World Art Day, a celebration to promote the development, diffusion and enjoyment of art, was proclaimed at the 40^thsession of UNESCO’s General Conference in 2019.

Art nurtures creativity, innovation and cultural diversity for all peoples across the globe and plays an important role in sharing knowledge and encouraging curiosity and dialogue. These are qualities that art has always had, and will always have if we continue to support environments where artists and artistic freedom are promoted and protected. In this way, furthering the development of art also furthers our means to achieve a free and peaceful world.

Each year, on 15 April, World Art Day celebrations help reinforce the links between artistic creations and society, encourage greater awareness of the diversity of artistic expressions and highlight the contribution of artists to sustainable development. It is also an occasion to shine a light on arts education in schools, as culture can pave the way for inclusive and equitable education.

In the book, “The Artist’s Way for parents “, by Julia Cameron, I found this: 

“Every person has a self to express, and our children feel joyful when they are able to voice their inner realities” … also … “We provide our children with the blank canvas, and then we must step back and allow them to fill it as they will. We give them the opportunity of self-expression”. 

The author goes on writing about how important it is to express our appreciation for their efforts and to document their creations as to remember these efforts, because “this knowledge gives wings to their spirits”. (p.117).

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When I visit my granddaughter, one of the things we enjoy together is drawing and coloring, decorating the drawings with colorful stickers and figurines; her creativity to me is amazing!!

Her Mom has a ton of “artwork” that I know for a fact she did enjoy a lot working on. 

Another thing I notice is that she can “produce” lovely drawings and fill them with colors and expressions of love, but also, as I sit there with her, doing “my thing”, she has a capacity of observing closely and “re-produces” the exact same drawing:

So, being art something children use to express themselves, communicating their feelings, oftentimes, it is also just about making people they love proud of them.

Through art children can and will, at any age (as will adults) express their feelings, or doubts about many things that they have not yet acquired the vocabulary for, and cannot quite find the words; through drawing, through colors and paintings, they can express a whole story that helps us adults understand them better. For them it is not a “product” that they are crafting, it is a whole process in itself; for adults, at this point it’s “stepping back and see what emerges”.

By doing this consciously, we open ourselves a door to the inner self of our children. Whatever comes out of that creative process is unique to every child, so let us be open to the magic of what children will create and want to tell us. As parents and teachers, it is always important to keep in mind that, to the child, as it interacts with the world differently, the art is a way for them to “work on the self”; the process of constructing the art gives the child satisfaction and joy, all we must do is present them with the opportunity to live that experience.

“We must expose our children to the art forms available to them to explore uninhibited”.

(The Artist’s Way for Parents, Julia Cameron, p. 125)

I remember as a young child, I had the privilege to visit many museums; I admit back then, it was not my favorite, as it was not my favorite to go to all the movies about the life of great musicians; as I grew older I ended up being really grateful for all those experiences in which I was exposed to beautiful art and music, because they offered me the chance to “take in” many areas In which I could “see” my creative part of self  reflected in, and, maybe develop some of my own. Handing our children tools to draw, sculpt, make music, or make up stories, helps us to observe in which direction they gravitate their interests to and how they feel about it, leading them on a path to discover their own means of self-expression.

Last but not least, a quote by M Montessori:

When I read this, I could not help but to link this quote to an opportunity I had in 1980 when I traveled to China; there I visited several art venues where people of all ages were working on fascinating pieces; from paintings with  very specific paintbrushes, to cloisonne and jade, worked on with utmost care. Right then and there I realized that every letter of the Chinese alphabet is a work of art, and I learned that some of them even contain a “whole” story! 

I could really “see” their lives pictured in their art; just as Montessori refers to in her quote; it was amazing!

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