Listen To The Kids
Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is wondrous and so enriching to your own (adult) point of view. I found this out when I was fresh out of college; I got a job teaching art in an after school/Saturday program to inner-city kids who had little to no exposure to art. There was a pair of siblings, a sister and younger brother aged 7 and 4 or so. The older sister told me that it was a waste of time teaching her brother to do art. “He just scribbles”. He did appear to have some learning delays but we drew and scribbled away as his sister looked on with disdain and shrugged her shoulders. As Christmas drew closer my director gave me money to do something special. He suggested the Rockettes Christmas show. So I took my group of 10 or so kids and an assistant to Manhattan to see the Rockettes. Having never seen the show myself I had no idea that you had to buy tickets weeks in advance. So we got there and saw long lines of ticket holders and I soon found out that they were sold out. I had to think fast. We were in midtown Manhattan, it was cold, I couldn’t just take them back home. Then I realized that my favorite place in the city, The Museum Of Modern Art, was nearby ! So, off we went, my assistant scowling (she wanted to see the Rocketts). With no agenda in mind but to expose them to art we went to see the art of the 20th century. We saw a painting of an abstract landscape with bright colors and flat fields of color. I walked past it as I assumed the kids would never understand it (I barely did). One of the kids stopped and stared and said pointing to the painting “Theres a lot of space in there!” It took 4 years of art school for me to understand that! We saw Duchamp’s “Woman Walking Down Stairs” and I asked a student what he saw, expecting to explain cubism and show him the woman in the picture.
Duchamp “Woman Walking Down Stairs”
He answered me casually “it’s someone going down stairs.” No bid deal. It’s obvious, right? We saw Jackson Pollock’s drip painting “One : Number 31” . I was excited to show it to my young student who only scribbled and his sister. He took one look at it and his mouth dropped and he said with astonishment and joy “Scribble scrabble!”
Jackson Pollock One : Number 31
We tend to think that young children don’t understand abstract are but they do. Probably because they are open to whatever they see and allow it to take them anywhere. They look at art and are comfortable to experience it however it hits them. As adults we tend to try to fit our experiences of the world into boxes that we understand. We look at art and wonder “what it means”. Those children reminded me that art can mean anything to anybody. Memories from that afternoon stay with me as some of my happiest. The Rockettes don’t compare.
Museums are starting to open again so take your kids. Don’t underestimate them. Let them lead you. Listen to them. They will show you things you hadn’t noticed or thought of before. They will amaze you.