Children’s art, in the perception of the observer [UPDATE 2]
January 18th, 2007
Red gauche on paper
Let’s for a moment accept the proposition that children artists can be considered “real artists.” What an odd type of artist a child makes, if you think about it. What a short career a child has as an artist, always in transition. Who could be worse at writing an artist’s statement than a child?
Please look at the painting above and ask yourself, what does it depict? I have looked at this artwork many times and I always have had more or less the same interpretation of the content. But what was the artist’s intention? Are our views similar? Why don’t I ask the artist? In fact, I am the artist. I painted this sometime during the early 1970’s, but I have no memory of doing so. I have no idea what I intended. I somehow doubt that my interpretation of the picture (which I remember from later in my childhood) is in fact what I was thinking when I painted it.
The painting is framed behind glass, which makes it difficult to photograph. My mother made frames for many of my sister’s and my artworks, without which they would certainly have been lost. Children’s art was the main artwork in our house when I was growing up. If it were not for this early encouragement, I probably would not have become an artist.
Do you frame your children’s art? Do you ever think of the long-term implications of doing so (or not doing so)?
[Update]
I enjoyed reading the different interpretations of this painting by Sunil, Steve, Rex, Leslie, June, and Birgit. I never had the idea of a giant figure on the right before, but Sunil’s comment made me look at the picture in a different way. An area of agreement is that the picture shows a man. I would really like to know what I thought I was doing when I made this.
I’ve been thinking about this picture a lot, about the role of the “artist.” Here is what I think: my mother’s role in this picture was something like that of a photographer. She didn’t “make” the image by hand, but she created the conditions for it to be made. Presumably it was one of many paintings. She selected this one, framed it and saved it. I think she chose this image for a reason, because it is a compelling. She could also have made a compelling photograph of a pattern of clouds in the sky that looked a lot like a man on a dock or a boat, or what have you. I think my role as a three or four year old painter is completely accidental.
Is children’s art art? It seems to me that it can be, but a parent or some adult has an important role to play in making it art — selecting what is good and presenting it as art.
[UPDATE 2]
January 18th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Karl,
Looking at this was a nice way to start off my day at work. I am also glad that your mother framed pieces of art like this and preserved it – I need to start doing the same to the artwork my two year old gets back home from daycare (I keep meaning to do this but keep putting it off for another day), this post of yours gives me renewed impetus.
I looked at this painting for some time and what I saw in it was the epic battle between David and Goliath in the figures. David, the small diminutive figure to the left – legs akimbo getting ready to face Goliath looming over him.. The solid red gauche at the bottom is the battlefield on which the epic battle is being fought… Just my interpretation….
By the way, children’s art is art (maybe aimless art but nevertheless it is art).
Sunil
January 18th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Framing is good, it makes something special. But the refrigerator is also great, more like a daily blog than a gallery. Continuous, low-key encouragement. I occasionally have an easel up where I periodically replace things. That’s my own work, but I wish I’d had the idea when the kids were younger. We still have some framed kid’s work and sculptures lying around, but most of it is in a portfolio stashed away somewhere. That’s nice to go back to from time to time (like Colin’s art books), but it doesn’t happen very often.
Karl, that’s an interesting picture with the red boldly venturing out from its base and into space.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Well, it looks like a horse or a pony to me. I see the zig zag of the right rear leg and bold strokes for the rest. There’s a head, mane, an eye, and a nose. The Pony has her head down and seems to be just turning to look. The lower part is the ground and has been strongly rendered to suggest mass and perspective.
I’d enjoy hanging this picture. It is bold and vivid. The colors are great.
My mom told me a little trick one time about how to ask about a kid’s art. Saying “What is it?” can cause offense, sometimes, so she’d say, “What’s happening in this picture?”
Kids almost always have story and action in their pictures, so that can really draw them out. Try it. It works!
January 18th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I saw a guy on a horse heading into a forest of some kind. I like the colors as well. One can never have too much magenta in one’s life!
January 18th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
The painting obviously (!!) depicts a man going from a dock onto a boat. The intent is to play with a bright monochrome that defies the subject matter. And I would probably have framed that one, too.
“What is it?” as a question sounds like a challenge. “What’s happening” allows the child to slip out of the reach of the challenge, and is kind to both her and her parents.
But neither of these questions are questions we would ask an adult artist — or at least I wouldn’t. So our approach to a child who has drawn something we respond to is not to quiz ourselves, but to reach out to the child — interesting.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
I agree with June on boats. My friend Ginger agreed with Sunil on David and Goliath.
What I see is Karl, standing on a boat with a fluttering sail overhead, getting ready to sail out into the ocean.
