The words of John Cleese have been living rent-free in my mind for so long, and I find myself coming back to them constantly, especially as a teacher of primary artists encouraging creative and independent thought.
Unfortunately, school and society often teach us otherwise. We are conditioned to think there is only one right answer, and we grow up terrified of getting it wrong. We spend so much time trying to be perfect, trying not to mess up, and just functioning.
But creativity requires the exact opposite. It needs room to breathe, room to play, and room to fail.
As Cleese beautifully put it: “To be creative, you must be willing to play. And playing means experimenting… If you are afraid of making a mistake, you won’t experiment, and if you don’t experiment, you can’t be creative.
Let this be our reminder today to turn off the fear of making mistakes. Just create. Just play!”
Early Childhood Creating Crazy Characters
Look at this astounding playful creativity our room two and ECE2 embraced when making their Crazy Characters when starting with only two eyes. After sticking the eyes onto a page, they drew and added details to their own characters confidently with black permanent markers. The addition of line details demonstrated pure imagination and divergent thinking. Aren’t these really fun.
Mindfulness and Respect in the Studio
Senior classes have enjoyed a simple and highly effective Mindfulness activity. While listening to mellow, relaxing piano pieces, they were invited to explore five closed shapes through lines, repetition and layers of detail. These 50-minute studies are mesmerising and joyful, reflecting the overall feel of this art experience. The students were invited to experiment with possibilities, to add interest and increase individual creative ideas to their works. WOW we started at the same point, but it is incredible how each piece looks and feels so different. Please enjoy these select pieces, as I couldn’t show them all. I will get the classes to add their individual art onto Seesaw next week. I am so proud of the confidence and willingness to experiment with different ideas. This is why I love teaching art.
Clay Day Thursday
Yesterday the Thursday classes, Rooms 10, 1, 3 and 6 dived into creating with clay. The ceramic artists enjoyed the tactile experience to moulding and creating the forms with clay. Ceramics is a challenge that the clay process is not instantaneous and requires fundamental skills to increase success. Everyone had great fun.
Raffle Winners
This week’s raffle winners ginning with cheer. Congratulations.
Your partner in Education,
Melinda Cockerill – Art Specialist