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Art-Making: Empowering Our Children
The room is ready. Grey bumpy paper covers one table. An assortment of soft pastels and charcoal is at hand. The other table is covered in magazines for collage. Two large art books are set out about Hundertwasser and Dubuffet. Coleman Hawkins fills the air with alto sax. Seven excited children arrive with their portfolios and bag lunches for a three-hour art class at 10:00. They welcome this time to come together and make art. Jack has selected a fine black pen and a large sheet of white paper with a smooth surface. He begins to create a labyrinth of fine scribbles that fill the page. Will it include color? He works on the floor on his tummy. Marjorie works nearby, her sheet of paper holds stylized cartoons of a boy, a girl and a baby. She is ready to add color. Fill the page. Use the whole page. Alexander, at four, is the youngest and he works alone. "A crown, I want to make a crown." He is proud that he has learned to use scissors to cut the zig-zag in the heavy grey paper that will loop back and be joined with staples. He collages the crown with the images he finds in the magazines and adds his own marks to the finished piece. Be careful to use only a little bit of glue. |