Learning art as a metaphor for living well.

Miranda Altice at The Indigo Teacher has been working her way through our Waldorf art training program, Waldorf Art for Beginners over the past few weeks.

She has written about her process of shedding & peeling away the layers of anxiety and fear that so many of us carry when it comes to Art. We're sharing some of her revelations here, and you will find a link to her full piece below.

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Taking the Waldorf Art for Beginner’s course from Waldorfish was honestly a  summer treat for myself and would, in turn, help me in my quest to teach tiny humans how to enjoy expressing themselves through art. 

But it taught me more than that. Robyn and Brian’s super simple, self-paced classes reminded me how to feel confident in my artwork… and in my life… both of which could turn out any which way the blank paper and unpredictable watercolors decide. 

A few things I learned… in metaphors:

• Slow down. No really… SLOW DOWN. (There is no reason to rush through each part of the process. I even slowed down getting the paintbrushes to the table. And it felt good. I felt more in the moment, and my pace rubbed off on the kids.) 

• Shut everything else out and OBSERVE.(Watch how the watercolors blend together and are in no rush to become something unique. Observe how the chalk clings to the fibers as it glides over the cardstock. Stop multi-tasking for just a moment and just be there.) 

• Be PATIENT. (The colors will absorb, they will transform, and it’s not worth raising my blood pressure when it is not meant to turn out a certain way.)

• TRUST the Process. (It’s just as much about the process as it is the end result, which may turn out better than expected. Even if it doesn’t, trusting the process and keeping my cool was so worth it.)

• Don’t beat myself up, and don’t be afraid. (See 3 &4. One of my favorite things Brian said in his mellow tone during one of the videos was, “Don’t be afraid… it’s not supposed to look like anything in particular.”  I noticed myself going with the flow, trusting the process, and accepting the outcome… and also daring to swivel my brush a little more.)

• FRAME it. (I’m allowed to admire my work and accept compliments without following up with negative, picky comments.)

• Let GO. (Allow yourSelf the opportunity to be immersed in water to better prepare for absorption of watercolors – now contemplate that metaphor.)

• Take what was learned off of the workspace and into the world. (I often advise this to my yoga students, “Take your practice off your mat.” The spiritual and emotional lessons learned are meant to enrich my life as a whole, not just while I’m sitting at my workspace.) 

As with yoga, I found my experience with diving into the Waldorfish classes to be a meditation in movement… one that I will continue to practice....

Read the full piece here.

Photo: Miranda Altice

Weekly Art round-up...

The families participating in our Weekly Art program continue to inspire us with their work! 

"I so enjoyed this lesson!  As a teacher - drawing figures for my chalkboard drawings has always been difficult, and I was rarely happy with the results.  Learning how to first draw the gestures and then detailing it.  Soooo much easier and successful!  I will play more with this one!"

~Debra M.

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@anthroposofeelings

@brianwolfe

@cdawley

@karenlmw528

@sloanbrie

@claudinemelnik

@druthyb

@mainsdelaine

I was re-reading an interview Brian did with The BEarth Institute a couple of years ago...my favorite part is his response to this question:

"What makes a (teacher's) drawing 'good enough' for the classroom?"

His reply:

 "I think there are two important qualities that make a drawing successful: 

1. The image is living inside the teacher and the students, meaning the class has heard stories, looked at pictures, studied the subject, etc. and, 

2. The students see the teacher or parent striving to become better as he/she draws & teaches. 

I think a love of creating beautiful images for the children and a willingness to strive for improvement is the best anyone can do."

"I want to thank you for the thoughtfulness you put into the order of presenting projects. I very much enjoy the breathing-in - breathing-out quality that comes with different projects."

~ Kay S.

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Weekly Art Archives

Ask, and you shall recieve!

 Did you miss the registration deadline for our new Waldorf art education program, Weekly Art? Have no fear! We'll be taking each month of lessons and making them available to everyone!

Purchase anytime -The Weekly Art Archives will officially open on March 1, 2017. 

At the end of each month, we'll bundle up the newest lessons, and make them available here. Learn more about Bundles #1 and #2 by clicking the button, below.

Black and White - Art in the middle grades

The Waldorf art curriculum is smartly designed to meet children where they’re at in each phase of their development.

If we provide children with the right tools at the right time, the whole experience nourishes them on a deep level.

In the early grades (1-4) students live in a playful artistic realm. The experience of playing with colors and finding basic form is more nourishing than technique and detail.

Students use art as an extension of their imaginations and the stories they hear. Around fifth grade, students are learning about ancient civilizations and how art was used as a method of communication and story telling. From early cave art to the hieroglyphics of Egypt and the mandalas of ancient India, the painting and drawing styles were full of imagery and color. Early art tends to also be fairly two dimensional. It's primary purpose was to tell a story, honor the gods, and represent culture. This is perfect for a child (such as the average 5th grader) who is on the verge of puberty but still lives in the imaginative world of childhood (learn more about fifth grade curriculum here!)

Charcoal drawing is a work in progress- it’s about the process, not the result!

As puberty sets in, the child moves away from the colorful imagery of these ancient peoples into a world of realism and perspective. From the beginnings of civilization and the golden age of Greece the curriculum moves toward the fall of Rome as children enter the 6th grade. Their arrival in Rome begins the next phase of artistic expression.

Teaching art (or any subject!) in the middle school is challenging yet meaningful work.

Students generally are starting to compare their own work with that of others. They are also realizing that they are very different from each other. Each student is on his/her own journey both internally and externally. Most of us remember the battles we faced each day in middle school. The inner struggle to understand how and why the body is changing is contrasted by the outer struggle to find one’s place socially. The child is thrust into a world of polarity. These polarities are often expressed verbally by middle school students. “I HATE my drawing!” “This is SO TOTALLY fun!” “My teacher has NEVER liked me!” “This is the BEST class!”

There may be no better way to meet this moment in their development than to introduce the polarities of black and white drawing along with the multitude of greys that come with studying the nuances of light and dark.

Light and shadow working together!

Students begin to study optics in Physics and using a phenomenological approach are encouraged to look at the world as infinite expressions of light and dark. By learning to see light and shadow and positive/negative space, elements of realism and depth begin to emerge. 6th graders are also generally hungry to learn technique. “It doesn’t look right” is the most common complaint I hear from middle school art students. 

Their ultimate goal is to make their drawing match what they see (either in reality or in their mind’s eye). Learning how to effectively use lines and shading helps the students become better able to draw what they see, as everything we see is based on relationships between light and dark.  Black and white drawing, with it's emphasis on using lights and darks to shade & add depth, is the best way to help them begin to achieve more realism in their art work.

This new skill meets the children perfectly as they are beginning to see their social environment through their own internal polarity lenses. Things are fair or not fair, someone is telling the truth or they are lying. That experience was either the BEST, or the WORST.

Sound familiar?

Emotions tend to run hot and cold at this age. Socially, students tend to feel “in” or “out.” As teachers, we strive to have the experience of the grey scale between light and dark be therapeutic for them, on a deeper unspoken level. While black and white is the main theme at the start of adolescence, the shades of gray in between hint at the next stages of complexity in the development of the human being. As students move beyond the 6th grade towards the end of middle school, vanishing points will expand artistic horizons and bring an entirely new perspective in the grades to come.

~Brian Wolfe

**Looking for some black & white drawing inspiration? We made a Pinterest board for you loaded with resources and ideas!