Blog 14

What is your drawing history? Where have your notions of the role of drawing in art come from? How do you manage your "drawing anxiety?" After reading Kalin's chapter, describe how you might mentor an anxious draw-er into the joy of mark-making.





I always enjoyed drawing ever since I was in elementary. My drawings were always mostly representational, and a lot of times they were mimetic. I remember when I was in grade 1 or 2, I would draw animated cartoons likes the Flintstones or Bugs Bunny in my sketchbook and then afterwards colour it in with different colours (but not necessarily the colours that the cartoon actually is!) I was really into colouring books because I liked to explore and play around with the different colours that I could make with pencil crayons, markers, and watercolours. After that, I always enjoyed making art in class. What I found sad is that when you are in elementary school, you were able to explore art on a more regular basis, but once you reach junior high those things are not as important anymore unless you are taking an art option, and that is often only allowed for one semester.

I think that my ideas about the role of drawing in art comes from the fact that I was an independent child who wasn't able to go out as much, like other children might have, so I would sit at home and draw and colour because those were the things that I enjoyed doing. Drawing became the gateway into other forms of art for me, as it seemed the most natural, and in some ways (when I was a child, at least), the least technical.

How do I manage my "drawing anxiety?" This situation never seemed to happen to me that much. I guess I could say that I always convinced myself that I was as good as any other people; therefore, drawing anxiety wass not there much. In highschool, however, I found that my art teacher was not as supportive as she probably should have been. I was doing a really good job on a "pencil crayon on black paper" project of my face, and she told me I was a sibling of one of the other girls in my art class, because that other girl was considered to be the better drawer by my art teacher. It may have been an attempt at praise, but it came off as sounding like "normally, you're not as good as her." That really bummed my self-esteem, but I got over it because I believe that I am good in my own, individual style.



I think that, according to Kalin's chapter, I would mentor an anxious draw-er into the joy of mark-making by allowing them to close their eyes and draw the things that they imagined inside their head. It allows them to not worry whether or not their drawing is perfect or good but just focusing on how they feel and enjoy when they imagine those image in their head. Afterward, you complement about how interesting it is to draw something without seeing it even if it's not realistic. The artist woulf be focusing on feelings instead of mimetic skill, for example, and gain a sense of freedom from that.



The type of questions that I would ask the parent of the child's learning characteristics would be:

What are the things that the child enjoys doing in school? What subjects do they not like? How do they deal with things when they come across a problem? What is the child's art history? Are they confident in making art? What are the materials the child has explored in art? What would you like them to explore? What are the things you want the child to explore and develop more? Does the child have any developmental issues?