How do I teach my dc about art when I know nothing about it myself?

[spookysal]

I want my dc to be well rounded and to have a chance to explore all areas.

How can I introduce my reception aged child to art? I know I can take her to galleries but I have no idea what to look for, how to talk about it with her.

We do different crafty things indoors and I think this is a step in the right direction.

Really appreciate any advice

Thank you EduCated

Lots of major galleries do exhibitions that are so good for children. Fiona Banner's jet plane hanging from the ceiling, the cave created out of masking tape, the red sculptures with white dots on fake grass. Anything by Claes Oldenburg.

And paintings too.

Museums and galleries are fairly keen on children's participation these days too.

Colouring in does little for children's artistic development- it discourages them from experimenting and taking risks/making decisions and makes them anxious about keeping things neat and tidy. It values the outcome over the process- the child has little ownership over the end result.

Am an art teacher BTW- although, as EduCated says, there are no wrong answers. It could even be argued that colouring in is a form of expression, but I believe when children are learning to make art, colouring in seriously impairs their development.

Drawing from life is a great way to develop their visual skills and is much cheaper

The Whitechapel gallery does a great family day every month.

Thnaks tethersend that's really interesting. DS has never particularly been one for colouring in but dh and I both encourage it (because we felt he could do with the practice keeping in the lines! )

Actually, I've found children tend to prefer fine art to more contemporary art.

perhaps because they can spot when the Emperor has no clothes?

Drawing from life -do you mean copying a real object?

Cat, don't feel bad- most primary school art teaching seems to focus on this too- as adults we like things to 'look nice'. This is the learned attitude which hampers children's artistic development IMO.

Drawing from life doesn't have to be copying an object, but can be drawing a view, a reflection etc.

I can't link, but google The Anti-Colouring Book; it's a great resource with loads of open-ended fun drawing activities.

There's also Babar's Art Gallery, or it's called stg like that, which I personally love and sit giggling over every time I flip through it!

Plus, have a rummage in charity shops and come out with a stack of beautiful big art books for under £20- spend a weekend with them and you'll know a lot more about art than you did! Check out some artist biographies and autobiographies too.

I'd recommend the Arnolfini Wedding (bright colours and symbolism, and kids will love the mirror), Landscape with Ashes of Phocion (beautiful lighting), Chagall, Kandinsky and Franz Marc (expressionism, lots going on) and Corot for children. Also Chardin and Cezanne for still lifes.

And you can make your own mini gallery from pictures you take out of books- frame them and hang them around the place, maybe make a timeline, or get a huge wall map and link the pictures to the different countries.

A nod to whoever mentioned kids liking landsacpes- when I was a kiddy I loved them because they completely set off my imagination. I was obsessed with the idea of little people (like in 'a fairytale'), and here were these little landscapes I could pretend were real and just the right size for them. I'd want horrible old pictures by nobodies in charity shops and my mum would grimace, but I ended up with a couple in my room and they made me dream so much! I also tried to copy them and try out the techniques they used.

Dulwich Picture Gallery and Tate Modern are both brilliant for children and have good interactive things to do, but as Tethersend says I'm sure you don't actually need to do anything per se.
On the subject of modern art, we took DD aged 5 to the Turner Gallery in Margate with some friends and their older sons. They were completely and utterly underwhelmed, with DD commenting 'but it's just an old mattress on the floor' and the boys giggling at the nude drawings.

I bought this, I enjoy doing stuff out of it, and my dd tries stuff too, we do things together and it is good fun, sometimes we don't draw in the book but just use paper/sketch pads, then I can put her artwork on the wall.

I have also enrolled my dd in art classes/weeks at a local art centre, well worth looking around to see what is on offer.

Sorry, it was an Emin exhibition!

Also little art galleries are much better than huge ones for kids- the big ones are just overwhelming and they won't absorb anywhere near as much as you will, or they might and then be completely exhausted for the rest of the day, none of the pictures are at kids' eye level and they're only likely to get stuck on a few pictures at most.

Also little art galleries are much better than huge ones for kids- the big ones are just overwhelming

Not just kids, I love galleries but am still yet to make it the whole way round a big one

Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate the advice, even if I find some of it a little overwhelming.

I need to sit down and go through this thread, working out what is close to me, what I can do in holidays (London mainly I think) and what we can do at home.

My DS loves drawing, starting from mid reception. He used to really like the Usborne doodle pad books - they give them a sort of theme/initial inspiration, but then its up to them how to progress with it. Agree with the fact that they seem to do loads at school with them too - think I would've been far more inspired by art if I'd been at school these days!

My DS also quite likes books (library, generally) which show him how to draw something - he's had cartoon animals and more recently manga figures. I don't think this seems to have stumped his imagination (like tethersend's colouring, which makes sense, my DC gets easily bored colouring!) but seems to give him a bit of a confidence boost in being able to recreate something.

www.readingcontemporaryartfair.co.uk/default.asp
jelly.org.uk/

We've taken dd1 to tate modern a few times. we get the boat from the national one up there (cheaper if you show your train ticket) and just have a good look round. If you want to get her involved in what she's looking at, just ask open questions about them to get her to use her imagination. As mickey mouse sings on one of his shows, "There is no right or wrong, when it comes to making art, having fun is the most important part!" !

Not an art gallery - but you are not so far from the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery in Aylesbury - which is fab.