Natalie and Diego have been attending an "art camp" this summer.
Their daily immersion in creativity has been a joy to behold. Each day they come home with new handmade treasures. Natalie is already an accomplished artist, but for Diego this daily dose of independence in a structured environment has lead to an explosion of his fertile imagination.
We all know children can create amazing works of art, all the more special for their unique way of seeing the world. On a recent trip to London, the small book that really caught my eye at the used book store on Charing Cross Road was "Children As Artists" by R. R. Tomlinson.
Published in 1947, the author used the work of young children from various Junior Girls' Schools and High Schools as the basis for his essay on these tiny Titans or Titians as the case may be!
These amazing paintings are all from that small volume.
With the near elimination of the long held idea of the arts being an essential component of a child's development and education in our No Child Left Behind era, Tomlinson's words of 65 years ago echo loudly today:
"This innate urge in a child to draw and create is a precious inheritance, the value of which has not yet been fully realised by education authorities; neither has the beneficial effect of its encouragement upon other forms of expression and growth been apprehended by them sufficiently."
Expression and growth have been running wild around here lately, with a tip of the hat to old R.R.
Enjoy!
william
Dear Bill,
I did enjoy this--very much! Did Elsa love the drawings, too?
Best wishes,
Betty
P.S. 1947, a favorite year....
Posted by: Chicago Observer | July 26, 2012 at 07:46 AM
Wonderful post-thanks!
Posted by: Christine | July 30, 2012 at 06:31 PM