search  current discussion  categories  techniques - painting 

kid painter/story

updated fri 27 aug 04

 

mel jacobson on tue 24 aug 04


my favorite story.

bobby was painting in bright red///deep
color. only red. looked like blood.
school psychologist and principal were
brought in.

`blood, red, only red`...terrible.

then they asked bobby.

`why do you only paint with blood red?`

he said.

`sally won't give me any of the other colors.
she does not like red.`

kids and art. funny stuff.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com

pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on tue 24 aug 04


Hi Mel, all...



The musicians 'Pearljam' had a song called ( I think)
"Jeremy" which I felt, was genius...

...as concerned a Child's drawings in school...


I have not heard it in a long time, but it impressed me very
much...their insight...


My own drawings in-school, in-the-beginning, (then, after
that, there were none, ) were things I was familiar with
too, in my case, happy Ants, Bees, Wasps, Watermoccissins,
Trees and Bushes and Grasses, Flowers...Birds...our
Dog...those things as had been or were immediate and vivid
and truest for me...( my parents were almost never 'in'
them).

I ran across some of them some years ago, they were so wacky
and bright and still powerful in their way...a young Child's
rendering of what one may also see, in those old, early
19th. Cent. itinerate Painter Edw'd Hick's themes, of 'The
Peacable Kingdom"...


I guess that never changed...


Left to their own devices, if they trust or retain their own
devices, to have them to
trust, it seems Children will draw various orders of what
for them, are truth...




Phil
el ve



----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"

> my favorite story.
>
> bobby was painting in bright red///deep
> color. only red. looked like blood.
> school psychologist and principal were
> brought in.
>
> `blood, red, only red`...terrible.
>
> then they asked bobby.
>
> `why do you only paint with blood red?`
>
> he said.
>
> `sally won't give me any of the other colors.
> she does not like red.`
>
> kids and art. funny stuff.
> mel
> From:
> Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
> web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
> or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
> new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
>
>
____________________________________________________________
__________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your
subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached
at melpots@pclink.com.

Paul Lewing on tue 24 aug 04


on 8/24/04 6:11 AM, mel jacobson at melpots@PCLINK.COM wrote:

> my favorite story.
>
> kids and art. funny stuff.

Mel, here's my favorite:
I was at a show talking to the parents of a small boy, maybe 7 or 8 years
old. As we finished up talking about their possible tile job, the boy said
to me, "I have a question. Did you paint all these?"
I said, "Yes, I did".
He said, "Did you always paint when you were a little kid?"
I said, "Yes, I started painting in oils when I was 8 and sold my first
painting when I was 10".
He turned to his mother and said, "SEE!".

His mother said, "Oh......OK..... I guess we need to talk about this".
I loved it. Man, I hope he got his paints.
Paul Lewing, Seatttle

evan garber on wed 25 aug 04


Cheryl:


My wife is the head of a local (Sonoma CA) mother's group of some 400
persons. I read her your email and she would very much like to include
some of it in an article about kids/parents and art that she is
writing. Would this be OK with you?

Best

Evan Garber
Sonoma CA

Cl Litman wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I all too frequently had quite different experiences in NJ.
>
>Years ago I offered art classes for kids at home. One woman asked me if
>her 6 year old son was "too old" for art classes. When I asked what she
>meant she said that everyone knows what happens to boys if they are
>allowed to take art past a certain age.
>
>After doing a child sized alter ego replica with kids, semi-3D (stuffed
>and painted paper cutout's) one mother disdainfully looked at her
>daughter's work and asked "what are we supposed to do with THAT" She
>refused to take it home. The kid was in tears.
>
>We made mini-stages out of cardboard boxes, the kids wrote their own
>stories, made half-dozen interchangeable back drops and some stick
>puppets with clay heads, feet and hands. One kid gave up breaks to do
>more work, took materials home to do more and wrote a very elaborate
>story. Mom not only refused to take more "of your art crap" home with
>them but wouldn't even pay attention when the kid was trying to show off
>his creation.
>
>Half the parents who picked their kids up from pottery class just drove
>up outside and tooted the horn, never even came in to look. I used to
>ask them to come back a week later to pick up the fired pieces but had to
>start doing the firing the week before the class ended because so many
>never bothered to come back. I did clay printing or left some pieces to
>be painted with acrylics or assembled for the last day instead.
>
>One class we were working on a layered painting and each day added more
>to it. After the second day one mother, in front of her kid, said that
>Mary had to start all over because I had allowed her to do it "wrong". It
>didn't look like everyone else's. I tried to explain that Mary's was
>actually more creative than the others because she had really absorbed
>the purpose of the lesson and was doing something very unique with the
>concept while the others were just copycatting the examples I'd shown.
>Mom could not be convinced. Mary wilted and never did anything but copy
>again.
>
>It's nice to know that in other areas there are some kids getting
>supportive parents. I had some but way too many were just using the
>class to get the kids out of their way for a few hours and couldn't even
>be bothered to look interested in what the kids made.
>
>One of the cutest interactions I did see was a parent who came early to
>see what was happening. We were finishing some small painting project
>and an array of paints was on each table. The daughter was using every
>color we had, the son had picked 3 colors. Dad kept trying to get him to
>add more colors, "oh, isn't the red nice, what about green, look Caitlin
>has all the colors on hers..." The kid turned to Dad and said "if you
>want to use all the colors so badly why don't you make one yourself!"
>Not a bad sense of self for a 6 year old!
>
>Another cute story was from a class of 4 year olds. Didn't realize that
>one of the new kids had never used clay before and that session since I
>had so many repeaters I didn't do my little intro to clay show and tell.
>She made the best replica of an elephant I'd seen from kids two and three
>times her age. After the firing as I was passing pieces out to glaze I
>picked hers out first. She insisted it wasn't her piece. Since I
>hurriedly scrawl their initials on pieces I have been known to forget one
>or have it be illegible. But I have a pretty good memory for matching
>pieces to the maker so I tried to insist it was hers but she denied it so
>I passed out all the others first. When it was the only one left I came
>back to her and finally asked why she thought it wasn't hers. "Because I
>made mine out of clay and that one's made out of some kind of rock."
>
>Cheryl
>
>On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:47:32 -0800 Paul Lewing
> writes:
>
>
>>on 8/24/04 6:11 AM, mel jacobson at melpots@PCLINK.COM wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>my favorite story.
>>>
>>>kids and art. funny stuff.
>>>
>>>
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>

