?
1. Creativity and Innovation are world class skills that employers a looking for in almost every field.
2. Engaging with the arts can create stronger students in other areas of study.
3. Creating art can relieve stress. Studies have shown that 45 minutes of creative activity significantly lessens stress in the body, regardless of artistic experience or talent. And right now, we all probably need less stress.
4. Making art is fun!
5. Art can be infused into almost any other learning standard, from language arts and social studies to math and engineering.
ART IS FOR EVERYONE
Worried that you’re “not an artist” or don’t have the right supplies? That’s OK! Even doodling or free drawing for a few minutes a day can have huge benefits.
ARTFUL TIPS
Here are a few simple ideas of how to get the creative juices flowing.
1. Do a Still Life Study: Find an object in your house that interests you. Draw it from 4 different angles (from the front, side, top, bottom).
2. Complete an engineering challenge: Build a structure out of LEGO or blocks that can hold the weight of one book. Can it hold 2? No LEGO at home? Can you build a structure using paper clips and index cards that can hold a certain amount of weight?
3. Create public art: Using chalk, create a community work of art on your sidewalk or street (please be mindful of traffic)! Incorporate hopeful messages to brighten your neighbors’ day.
4. Create a Landscape: Draw a picture of what you see out your window. For an extra challenge, use this drawing as an illustration for a story about something exciting that might happen in your yard when you’re not looking.
5. Back-to-Back Drawing: Hone your observation and communication skills with this fun game. Sit back-to-back with a sibling or other person living in your house. One of you will have paper and pencil (Team A), the other will have an image from a book or computer (Team B). Team B will describe with as much detail as possible what they see in that image while Team A tries to draw it. When you think you’re done, compare the original with Team A’s interpretation.
6. Experiment with natural materials: Go outside and find different leaves, sticks, and flowers to create a unique sculpture like Patrick Dougherty.
RESOURCES
Finally, here are a few resources here to help you infuse the arts into your everyday plans.
Gibbes Resources
Other Great Resources
SCETV resources for at-home learning
Published March 30, 2020
