What’s So Important About Art Class?

Did you know that May 5^th is National Teacher’s Day? That’s right, there is actually an official day designated to honor teachers and the impact they make on young lives. Since teachers have inestimable value but are all too often overlooked and taken for granted, it is wonderful to take a few minutes to think about their amazing contributions to society. Celebrate art teachers with us by learning about the ways art classes benefit children.

The Amazing Benefits of Art Class

Most students, regardless of age, race or gender, seem to have something in common: they LOVE art class. This is probably because art is an outlet that allows kids to express their feelings and connect with their peers on an emotional level. After a school day full of logic and reasoning, most kids find art class to be a welcome change. Art class offers benefits beyond mere emotional expression. Here are 3 awesome things that most kids will learn in art class:

• Collaboration skills – While math and science are important subjects, they do not necessarily facilitate collaboration. However, when a child participates in an art project, he or she learns how to work with others and consider their opinions and ideas. When creating art, kids come to believe that their contributions have value. Art class truly has an amazing ability to increase a youngster’s self-confidence as well as his or her ability to cooperate with other students.

• Accountability – Believe it or not, accountability can be most easily learned in an art class. Why? Because students often have to work alongside their peers to complete projects. When children engage in teamwork, they see firsthand how profoundly their level of dedication to a project affects others.

• How to take constructive criticism – In art class, kids to learn to gracefully accept and process constructive criticism, which is vital to their maturity. A visual art class is a place where “children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally.” The ability to remain objective about constructive criticism is a quality many adults do not possess, so the fact that a young child can gain this skill by attending art class is extraordinary.

Art teachers leave an indelible print on the hearts and minds of their students and are some of the most cherished individuals on the planet. They are beloved because they offer kids an incredible gift – the ability to create and enjoy art. There is no doubt that art is a valuable subject for children to learn about during their formative years. Why do you believe art in schools is important? How does art class positively impact your child? Share with us in the comments section below – we love hearing from you.

Read more Segmation blog posts about art and color:

How to Encourage Creativity in Children

What Does a Good Art Teacher Look Like?

Easter Egg Decorating Project Can Teach Kids About Color

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Blue is for Boys, Pink is for Girls

Many expecting parents are going with a new trend; they are painting nurseries neutral colors. Are people trying to get away from common childhood stereotypes? Whoever said blue is for boys and pink is for girls?

Even though it is true today, color has not always perceived this way. Before the middle of the 20^th century, children were not assigned gender specific colors. In fact, there is a lot of debate about the masculinity of the color pink; how some of the world’s most honorable men wore dresses; and what colors really attribute to males and females.

Is the pendulum swinging back to center? Are neutral-colored parents taking a stance against societal norms? Or is this saying true: blue is for boys and pink is for girls?

The Masculine Color Pink

Pink can be seen in the men’s sections of most clothing stores – even if it is not always referred to as pink. Some men opt to call it, “salmon.” Regardless of title, the point is this: a lot of men look good in this color.

Back in the day, pink was not seen as a “dainty” color or overly feminine, as it is today. Actually, during World War II this color was used in military combat – and there is nothing feminine about war.  At one point, the British painted an entire militia of warships pink. They thought this hue would blend in at dusk. The tactic was used to confuse the Germans. Did it work?

Honorable Men Wore Dresses

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was two and a half years old, he was pictured wearing a long white dress with shiny black shoes and long curly hair. His mother was not mistaken about his gender – this look was appropriate for boys in the late 19^th century. In fact, during this era, it was appropriate for boys to wear dresses until the age of seven. White cotton dresses went well with white cloth diapers. They were functional and easy to clean.

Who’s Whose Color?

It was not until the middle of the 1900’s that blue and pink were attributed to boys and girls. Even then, it was said that pink was for boys and blue was for girls. This was stated in an article printed in the trade publication, Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department, in June of 1918.  

All this changed, however, in the 1940’s. After World War II, boys began dressing like their fathers, and girls like their mothers.

