Friday, January 28, 2005
Signs
One of the interesting things about children is the way that they use art to communicate. If given free access to to the media required, kids will express themselves non-verbally in some pretty funny and surprisingly profound ways. Today I was walking around the house, tidying, and thought about two examples of this, one from each of my older children (aged 7 and 5).
One is a poster, stuck on my kids' closet's sliding door. Behind this door is my daughter's "club house", a cute little space all her own where she reads and plays and practices songs on a mini-piano. The poster reads: "Stay out! Una's Clube. it's dandreis! Ife you come in, Olle Kike you!" Underneath this dire warning is an llustration of a big girl (interestingly, with black hair; Una's hair is blonde) delivering an apparently painful kick to a littler boy (an accurate depiction of her little brother). The poor boy's expression is one of startled dismay, and maybe pain; his mouth is open and his eyes are slitted. He appears to be running away with arms in front of him, but obviously not fast enough. This is funny, especially coming from the gentlest little girl who ever lived. She would sooner fly to the moon than chase her brother and kick him. Sadly, when he saw this poster for the first time, my son cried. His feelings were hurt. About an hour later he had made a reasonable facsimile and put it on the door to the bedroom, which they share. I hardly need mention that in his version the smaller person was the kicker.
The other example of "house art" is by my son, and it consists of a series of orange sticky-notes stuck to various objects around the house (sofa, coffee table, houseplant etc.). Each note depicts a simple rendering of the object, perhaps the way he sees it. What's interesting is that they are not simply accurate reproductions; the coffee table in the drawing has two cups of steaming coffee on it. The houseplant (a tropical, large-leafed, non-flowering plant) is represented by 2 flowers. An abstract print is represented by a different abstract drawing. I am enjoying discovering these little stickies as I wander around the house. I feel like I'm seeing my home and the objects in it in a new way.
One of the interesting things about children is the way that they use art to communicate. If given free access to to the media required, kids will express themselves non-verbally in some pretty funny and surprisingly profound ways. Today I was walking around the house, tidying, and thought about two examples of this, one from each of my older children (aged 7 and 5).
One is a poster, stuck on my kids' closet's sliding door. Behind this door is my daughter's "club house", a cute little space all her own where she reads and plays and practices songs on a mini-piano. The poster reads: "Stay out! Una's Clube. it's dandreis! Ife you come in, Olle Kike you!" Underneath this dire warning is an llustration of a big girl (interestingly, with black hair; Una's hair is blonde) delivering an apparently painful kick to a littler boy (an accurate depiction of her little brother). The poor boy's expression is one of startled dismay, and maybe pain; his mouth is open and his eyes are slitted. He appears to be running away with arms in front of him, but obviously not fast enough. This is funny, especially coming from the gentlest little girl who ever lived. She would sooner fly to the moon than chase her brother and kick him. Sadly, when he saw this poster for the first time, my son cried. His feelings were hurt. About an hour later he had made a reasonable facsimile and put it on the door to the bedroom, which they share. I hardly need mention that in his version the smaller person was the kicker.
The other example of "house art" is by my son, and it consists of a series of orange sticky-notes stuck to various objects around the house (sofa, coffee table, houseplant etc.). Each note depicts a simple rendering of the object, perhaps the way he sees it. What's interesting is that they are not simply accurate reproductions; the coffee table in the drawing has two cups of steaming coffee on it. The houseplant (a tropical, large-leafed, non-flowering plant) is represented by 2 flowers. An abstract print is represented by a different abstract drawing. I am enjoying discovering these little stickies as I wander around the house. I feel like I'm seeing my home and the objects in it in a new way.
# posted by becca : 8:12 AM
