How can I make art accessible to my children? – the young one, the reluctant one, the inexperienced one? I have identified three strategies that have worked in our home. They are strategies of provision.

First, provide accessible and quality supplies. Second, provide time to use the supplies. Third, join in: provide an example of taking the time and using the supplies to produce art, shoulder-to-shoulder, together with your children.

First, provide supplies. Since I have a personal interest in art, I tend to accumulate art supplies. I have various tools and papers and colors, I have supplies stored in shelves and boxes and cupboards. Yet if my art supplies are living a life of rest and repose in an obscure closet, they will not be used. They are practically – physically – inaccessible.

I’ve experimented with the placement of my art supplies. Somehow, any neat and orderly scheme seems to defeat my purpose of accessibility. So, on a shelf in the dining room, we keep mugs of markers, pencils, calligraphy pens and colored pencils. We keep art paper/drawing pads there also, and a pencil sharpener. These are not the complete inventory of our art supplies, but it’s enough to put creativity within reach – literally. We can easily grab pen or pencil and paper and begin.

Since I really believe that students need to learn to handle “real” art tools and use quality supplies, I have made available to my daughters my personal art equipment. I do require them to handle and use them with respect and care, but inevitably…colored pencils have been dropped and leads shattered, brushes have been misused and paint has been spilled. That’s OK. Learning is messy, and inadvertent destruction addresses an attitude need in the teacher…that which I call “making room”.

“Making room” is another way of saying, “Move out of the way.” Stop trying to control the outcome of an art project, curb your strongly-held and much-esteemed opinions on what it’s “supposed to look like”. Let go of “perfectionism”, get off center-stage, and let your children create. Release your art supplies into those inexperienced hands. Art supplies and proper instruction should be fitted to the age and personal responsibility of the child; but if the child is mature enough to properly care for and handle the tools and supplies, then let them handle them. Let them explore the reach and limitations of their tools and papers and pigments.

Second, provide time. It’s really funny; I teach art classes outside the home; many assume that since I’m into art, my children get lots of opportunities to do art. Sadly, that has not been true. There always seems to be something more important, more demanding, more “academic” that must be done. But we are learning to schedule time for artistic pursuits. Mainly I use assignments to accomplish this.

I try to regularly assign nature study. The girls can choose anything in nature to sketch. Sketch is a key word here. These nature sketches are not detailed drawings; they are sketches. The emphasis is to produce something relatively quickly. This idea of “sketching” has been very liberating to my daughters. It takes the pressure of producing “great art” off of them. They are merely producing likenesses of what they see.

I emphasize that they are training their eye and their hand in this process: training eye and hand to work together. This explanation de-mystifies the creative process. Training eye and hand sounds much more do-able. The sketch also limits time expended on the project. Instead of a cumbersome assignment, it’s just a short sketch: short, but well-executed. A sketch doesn’t give license for sloppiness.

Third, provide an example by doing art together with the children. This should probably be number one in importance. I have learned this by trial and error: I supply my girls with art supplies and encourage them to use it – but they don’t. So I set up the table, take out the supplies and give them an assignment – and they drag their feet. But when Mama sits down (and looks like she’s there to stay for a while) – Wow! They are excited, invigorated and ready to work! And really, we have had some great times together, creating unique works of art.

I love to observe how each of our personalitites “come out” and are expressed in the way we complete the assignments. I have begun an art wall in the diningroom; it’s not professional; but it’s inspiring and affirming. It keeps before my eye the possibilities of the next assignment and it shouts out the need to sit down together and create. Pass the pencil!