So I teach art to these adorable children, every Thursday at PS 9 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, thanks to the wonderful Guggenheim program: Learning Through Art. Though unpaid (they do give us a travel stipend, museum ID and many great professional development sessions) and though I have to wake up at 645 to arrive by 8 and get myself awake enough be ready to handle these kids, Thursdays are probably the thing I now look forward to most in my week.
Yes, Mr. Seth is here and ready to help you with your art, you know, just as long as you’re sitting “nicely” and raising your hand. (Note: I have been known to respond to Mrs/Ms Seth since most of these kids just assume the prefix or article Ms just means teacher and don’t assign a gender to it). So as Mr. Seth, I am an assistant teaching artist, to my lovely and talented teaching artist, Emily Gibson. Together we transform each of PS 9′s four 4th grade classrooms into studios for just over an hour with fancy big sketchbooks and bright red Guggenheim aprons, and of course our wonderful artist selves. We talk about artworks, we do demos, we have studio time, and we reflect on our work; and we try to do all of that in less than 70 minutes.
Rewarding, stressful and incredibly draining, teaching art to this bunch of quirky, cute, bright, curious and yes sometimes misbehaved students is amazing.
Some quick general thoughts: It’s frusterating and sad to see how when art programs are taken away from schools coupled with how much public education indoctrinates students with having one right way to do or approach something, with an always correct answer, has made it very difficult for some of these children to think outside of the box, not be afraid to experiment and take chances, and also to realize that there can be MORE than one right answer and MORE than one right way of approaching a journey to a solution. After all isn’t that what so much of art is about? The creative process; the exploration, play and experimentation; the intense questioning internally coupled with reflection and observation; the borrowing from other artists (read classmates) that is productive and NOT “copying” or “plagiarism.” But what is so exciting, is seeing the small moments of when these kids start to get it, and see that they can go through the creative process, they can break out of their boxes and then can collaborate and take part in an exchange of creative ideas that really brings them out of their shell and into a zone of finding themselves.
Here’s some visual proof:
And lastly an anecdote:
When during studio time we were learning about experimenting with materials, the assignment was to do ten different material explorations in one’s sketchbook. Many students in the gifted class immediately made a grid in their sketchbook pages to outline where they would perform experiments, thereby holding back said experiments, but one bright student then made a box inside each gridded space to serve as a mini sketchbook page that she would have to draw inside. After talking to her about how she may have vastly reduced her freedom of choice and movement with the materials around the sketchbook page, I came back a few minutes later to her excitingly waving her hand at me, “Mr. Seth! Mr. Seth! I did something out of the box! I closed my eyes, and took a bunch of pastels, and colored all over the page! Look at all the colors!” Now that my friends, is a wonderful material experiment right there.
Please note: all above photos were taken by me for the Guggenheim and are copyrighted by the Guggenheim Museum. Reproduction of photos without express permission from the Guggenheim is strictly prohibited.