Gender specific colors go to show how inseparable colors are to the human psyche. Much of a person’s identity comes from the apparel he or she dons. Many children learn about their genders by the colors they wear and play with. But will blue always be for boys? And will pink forever be a girl’s color? Or will the pendulum swing again?

Image Credit: JEONGMEE YOON / BARCROFT

What to do With A Child’s Artwork: Tips and Tricks for Parents and Grandparents

If you are a parent or a grandparent you may be familiar with the joy of receiving a child’s drawing as a gift. In this case, you also know it can be a challenge to store the many scraps of paper covered with imaginative drawings and colorful doodles.

Here are some tips and tricks for preserving your child or grandchild’s art:

1. Create and Organized File System– Purchase a large binder and folders. Organize the folders by age and start filling them with your child’s artwork. Too many drawings to choose from? Consider purchasing a binder for grandma and grandpa as well. This way, you can divide the child’s drawings so everyone can enjoy them. A system like this will also serve as an organized record of your child’s achievements.
2. Turn and Entire Wall into a Refrigerator Door– Is your refrigerator door filled to capacity with your child’s artwork? Now you can purchase magnetic primer paint and convert an entire wall into a refrigerator door. This means your child can have an ongoing art exhibit in his or her bedroom.
3. Turn the Drawings into Placemats– Pick some of your favorite drawings and have them laminated. Make sure to have your child sign his or her name and include an age. The drawings become usable objects in your house and will make great gifts for family and friends. This is also a great way to help your children enjoy being creative.
4. Make a Photo Album– Photograph your child’s artwork and put it in an album or scrapbook to create a book full of childhood memories. Or, scan your child’s drawings and save them digitally. Then, send them off to a company that can turn the drawings into a one of a kind coffee table book.

Looking for a way to make your children’s art come alive?

1. Animate their Drawings– Gamefighters.com can animate your child’s drawings. Can you imagine your child’s creation coming to life in this way? This will get your kids excited about their art work because they get to interact with their creations in a virtual setting.
2. Turn their Drawings into Stuffed Animals– Child’s own Studio can take your children’s drawings and transform them into stuffed animals, which means your kids can create the designs for their own toys! These also make wonderful gifts for grandparents.
3. Show off your Child’s Art by Wearing it– Formia Design turns your child’s drawings into pendants and charms that you wear as necklaces or bracelets. You can showcase your child’s creativity proudly by wearing one of these pendants.
4. Hide their Artwork Around the House– Stick some of their drawings in books, magazines or even cookbooks. Someday, you may just find yourself pleasantly surprised by the memory you uncover. Your children will also be delighted to find their old drawings in one of their favorite childhood books.

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• Children’s drawings come to life as delightfully weird toys [Concept Art] (io9.com)
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• Wisdom Wednesday (ctworkingmoms.com)

Get Your Art Online – Three Main Ways

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The Internet is a powerful marketing tool for artists. A well-constructed website can reap thousands of viewers per day from all over the globe, all of whom can become potential collectors of your work.

To set up a website to display your art, you have several choices: you can do it yourself, you can hire a web designer to do it for you, or you can post your art onto an online artist gallery. Each of these three choices comes with its own pros and cons. Read through these descriptions to decide with route is best for you:

1.) Build your own website: If you are computer savvy, you can create your own website by registering a domain name, selecting a web host, and then building your site using a program such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage. This is the most time-consuming option, because if you don’t already know how to use these programs then you will have to learn them from scratch. These programs can be quite costly, but there are also some free WSYIWYG editors available, such as KompoZer. On the plus side, building your own website allows you complete control of how your work will be presented to the public.

2.) Hire a website designer: If you are pressed for time but you have a big enough budget, you can considering hiring a professional to design your website. Hiring a website designer will usually cost several hundred dollars, depending on the size and complexity of your website. Many designers charge per page. The benefits of hiring a website designer is that the site we will be built a lot more quickly than if you had to learn HTML, CSS and any other necessary computer languages from scratch. A good website designer will know how to present your artwork in the best way possible, using a clean and professional layout. This is something you might struggle with if you try to create a website on your own. Lastly, any decent website designer will also be well-versed in SEO (which we will cover in a future blog post), which is invaluable in generating traffic to your site.

