People have very specific ideas about what children’s art should be about and look like. They expect children to make pictures of simplistic smiling people and friends, flowers and sunshine. They do not expect innocent children to make images of death, destruction and sadness. People love to romanticize childhood, and remember theirs in an idealized way. People that spend a lot of time with children, and particularly groups of children, see the breadth of real childhood experiences and emotions everyday, and know that children are not ‘innocent’ in the way we like to think so, and have plenty in their thoughts and feelings to make images about that may or may not be what we expect.
Excellent art education relies on the personal experiences of children to get their ideas and make images they are connected to. The teacher gives an open-ended motivation and then works out with the class how they could show their ideas in the art material they are using that day. For example, the teacher might ask, “What do you like to do on a snowy day?” and the children might say, “Make a snowman.” “Drink hot chocolate.” “Have a snowball fight.” When they start working, perhaps the child who thought about a snowball fight paints a boy who violently hurts another kid with a snowball, “with a rock in it, see the blood? It showed up a lot on the snow.” What is the art teacher to do? Perhaps this is how he plays snowball fight in his family, or this happened to him and he is working out the bad memory. Perhaps he is a bully and is showing what he did. Perhaps it is painted beautifully, and he can’t wait to share it with the class and his teacher. Do you tell him to stop and paint another picture, tell his teacher you are worried about him and use the art as evidence, hide it and accidentally forget to send it home, tell him it is not appropriate for school? What images are appropriate for children to make in art class? How many images are censored by the children, just as they censor their words in school, and how many are intentionally or not censored by the teacher?
Recently I had an experience with a fourth grade class that resulted in censorship. The class worked on a project about their favorite sport to play, while the Winter Olympics were happening. They worked for many weeks, sketching, drawing, coloring and finally matting and presenting. One boy was kept out of art for most of those weeks for tutoring, and then he came in on the presenting day, asked if he could make a drawing, I told him yes, we are drawing athletes in action. He quickly drew a cop shooting a man, matted it, wrote a title and was done by the end of class. I put the drawings away and did not look at them for weeks, as I was planning on hanging some up from each class. Then I gave a large pile of art for an open house in the cafeteria, I told them to just pick out what they wanted and give me back the rest. Somehow, the principal saw this boys drawing and was shocked and very worried about him. Did he see a shooting? Is he watching violent TV/movies at home? We need to bring in his parents and talk to them. Another leader asked the boy about the drawing and he told him, “I want to be a cop when I grow up.” He was not worried. The principal told me if I ever see something like this I should tell her right away. The drawing is still rolled up in her office.
Art is just another thing that is censored as soon as the adults and children enter school. You cannot dress however you want, do whatever you want, say whatever you want, and create whatever you want. Different places have different rules. The teachers job it to keep everyone safe and learning, not expressing themselves however they see fit. Despite this, art class is a wonderful place for children in school, with the teachers guidance they can express themselves in a slightly guided way and still use all their own ideas that are based in their experiences. The teacher must know what the age group is interested in, and make motivations that will allow them to create those images, tell those stories. Asking a group of 9 years olds, “What would you do if you were a superhero?” will let them show good and bad fighting-and them they can write stories about it. You have to balance the fine line between the realities of childhood, and what the adults want to see.
