Are you looking for ways to nurture your child’s artistic talent? Read on to learn what to look for when seeking art classes and how to ensure your child learns valuable skills that will help them grow as an artist.
If you have an artistic child, you may wonder how to support their talents best. Art classes can be a great way to develop their skills and foster their creativity. However, it can be challenging to know what to look for when seeking professional instruction. In this blog, we’ll share some tips on what to consider when choosing art classes for your child, so they can learn valuable skills and continue to grow as an artist.
When seeking art classes for your child, you are going to want to ask these questions:
- What exactly is the teacher going to teach? Are they teaching step-by-step art projects or is it more like process art and are they allowing for the child’s creativity to come through?
- Is the teacher going to be using different mediums or only focus on one?
- Does the teacher create her own artwork and if so is her artwork good?
Now let’s go through why these questions are important:
In art, there are fundamental skills that every student should learn. Skills like how to draw accurately, and how to paint correctly. What this means is that students should be learning skills like how to draw an object by drawing a few shapes together and then drawing the outline, the process of drawing still life, from an image, the process of mixing and blending colors, using a palette, the process of canvas painting and how to use different mediums.
The reason why these skills are important is that once a student has these fundamental skills, they can then continue their art journey knowing they have no gaps in their knowledge and with confidence that they have the methods and process to paint and draw anything.
So when seeking art lessons, look for art lessons that will teach the process, or the methods needed to draw or paint.
Here are some things you can look out to help you know if your child is learning art properly.
- Is your child coming home with a project that everyone else has done the same way?
- Is your child able to draw and paint pictures using skills he has learned in class, at home?
- Are they using different mediums to create their art projects?
You want your child to discover the properties of different mediums so they aren’t stuck just knowing one medium. You also want your child to be learning skills so they can apply them at home and if they are just doing step by step projects each week, chances are they aren’t getting the skills but just following along with the teacher.
If your child is drawing on their skills they’ve learned in art class, to draw and paint things at home and you can see they have used their knowledge based on what they’ve been taught in art class, you know you are on the right track.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with a child exploring art in any way, but if you want your child to be able to draw and paint independently, you are going to have to focus on them learning the skills needed. You may not be able to find the perfect class straight away, and it may take time but the results will be worth it.
When a child learns fundamental art skills at a young age, they have many more years to feel confident and practice their skills. This will enable them to have an art career and be really skilled at art by the time they reach their teens and twenties. It’s best to begin teaching them from the age of five, especially before they hit their teens. Often, if a child isn’t given the chance to develop their skills, they will believe they aren’t ‘talented’ by the time they are a teen and it can be a lost opportunity. Everyone is an artist, and if one is taught the skills from a young age, they can become a confident artist.
You can read more about nurturing your artistic child here
I would note however, that some parents are hesitant to give their child art lessons as they may feel it will inhibit their child’s creativity. But as you can see from what I have written, if you look for art classes that teach skills and allow for creativity whilst learning these skills there is no reason to be afraid. On the contrary, once a child has the fundamental skills they can then use them to explore their creativity as they have the freedom and skills to do so. They won’t get frustrated that they can’t progress in their art and they will have a wider ability to create different types of artwork.
So I hope this gives you a little bit of an idea of what to look for when choosing art classes for your child and helps your child develop their artistic skills and find joy in the creative process. Remember to prioritize fundamental skills, encourage creativity, and choose classes that offer a variety of mediums and experienced instructors. With the right instruction, your child can grow into a confident and skilled artist.
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