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Eduardo Guzman Alfaro Ph.D. Clemens Fox ENGLISH 1113-02 Writing Project 3 Final Due: Apr/22/2013 Education of Contemporary Arts to the Youths I remember that when I was eight years old I wanted to play with my dads camera, my sisters rainbow color pastel pencil set, and with the sand of my old elementary schools playground. I was not the only child with that desire. I do not think that children these days are any different, of course they have a lot of energy and are always messing around with things, but thats part of their learning process. It is a personal experience after all. Because of this reason, I believe that children of Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma City need to experience the world of art by themselves, but they need volunteers, visitors and experts on arts to guide them in their own personal journey to express their true selves through art.

Eunjung Chang comments about how children are not interested in art or anything that museums have to offer by quoting Zellers observations on museums contrasted by the school environment. Children generally find art museums as uninteresting, confusing or difficult as compared to science museums. Zeller (1989) has observed that a museum of science usually has feeling of being in a school, whereas a museum of arts ambiance is similar to being in a temple. (Eunjung;)

But what if children are so uninterested in art museums because they are not aware of what it represents? Maybe they need to understand the story behind the picture, sculpture, performance or piece of art. To me it seems that even grown people often ignore the true value of art when they just relay through art museums and exhibitions because they do not speak the language of arts. Therefore I think it is appropriate for children as young as five years old to be involved within focused purposed art classes. Since the behavior of children is related to what they like to do and what their interest are, I think it is proper to explain childrens obstacles to reach art with the next psychological review.

The popular concept of children as immature people can be explained as a psychological and sociological stereotype about how children behave and react under certain circumstances. These stereotypes comes from a psychologist called Jean Piaget, who researched a certain group of children and produced a theory on why children cannot focus or behave in proper conduct. The next is a quote from Olga Invaskevich: In the twentieth century, the concept of the child as an immature and incomplete human was further reinforced by the psychological theory of Jean Piaget (1926, 1971). (Ivashkevich). With this point Olga brings out that the popular stereotype of children being useless for proper behavior and appreciation of the adult material is an old concept which had been proven wrong by other psychologist in more recent days.

According to the studies presented by Olga Ivashkevich on her research on childrens behavior and understanding, she explains how before the 19 th century children were used as part of the main workforce (workers of agriculture, industry and other labors), and by contrasting their capabilities of understanding Olga shows important information that reveals childrens capacities to appreciate what a grown person would treasure. Hubbard (1989) noted that a number of psychologists who have studied children, have questioned Piagetian assumptions about young children as egocentric and intellectually immature. (Ivashkevich) By this Olga supports the idea that children can change their behavior and even show an intellectual that appreciate what people nowadays find difficult to appreciate in arts.

Continuing with Olgas research, the social development of a certain group can speak about its interest, believes, and relationships with other groups and this can help explain childrens interaction with the Adult world of art. Olga comments that: They found that boys and girls organize their social world by forming cliques, or friendship circles, and that their interpersonal relationships, activities, and feelings about themselves are tied to their involvement with the cliques. (Ivashkevich) This clearly denotes an attitude that is not just socially responsible, but also shows a different intellect than the one grown people have.

Now, the project I have in mind to improve the art workshop where children may have a lot of fun but learn little about art history or concept is based on seven key activities and they are as follows.

In Adjusting painting projects classes the children will not be forced to follow what the teacher does but instead the teacher will assign a challenge for the children to achieve and the teacher will supervise the progress of the class. These painting projects will have the purpose of getting the children practiced with painting techniques set by great painters of the past. These painting techniques will help the children to reach more possibilities of painting materials and concepts so that they may explore new possibilities on painting.

By Incorporating sculpture projects classes, as in the painting projects the children will be learning new materials and possibilities of art options to explore. This will untimely give the children the opportunity to have a purpose to use materials like clay or wood and know how to mold them. The children of boys & girls club will be giving challenges to complete but the supervision will be required on this parts as some materials for sculpture such as wood or clay can be very harmful to little children if ingested.

In Introduction to classical and contemporary arts for kids, either by movie presentations such as the documentary of Leonardo Da Vincis life on the history channel or by lecture presentations like the early renaissance on southern Europe, the children of the Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma City can be taught about the different representations of art such as Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Architecture, Poems & Writing, Theater, and Dance. But, since I lack experience with the rest of the arts, I will explore classics of painting and sculpture with the children so they can appreciate the true value of art at the museums. But also examples of popular art should be presented to the children as well, such as cartoons, surreal painting, photography, and cinematography.

