Looking Back

Journal Entry #1

I was asked on my first class to reflect on what my most positive experience was in art as a child, and what my most negative experience was. It was much easier for me to think of examples of positive experiences in my past. I don't remember many negative experiences. It may be this lack of negative experiences that lead me to love art and continue in it for these many years. Some of my most positive experiences include experimenting with materials at a very young age. Finger painting, squishing play dough into "food" shapes, and drawing with crayons are all fond memories in my childhood. These basic art processes have stuck with me and every time I smell crayons a wave of nostalgia comes over me and I have the urge to draw. Many of us loose the free flow of creative expression that we had when we were young. When we are in kindergarden we are allowed to express ourselves through experimenting with materials and the outcome was not important. Often as we get older we are discouraged if our art does not look like the rest of the class and trying new techniques is only dictated by the teacher.

My first experience where I felt that I had been validated as an artist and found talent within myself was in grade six. My class was asked to paint a still life of some fall fruit. My painting turned out to look just like the model and I was very happy with the outcome. It came to me with relative ease and it was the beginning of my experience in "looking". I learned that to be a good artist it starts with looking closely and recording what you see. I can not pin point any overwhelming negative experience in my childhood related to art, however there have been instances in which I was not pleased with my art experience. My discouragement often came from projects with little creative freedom or room for self expression. The "cookie cutter" craft projects were the first to be thrown in the garbage and left me with a cold feeling. I think it is important to reflect on these memories as art educators so that we can create learning environments that support positive learning through art. The window into our childhood could be our key to become great teachers.