TEACHING KIDS TO THINK LIKE ARTISTS

Teaching Kids to Think Like Artists

Children are naturally drawn to the arts. They dance, sing and doodle even at an early age. Unfortunately, many Filipino kids grow up in a social environment that regards the arts as nothing more than an exercise in frivolity or a capricious preoccupation reserved for the rich and famous.

“In most schools art-related subjects are taught as token courses, if at all,” laments Prof. Joselito Kayaban, chairperson of the Fine Arts Department of St. Scholastica’s College-Manila. “Most institutions today are caught in the high-tech frenzy,” he adds, “privileging technology over substance and creativity.”

Yet it is precisely because children are growing up amidst the multi-faceted complexities of contemporary society that the arts become more significant. “Life’s day-to-day problems, from the most mundane to the most profound, need creative solutions from problem-solvers who think like artists,” Kayaban says.

And there’s no better time to teach kids to think like artists than when they are in their early years. “Exposing children to the arts early is crucial for their development and well-being,” shares artist Maya Ladyong whose My Little Art Place offers the Pink Elephant Arts program to pre-school children. “In my experience,” she says, “children who take art lessons express themselves better, socialize well with their peers, are more confident and have higher emotional quotients.”

A recent study by the Guggenheim Museum’s Learning Through Arts program also suggests that students who are learning about paintings and sculptures are likely to become better learners in other areas of literacy including thorough description, hypothesizing and reasoning.

Kayaban and Ladyong are just two of the many art educators from different organizations across the country who are supporting ManilArt 10, the country’s biggest art fair, opening to the public on July 30 to August 1, 2010 at the Mall of Asia’s SMX Convention Hall. A project of the Bonafide Art Galleries Organization (BAGO), through a grant from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), ManilArt 10 aims to supplement school-based art programs by bringing the best of Philippine visual art closer to the general public.

Parents and their children as well as teachers and their students can expect an educational and fun-filled weekend at the ManilArt 10 with exhibits showcasing different styles and techniques and lectures by the country’s leading art experts. For more information, call (632) 531.6231 or (63)0917.851.1333.