Hanwei and Hanxi are two focused, hardworking and enthusiastic pupils who always do homework for me in their visual diaries.
They are also great little mosaic makers.
It could be something they show their own children one day.
Each week I set them a topic and they fill in a page with their interpretation.
It is healthy to give pupils parameters so that they have an anchor, but to not be so rigid that you stifle them.
If I set a topic that they don't want to do, I don't make them stick to it religiously, as I'm also wanting to empower them by letting them have some control.
I like to see how they interpret my ideas.
This is quite a delightful feeling; it is an honouring and it shows respect and regard for me as a teacher and a person.
It also gives them practise in fulfilling a brief for a client.
Being an artist often requires you to undertake commissions so I like to give my pupils an insight into this.
Of course I'm not expecting that they will become full time artists when they grow up.
If they do then it's fine, but ultimately they need to be encouraged to do what they are passionate about.
It's not about me, it's about them.
The learning they experience from me with the techniques and ideas I expose them to is a lot more important and far reaching than a case of them just drawing pretty pictures.
It's teaching them how to think from the right hand side of the brain and to enhance their creative capacity, which they will need for any career they have in the future.
Apart from that there is the spiritual component that occurs when people are involved with art.
This is immeasurable and intangible.
You just know by being near some people that their songs are pumping out there like blackbirds on the top of a cedar tree.
They are not leading quiet lives of desperation and going to their graves with their songs still in them as Henry Thoreau opined.
The joy and pleasure that comes from having fun and being praised and rewarded with colourful stickers for having a go will form a groove in their brain that hopefully they can keep with them into adulthood and old age.
I love kids drawings because they are fresh, lively and free.
Hanwei and Hanxi sit down with their mother at home and they all do arty homework in their visual diary together.
Their mother's work is beautiful and delicate.
The girls are always happy and are a pleasure to have in the class.
They are a delightful family and I am all the better for knowing them.
This goes for all of my pupils and their families.
The act of them coming to my studio for lessons makes us like a little creative family.
Their mother is going to let them blow up one of their illustrations and she is going to have them printed on teeshirts.
They have set up a mini art gallery in their garage where everyone who comes into their home can view their work.
This is such a good idea.
It is very affirming for young artists.
I will be adding to this post with other pupils and their homework. Practise and perseverence along with creativity are great attributes to encourage in your kids.
It helps with their feelings of success and confidence.
Each person is catered to individually in my class, they are not carbon copies of each other or me.
Pupils don't have to be academic or fast learners, they just have to have the desire to come along and apply themselves and have some fun while focusing on inventing something.
Homework
I never studied art, but taught myself to draw by imitating the New Yorker cartoonists of that day, instead of doing my homework.
Bill Keane
Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.
Lawrence Kasdan
I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. Lily Tomlin
If you would like your creative children to receive homework choices that they will love, enrol them in my after school mosaic and painting classes Mondays, Tuesdays Wednesdays and Fridays.
Phone Janet Keen 3463435 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz
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