Kindergarten Art: Life lessons 101

Art is not a thing; it is a way.
E. Hubbard

As our school year draws to a close, I want to leave my students with something more valuable than a few aesthetically pleasing attempts at painting an oversized O'Keeffe inspired floral, papier-macheing a "talking drum" or knowledge of color mixing and identifying master works of art...which by the way most can do.My five and six year old students, all 700 of them are more savvy then one might expect. In Miss Judy's art studio (that's me), the key lessons that I share are about life. Yesterday I asked one class what they thought I wanted them to learn this past year. The responses were as amusing and diverse as these young learners but left me feeling confident that maybe they would remember and hopefully share these ideas.
Miss Judy's Lessons:
1. Be nice :) respect and empathy in life are key.Treat others as you would like to be treated.Kindness is contagious and offering a "please", "thank you" or a smile are simple ways to spread the sunshine:)
2. Seek beauty even when it seems most difficult to find. Beauty, like Art, is everywhere.
3. There are no mistakes. It is all about practice and process.It is about discovering new opportunities and the simple joy of learning.
4. Copying is a form of flattery but art is about using ideas,(even someone else's) to create something new. Think for yourself.
5. Don't sweat the small stuff. Tears are often wasted on things that simply don't matter.
6. Different is good. Do not compare yourself to others. There is only one you.
7. The best artists are not the ones that draw, paint or sculpt well, although these are wonderful skills. The artistic mind is about problem solving and thinking creatively.
8. Art is a universal language that can touch people's hearts and open people's minds.
9. Be a leader not a follower and discover what it is you love to do most, not what others expect you to do.Find a passion and pursue it with all your might.
10. "Art is not a thing; it is a way." E. Hubbard
Anything done well, with love,intention and joy, could potentially be considered as Art. Mastery of living, loving and learning is Art. A baseball perfectly pitched, a complex formula solved, a structure designed, words written,all with excellence ...although seemingly effortless, can be experienced as Art.

Wow!!! Kindergarten Art has changed since I was a kid!Great ideas should be shared. I only learned some of these things in recent years...obviously I'm a slow learner but a very good and attentive student. I love my students and I practice what I teach!
Class dismissed!

May you always see beauty in the world around you....I promise you, it is there:)
Miss Judy

Stay tuned! School's not out for summer yet. My friend Carol Saylor is visiting my school art studio next week to spend the day with my Kindergartners. She is an artist in every sense of the word. Blind and deaf, she creates and tells stories that move, inspire and excite! To read more about her, click here:
http://www.carolsaylor.com