Cl Litman on wed 25 aug 04


Hi,

I all too frequently had quite different experiences in NJ.

Years ago I offered art classes for kids at home. One woman asked me if
her 6 year old son was "too old" for art classes. When I asked what she
meant she said that everyone knows what happens to boys if they are
allowed to take art past a certain age.

After doing a child sized alter ego replica with kids, semi-3D (stuffed
and painted paper cutout's) one mother disdainfully looked at her
daughter's work and asked "what are we supposed to do with THAT" She
refused to take it home. The kid was in tears.

We made mini-stages out of cardboard boxes, the kids wrote their own
stories, made half-dozen interchangeable back drops and some stick
puppets with clay heads, feet and hands. One kid gave up breaks to do
more work, took materials home to do more and wrote a very elaborate
story. Mom not only refused to take more "of your art crap" home with
them but wouldn't even pay attention when the kid was trying to show off
his creation.

Half the parents who picked their kids up from pottery class just drove
up outside and tooted the horn, never even came in to look. I used to
ask them to come back a week later to pick up the fired pieces but had to
start doing the firing the week before the class ended because so many
never bothered to come back. I did clay printing or left some pieces to
be painted with acrylics or assembled for the last day instead.

One class we were working on a layered painting and each day added more
to it. After the second day one mother, in front of her kid, said that
Mary had to start all over because I had allowed her to do it "wrong". It
didn't look like everyone else's. I tried to explain that Mary's was
actually more creative than the others because she had really absorbed
the purpose of the lesson and was doing something very unique with the
concept while the others were just copycatting the examples I'd shown.
Mom could not be convinced. Mary wilted and never did anything but copy
again.

It's nice to know that in other areas there are some kids getting
supportive parents. I had some but way too many were just using the
class to get the kids out of their way for a few hours and couldn't even
be bothered to look interested in what the kids made.

One of the cutest interactions I did see was a parent who came early to
see what was happening. We were finishing some small painting project
and an array of paints was on each table. The daughter was using every
color we had, the son had picked 3 colors. Dad kept trying to get him to
add more colors, "oh, isn't the red nice, what about green, look Caitlin
has all the colors on hers..." The kid turned to Dad and said "if you
want to use all the colors so badly why don't you make one yourself!"
Not a bad sense of self for a 6 year old!

Another cute story was from a class of 4 year olds. Didn't realize that
one of the new kids had never used clay before and that session since I
had so many repeaters I didn't do my little intro to clay show and tell.
She made the best replica of an elephant I'd seen from kids two and three
times her age. After the firing as I was passing pieces out to glaze I
picked hers out first. She insisted it wasn't her piece. Since I
hurriedly scrawl their initials on pieces I have been known to forget one
or have it be illegible. But I have a pretty good memory for matching
pieces to the maker so I tried to insist it was hers but she denied it so
I passed out all the others first. When it was the only one left I came
back to her and finally asked why she thought it wasn't hers. "Because I
made mine out of clay and that one's made out of some kind of rock."

Cheryl

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:47:32 -0800 Paul Lewing
writes:
> on 8/24/04 6:11 AM, mel jacobson at melpots@PCLINK.COM wrote:
>
> > my favorite story.
> >
> > kids and art. funny stuff.

cheryllitman@juno.com on thu 26 aug 04


Evan,

Certainly. Happy to share.