3.) Post your work on an online artist gallery: An online artist gallery is an extensive website that artists can join (either for free or for a fee) to create a profile upload photos of their art. Examples of online artist galleries include ArtMajeur, ArtSpan, and d’Art. These sites tend to have free and paid versions, with extra perks for paying members. This is by far the least favorable of the three available options, because it means that your work will essentially be lost amongst all the other 10s of 1000s of artworks. If you want any degree of web traffic from these types of sites, you will need to become a paying member.

In conclusion, if you want to gain a wider audience for your art through the Internet, then your best bet is to either build your own website or hire a website designer to build one for you.
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Plexiglass + Light = Awe Inspiring Art

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Think back to when you were a child, easily fascinated by the tiniest things. Maybe you remember the excitement of finding a rainbow on the wall and the joy of discovering the crystal figurine that seemed to magically create this kaleidoscope of color. Perhaps you even spent the afternoon moving that figurine around the house waiting to see where the rainbow would appear next.

Do you remember the first time you saw a rainbow through the hazy drizzle after a storm? Your first sunset on a beach? Can you recall that first stained glass window that caught your eye and captured your attention?

More importantly, can you call back that simple childlike joy; the pure awe of bearing witness to something so fantastical? It’s hard to do as adults when we are able to wrap our minds around the scientific reasons behind rainbows and light.

Currently on display at the De Pury Gallery in London is a unique style of artwork which calls to the surface that simple, childlike wonder. The image above is part of the “Fly to Baku” Contemporary Art Exhibition.

The effect is achieved by shining light through Plexiglass airplanes. The arrangement of these airplanes creates the image on the wall. If the mobile of hanging airplanes doesn’t stop you in your tracks, then the picture it creates is sure to amaze.

Light has an important relationship with color and with art. Painters go to great lengths to achieve a specific light or a hint of a shadow in their paintings. Those who make stained glass pieces consider how the glass will react to light shining behind it. Sculptures can’t escape light either and seem to constantly change as light rotates around them. Even interior decorators factor in the way light filters through a space when they choose colors and designs.

In the case of “Fly to Baku,” light harnessed in little Plexiglass airplanes is actually creating pieces of art. Take a moment to really look at the image above. You may just find yourself entranced by childlike awe.

Image courtesy of http://www.imgur.com/gallery/86upn

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• Make a Stained Glass Butterfly (education.com)
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Why You Should Make Art When You Travel (www.segmation.com)

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When you’re traveling, one of the best ways to capture the energy of a place is to draw or paint it. While most tourists are glued to the viewfinders of their cameras, rushing from one attraction to the next, you’ll be calmly painting or sketching the scene before you, noticing all the wonderful details that normal tourists miss… from the delicate curvature of an architectural detail to the way the evening sunlight casts long shadows on the children playing in the town square.

Making art while traveling allows you to experience your new surroundings on a deeper level than most tourists ever will. By carefully viewing a scene, structure, object, person or people with the intense gaze of an artist and interpreting your vision on paper or canvas, you can freely observe the subtle nuances and hidden undercurrents that comprise the fabric of daily life in any given location.

Why do we travel? We embark on vacations to places we’ve never been before because we want get away from it all, to escape the routine of our daily lives and the familiarity of the place where we live. We yearn to explore something new, to embrace the unknown, and to learn something along the way. Art-making while traveling fosters an open mindset, encourages curiosity, and creates an easygoing attitude – 3 essential ingredients for making the most out of any travel holiday.

Plus, making art while seated in a café, sitting in a park, or standing in a town square is a great way to meet locals, thus deepening your travel experience. Curious bystanders will often look over your shoulder and make comments, but even if you don’t understand the language, you can still make a meaningful connection through the common language of visual art.

And the end result? Aside from a memorable experience, you’ll also wind up with a beautiful travel journal filled with your original images and insights – a truly unique reminder of your special trip.

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