Let’s Nurture ART throughout Life !

Every Child is an Artist. The problem is staying one when you group up!

We all are blessed to stay on this beautiful planet. Every second, on this magnificent planet, a life is conceived; and at

every other, a new life is born. As these seconds pass by, these new born lives; grow, develop and they start witnessing what we call ‘Life’.

These newly born, are then given the prettiest names by their

creators ‘their parents’ and they begin their journey of: exploration,

creation, invention and experimentation. As they grow, each parent

invests enormous efforts in their upbringing and ensures that the

little one gets the best of everything. These tiny tots then learn to

speak a language. They learn to converse and express their

random thoughts, feelings and emotions to the best of their ability.

They begin their schooling; where they learn the fundamentals

of every subject: vocabulary, numbers, science or even Art for that matter.

Initial years of schooling for most children are super fun,as there is a greater emphasis on imparting education in a holistic and fun way. Learning is colorful in all terms, it is more visual, auditory and kin aesthetic in nature. Children get several opportunities to express their creative and Artistic edge. They acquire, observe and grasp things with ease; and are open to commit mistakes.

It is in these years, that kids develop a very strong

bond with Art.Further, the school environment and

family members also facilitate the bond by providing

encouragement to these young minds; so that they

experience the different shades of Art while learning

at school or elsewhere. Hence, we can see children

explore the domain of Art through drawing, painting,

sculpting, clay work, play or even dance and music

for that matter.

While at home, the walls of the rooms become nothing but

large canvases to draw and scribble. Newspapers become

more useful for making airplanes, paper boats and origami, than for reading. Used bottles, card boards, buttons and tins become raw material for most school projects. Life for them becomes truly experiential in all terms. It revolves around actually creating things and learning from them.

As kids grow, keeping Art alive is no longer the focus

as it was before. The reason being, other subjects are

given more importance by the school and parents. Kids

often hear every one saying, “Now other subjects such

as math, science and computers should be your priority;

as these subjects are going define your future; so you better

focus only on them”.

This situation is further worsened when the teaching

methodology becomes more academic and children

have to learn everything the ‘Rote Way’. An element

of experiential learning is now, nowhere even close

to existence. As kids climb the grade ladder, from

7th to 8th, 8th to 9th and so on,rote learning becomes

even more dominant at every grade;and there comes a time,

when these kids are no longer in touch with the Art which

lived in them before. These kids have simply forgotten the

strong bond they shared with Art! They have forgotten that

Art was something which made their life so colorful and

learning so much fun. Unfortunately, this is a personal loss

for these kids and that too unknowingly!

So, who is to be held responsible for this loss? Who is to be blamed for this separation of kids from Art?

Is it the educational system? The parents? Or the kids themselves?