Studio Series: Children's Art Project

A chance opportunity to draw with my 5 year old cousin during Thanksgiving changed my life. Since then I've been hanging out with young children and their parents one hour a week. I bought a few packs of washable markers, a pad of paper and a roll of tape to mount the drawings on the wall. After four months of drawing, one wall is covered and now we're working on a second wall. Every child has a style and focus. Samira* is six and draws faces very well and is now drawing elaborate patterns, some taking several weeks. Five year old Kyra* draws dresses, socks, and shoes. She has an eye for pattern. Gracie*  is 15 months and has moved from drawing dots on the page to making lines: her fine motor skills are developing. My role is merely to facilitate, not to teach. I tape the drawings to the wall and keep them supplied with paper: basically I am a studio assistant to young children. The children draw whatever they want. No one tells them that the apple must be coloured within the lines and that it must be red. 


Last week we had a small art opening and the children were thrilled. Our next project is to digitally print a group of drawings onto fabric and make two small quilts. One quilt will be auctioned off to raise funds for an inner city children's afterschool program. It's all good.


*not their real names