Visualising Imagination
by Saturday Art Class
Take a sneak peek into the imaginative world of our big little artists which offers a glimpse into their unique ideas, perspectives, thoughts, and expressions as a result of Visual arts and Social Emotional Learning engagement.
It is widely accepted and established that there is a need for the arts for children because they remind children that their emotions are equally worthy of respect and expression(Edgar & Elias, 2020). The arts serve as a path to a boundless realm of imagination, inspiring individuals to explore new ideas and perspectives. At the same time, in Western philosophy, the imagination has been highly regarded as the intermediary world between the world of the senses and the world of thought (Brann, 1993; Jay, 2004). It is also established that visual arts and imagination are deeply intertwined, with the creative process often driven by imaginative exploration and expression (Beete, 2018). Hence the role of visual arts is deeply appreciated as a process that fosters metacognition and creative exploration in humans.
At Saturday Art Class, we build access to visual-arts engagement & social emotional learning (SEL) for students enabling them to develop skills that will help them thrive creatively, socially & emotionally, today and in their futures. Through our intervention with students from Grade 1 to Grade 8, we have first hand witnessed numerous instances of children’s creativity, wonder, problem-solving abilities, storytelling, and meaningful conversations emerging throughout the engagement process. As children draw and create artworks, they engage in a journey of understanding, using varied art elements to express and unravel their thoughts, ideas, and concepts.
Here, we bring forth our children’s artistic expression that embodies their emotions and thought processes. We engaged in conversation with them to understand their perspectives on their creations to find a moment of pause, reflect and guide us through their world of imagination.
“This is me. This is a drawing of how I look. There is a big circle for my head and cut-circles for my ears and some lines for everything else. Arey! This drawing doesn’t have my tongue in it! hehe, I forgot to draw my tongue, but there are few of my teeth here.” Mizan joyfully described his self-portrait, mentioning that he placed himself within the familiar setting of his home, where the walls are painted in shades of yellow and orange.
Pop art makes my Happy look like it is breaking a wall and coming out — thats how much happy I feel when I am drawing in art class!”
“Alfiya and I created this artwork to show both our villages combined in one frame. We took turns to draw parts of the drawing, but coloured it together.” Sharing what she learned through collaborating with her peer, Gousya said, “We should always help one another because everyone needs some help sometime.” Elaborating on her choice of colour for the red trees, she shared how when she feels angry, her eyes turn red, and in the artwork, struggled to draw the trees, making her feel angry, so she coloured them red to show her emotion — Anger.
“City is in the front and the farms are far away. We go to our village in a train, that is why I drew the village and farms farther back.” Atif shared while reminiscing the scene of his village. “The farm here has some birds and a scarecrow standing — to keep only the crows away. In our village, I have shown a shop, a road, and a police who stands next to the shop to clear out the traffic that has a truck, rickshaw and a bicycle.” Sharing the experience of creating this artwork in collaboration with his peer, Kamar added, “Atif drew the vehicles, while I drew of the farms. I told him that if he is struggling to draw something, he should let me know so that I can help him out. That is how we made this drawing together!”
References
Beete, P. (2018). Igniting the imagination. National Endowment for the Arts. https://www.arts.gov/stories/magazine/2018/3/pushing-boundaries-look-visionary- approaches-arts/igniting-imagination
Brann, E. (1993). The world of the imagination: Sum and substance. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Edgar, S. N., & Elias, M. J. (2020). Setting the stage for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) policy and the arts. Arts Education Policy Review. DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2020.1777494