Art in any of its forms, from painting to sculpting or drawing to building, has its place in your child’s education, even though it sometimes is not apparent. It can be a great complement to what we know as typical academic success. When your child takes an art class, they are not only creating those beautiful works of art for your fridge or your desk; they are building up their ability to imagine, invent, visualize and create in their lifetime. They are adding to their building blocks of life by adding confidence, originality, and inspiration all while creating their masterpieces.

Can we learn to be more creative?

Art provides a means to express what goes on in the imagination and promotes creativity in different ways and allows students to think outside the box, get in touch with emotions, and communicate ideas. Creativity doesn’t come from one dedicated area of the brain. It actually taps into both hemispheres, right and left. Researchers estimate that up to 70% of intelligence is genetic, but only 40% of creativity is genetic. What does this mean? It means that we can be more creative the more we practice and allow those parts of our brains to open up and work at it. So, in essence, the more we practice adding creativity and art into our lives, the more creative our minds will be!

Why do we lose our sense of creativity?

Inventiveness, vision, and resourcefulness are all qualities that help one become successful in both personal and professional lives and they all stem from creativity. Arts can help us promote that creativeness that is in all of us, and it allows us to celebrate diversity, self-expression, and process personal feelings. When faced with a problem, the most successful will turn to out-of-the-box thinking to provide an original solution.

Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” The quote means every child is creative, but as adults, we need to find ways to continue the exercise of practicing creativity for all its benefits. 

Creativity begins to become stifled as we progress through our teens and into adulthood. When handed paper and writing instruments, children almost always will find something to draw and will do so without hesitation, but adults are stumped and don’t know what they should be drawing, they worry about how it will look, and they are unsure of what the process is anymore and how to tap into the creative parts of their brains that have been asked to make room for more academic or business-like matters. 

STEM versus STEAM

The education community is catching on to the power of creativity and how it adds value. We hear plenty about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & MATH), and it’s now starting to get replaced with STEAM, which is the addition of the A for the Arts. Businesses are giving greater merit to innovation, creativity, leading, and teaching others.  Adding arts alongside these subjects can also improve academic performance. So, essentially, we can say participation in the arts or visual arts can make us a more valuable member of a work team or society at large! So, draw, color, and create freely, my friends for you are exercising your brain to greatness! 

Art Challenge:

Draw a Picasso themed self portrait.

1. Think about 1 feature on your face that will be completely over emphasized (hair, glasses, nose, forehead…) & draw outline of the head.

2. Draw a squiggly line that divides the face into 2 sections.

3. Draw an eye in each section making one higher than the other.

4. Draw the nose & mouth in different sections.