Creating From a Place Beyond Rules
Paper collage made with hand torn scraps
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up” – Pablo Picasso
From over my garden fence, a conversation suddenly floats into my consciousness. Two children are enmeshed in debate. One says, “No Ben, no…that’s not in the rules…that’s not the way you play the game…you can’t do that!!” The voice is insistent. Then the Ben voice makes a weak appeal for some compromise, but he is silenced in a nano-second by the leader, who fires back with confidence, “You don’t know Ben…it’s my game…and my rules!!”
I found myself grinning, then cringing. I’d witnessed this scene so often in my years as a teacher and it never left me feeling great; watching one child dominating a game and making a little troop of play-palls tow the line. It never ended happily for anyone.
Conversely, it’s a true delight to watch children engrossed in an imaginary play setting, lost in the creativity that comes from sparking ideas off each other and working collaboratively together. Adding and building on to what the other has suggested and enjoying working as equals.
When I was teaching I had a colleague who was renowned for producing reception aged children who would leave her class able to colour amazingly well, between the lines. Every afternoon her class sat for hours colouring in, as neatly as possible. They knew that a sticky gold star would await all those who played by the rules and pleased their teacher.
Children learn at a very young age if their art work is acceptable or not; whether it gets the thumbs up from adults. For those of us who hated the tedium of colouring sheets and being told what colour to paint a tree, I want to say, ‘Lets take heart… it’s our time now…let’s create from a place beyond the rules’.
I’m convinced that art and creativity are essential for the human spirit. It draws out our feelings and responses to life. For a child, art and making things, is the first place where we begin to express what we feel about the world around us.
Van Gogh once said, about his own art work, that he was ‘in it with all his heart’. I like that. And that is what I see when I watch children absorbed in their making and creating – they are in it with all their hearts. There is a wonderful intensity and commitment that envelopes their whole being, as they make a love-response to the world. Yes, you heard right, a love-response.
My big discovery this week has been the art work of the national treasure, Maggi Hambling. I was particularly interested by what she said about art and love. “Art is all about Love (she said)…so you have to get into a place where all your baggage is got rid of…then the truth of what you’re seeing can come through”.
All that I learnt from her this week has brought me back to children and how they are bursting with imagination and how they live from a place of freedom and how I want to recapture that for myself.
My young friend and her art work (permission to post was given by her parents)
Maggi drew my attention to three things for my art practice…with her quotes added.
Make experimenting and taking risks central: “You gotta keep experimenting…all the time. Everything has to be an experiment, otherwise it’s dead”.
Stay authentic: “Your art must come from a place of integrity” – don’t fake it.
Strike out, even when you don’t know where you’re going: “You don’t have to understand what you’re doing – you’re attempting the impossible”.
And, let love flow.
Sketchbook study of Elderflowers