At the exploration of famous artisans lives children will be given stories about how certain artisans started their works. But, as children are sometimes inspired to play games or buy toys by characters on cartoons they see on the television they can be inspired to create art through the stories of famous artisans. The next article is a retrospective on the life of Picasso in which the whole chapter talks about how Picasso was himself affected by the society of his time.

It is a manner of a fact that neither Picasso was recognized nor was he socially accepted until his work was recognized at his old age, but his legacy lives through his artworks and the story behind each piece of art. Picasso could regress to a child at play, weaving regressive and progressive elements together in his art. Picassos pretend play, realistic perception, and affective resonance were interwoven in his art. Playful innovation was a feature of his creativity providing escape and recreation in his personal life. (Blum Harold P). Although the children of the boys & girls club may not recognize the works of Picasso, they can definitely recognize the same needs that he had. The need to experiment and discover new ideas and concepts is a playful perception of painting that Picasso experimented with, and I want the children to experiment with.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has several artisans that always look for opportunities to serve within the community and represent their work. These artisans can pay a visit every once in awhile to inspire the children of the boys & girls club to practice artwork and perhaps contribute to the art community by submitting those artworks, note that the childrens exhibitions will not be contained in schools but will be shown to the public depending on the success of the childrens work.

Many art museums have different ways to present artwork to the general public. For instance, they extend memberships which includes unlimited visits, classes given at the museums facilities, and courses given online for exploration of art pieces and education of art design. It is rare to see a museum that offers the same kind benefits for children such as art classes, but the problem is that these children will not explore if they are not encouraged. Although the following note by Chang Eunjung is about the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York City, this is an example of how art classes explore more than just painting projects. These classes explore different art concepts between cultures and ages as well as these classes can answer the questions of children. The Art Trek is a learning program for families with children between the ages of 5 and 12 at Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). It interactively exposes children to different artworks across cultures and styles in multiple artistic experiences, by questioning, listening, discussing, playing and drawing in a group setting. (Chang, Eunjung). The Oklahoma City Museum of Art (MOA) offers guided tours for both general public and school students in which the children of the boys & girls club can learn how to get involved with the art community by exploring one of the classes offered.

At the Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma City the main goal is to make these children responsible members of society, therefore mentoring their progress is really important. The way people create art at the beginning is to copy or replicate certain object but adding your own style and signature, and this is true for both grown people and young children. The process of creating art for children may not require much thought, but it will require guidance and support provided by someone that is more experienced in art. Although in art personal preferences make all the difference, an instructor like me can approach a situation with a constructive thought, even if something is not of my interest or preference. But it is by daily guidance that children can be instructed to be great artisans and eventually contribute the art society by exposing their works.

With all these seven activities I intend to innovate and upgrade the art department of the Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma City. It is understood that this project is ambitious and will require investment in the art development for the children of the boys & girls club. But the exploration of art is not offered to all children and there is nothing that would attract the children to explore art in a deeper way. While learning music and dance can give the children of the boys & girls club an intellectual edge, painting and sculpture can give them a creative advantage over children that do not paint. It is by personal tutoring that children can reach their full potential, but since the boys & girls club count with limited numbers of assistants, the number of personal tutored children will be limited.

I will find stories of famous artisans and artists that had difficult lives as children but progressed so that the children of the boys & girls club may be associated with or even inspired by them so the children can be encouraged to become great members of society. Also bringing artisans to the boys & girls club can prove to be a great inspiration for the children who are passionate about the art world. On a second emphasis, art development through music, painting, sculpture or writing can turn to be a good tool for the children to use as an escape to difficult situations. It is not that we want to encourage children to evade their troubles, but we want to give them as much tools as possible to help them grow in righteousness and prosperity.

Works Cited: I. Chang, Eunjung. "Art Trek: Looking At Art with Young Children." International Journal of Education through Art 8.2 (2012): 151-167. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. II. Ivashkevich, Olga. "Rethinking Children: Power, Pedagogy, And Contemporary Art Education Practices." Art Education 65.1 (2012): 40-45. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. III. Blum, Harold P., and Elsa J. Blum. "The Models of Picasso's Rose Period: The Family of Saltimbanques." American Journal of Psychoanalysis 67.2 (2007): 181196. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.