Cheryl Litman
Somerset, NJ
cheryllitman@juno.com


-- evan garber wrote:
Cheryl:


My wife is the head of a local (Sonoma CA) mother's group of some 400
persons. I read her your email and she would very much like to include
some of it in an article about kids/parents and art that she is
writing. Would this be OK with you?

Best

Evan Garber
Sonoma CA

Cl Litman wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I all too frequently had quite different experiences in NJ.
>
>Years ago I offered art classes for kids at home. One woman asked me if
>her 6 year old son was "too old" for art classes. When I asked what she
>meant she said that everyone knows what happens to boys if they are
>allowed to take art past a certain age.
>
>After doing a child sized alter ego replica with kids, semi-3D (stuffed
>and painted paper cutout's) one mother disdainfully looked at her
>daughter's work and asked "what are we supposed to do with THAT" She
>refused to take it home. The kid was in tears.
>
>We made mini-stages out of cardboard boxes, the kids wrote their own
>stories, made half-dozen interchangeable back drops and some stick
>puppets with clay heads, feet and hands. One kid gave up breaks to do
>more work, took materials home to do more and wrote a very elaborate
>story. Mom not only refused to take more "of your art crap" home with
>them but wouldn't even pay attention when the kid was trying to show off
>his creation.
>
>Half the parents who picked their kids up from pottery class just drove
>up outside and tooted the horn, never even came in to look. I used to
>ask them to come back a week later to pick up the fired pieces but had to
>start doing the firing the week before the class ended because so many
>never bothered to come back. I did clay printing or left some pieces to
>be painted with acrylics or assembled for the last day instead.
>
>One class we were working on a layered painting and each day added more
>to it. After the second day one mother, in front of her kid, said that
>Mary had to start all over because I had allowed her to do it "wrong". It
>didn't look like everyone else's. I tried to explain that Mary's was
>actually more creative than the others because she had really absorbed
>the purpose of the lesson and was doing something very unique with the
>concept while the others were just copycatting the examples I'd shown.
>Mom could not be convinced. Mary wilted and never did anything but copy
>again.
>
>It's nice to know that in other areas there are some kids getting
>supportive parents. I had some but way too many were just using the
>class to get the kids out of their way for a few hours and couldn't even
>be bothered to look interested in what the kids made.
>
>One of the cutest interactions I did see was a parent who came early to
>see what was happening. We were finishing some small painting project
>and an array of paints was on each table. The daughter was using every
>color we had, the son had picked 3 colors. Dad kept trying to get him to
>add more colors, "oh, isn't the red nice, what about green, look Caitlin
>has all the colors on hers..." The kid turned to Dad and said "if you
>want to use all the colors so badly why don't you make one yourself!"
>Not a bad sense of self for a 6 year old!
>
>Another cute story was from a class of 4 year olds. Didn't realize that
>one of the new kids had never used clay before and that session since I
>had so many repeaters I didn't do my little intro to clay show and tell.
>She made the best replica of an elephant I'd seen from kids two and three
>times her age. After the firing as I was passing pieces out to glaze I
>picked hers out first. She insisted it wasn't her piece. Since I
>hurriedly scrawl their initials on pieces I have been known to forget one
>or have it be illegible. But I have a pretty good memory for matching
>pieces to the maker so I tried to insist it was hers but she denied it so
>I passed out all the others first. When it was the only one left I came
>back to her and finally asked why she thought it wasn't hers. "Because I
>made mine out of clay and that one's made out of some kind of rock."
>
>Cheryl
>
>On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:47:32 -0800 Paul Lewing
> writes:
>
>
>>on 8/24/04 6:11 AM, mel jacobson at melpots@PCLINK.COM wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>my favorite story.
>>>
>>>kids and art. funny stuff.
>>>
>>>
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>

______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org

You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/

Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.

Russel Fouts on fri 27 aug 04


Cheryl,

>> Years ago I offered art classes for kids at home. One woman asked me
if her 6 year old son was "too old" for art classes. When I asked what she
meant she said that everyone knows what happens to boys if they are allowed
to take art past a certain age. <<

OH MY GOD!! So that's what happened!!! I thought it was the baton twirling
lessons (Karen Kaiser's Kadets!!)

Ru



Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
Mobile: +32 476 55 38 75

Http://www.mypots.com
Home of "The Potters Portal"
Over 3000 Pottery Related Links!
Updated frequently

My work can also be seen on:
The World Crafts Council Belgium Site http://wcc-bf.org:
Members English Pages: http://wcc-bf.org/artistes/ukrussel_fouts.htm
EasyCraft: http://www.easycraft.org

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only
unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
public." --U.S. President (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Theodore
Roosevelt.