Now we need to hear from Karl what he sees in the picture.
My memory of those days is spending weekends with Karl on the Long Island Sound, launching ships (planks that we found on the beach) to sail to Germany. Perhaps, I was homesick during those day. When I put Karl’s painting on my web site under construction, I thought that perhaps I had something to do with Karl’s migration back to the old continent.
I find the picture inspirational. It tells me to step on the ship and sail off.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Birgt,
Interesting point about intellectual property here. I think that as the artist I have the copyright to this image, regardless of who owns the painting. However, if you argue that, with a photograph, you have created a whole new work, you might be able to claim the image as your own. Leslie’s comment about magenta would support this interpretation. The real painting has interesting variations of orange and red (simultaneous variation in color and tone), but no magenta. That is in the photograph only.
Also, since I don’t remember making the painting, you could always claim that you made it and there could not be much argument. But that would kind of spoil the story, right?
[No fair Birgit, you edited your previous comment, leaving mine meaningless!]
January 19th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Karl, your comment will be confusing. You responded to my saying that you copied the picture from my website without my permission. But then I realized that that of course is wrong because you are the artist. I changed my comment before I saw your response. It is one of those comments overlapping in time.
Please tell us What you see in this picture.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
And about how old were you when you painted it, Karl?
January 19th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Steve, I’d guess three or four. Maybe there is a date on the back of the picture. It is in Michigan.
January 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
[Updated in post]
I enjoyed reading the different interpretations of this painting by Sunil, Steve, Rex, Leslie, June, and Birgit. I never had the idea of a giant figure before, but Sunil’s comment made me look at the picture in a different way. An area of agreement is that the picture shows a man. I would really like to know what I thought I was doing when I made this.
I’ve been thinking about this picture a lot, about the role of the “artist.” Here is what I think: my mother’s role in this picture was something like that of a photographer. She didn’t “make” the image by hand, but she created the conditions for it to be made. Presumably it was one of many paintings. She selected this one, framed it and saved it. I think she chose this image for a reason, because it is a compelling. She could also have made a compelling photograph of a pattern of clouds in the sky that looked a lot like a man on a dock or a boat, or what have you. I think my role as a three or four year old painter is completely accidental.
Is children’s art art? It seems to me that it can be, but a parent or some adult has an important role to play in making it art — selecting what is good and presenting it as art.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Karl I love that you have shared a piece of your childhood artwork with us.
As an artist that works with children’s artwork I am a huge fan of adults who hold their childhood art as the treasures that they really are.
Having worked with a ton of kids artwork, my guess on what this painting is about is much simpler than the interpretations of the comments above.
Children, especially the very young, create pictures of their immediate worlds.
90% of what I see from kids this age are drawings of themselves, their family members, trees, houses and weather.
I can easily imagine you as an inexperienced child trying to make your world in red paint.
I believe the ‘blob’ in the right-hand corner is a cloud, the lines coming down is rain and the little man is you.
Simple….Not complicated, not deep…..
Just beautifully simple….. Like the child you were.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Cindy,
Thanks for taking a look at this painting. I would like to believe that the man was intended to be a figure in this painting. There is something deliberate looking in the way he is painted. However, I would not be surprised if the image of the man is only in our minds as observers, but was not in the mind of the artist. Perhaps we are looking at the picture upside-down? Now, there is an idea for an update . . .
I put the “rotated” image at the end of the post. What does it look like now? To me it looks like nothing, but maybe with time that will change.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
You are clever, messing with us all like that! Definitely the mind of an artist!
So how did your Mom hang it on the wall?
My guess is that there is no way, you as a three or four year old, would have allowed her to hang it upside down.
Am I right?
January 30th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I would like to hear what she has to say about it, if she can even remember. I have difficulty remembering the details of how my children make their artwork last week, because there is such a continual flow of it. I’ll send her a note to look at this discussion you have started.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Cindy,
With your experience, how often do you think that children just draw marks? Not deliberately trying to be abstract, but just playing with the brush. One thing I’ve done with very young ones as a joint activity is just taking turns scribbling any kind of line or shape we want. Gradually we fill up the page, then start another. I’ve done this when there’s no common language, or almost no language at all, and the kids immediately grasp the concept.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
The painting was done at a nursery school and brought home by Karl. It is oriented as initially shown.
I have to think about how it was framed. I framed most of the very early pictures done at home with magic markers using bright yellow mats and thin, red-painted frames that I made in our basement.
Now I remember, originally, the black frame enclosed a reproduction of some Greek warrior that I had bought. I threw away the warrior and made the black mat to match the frame and inserted Karl’s picture.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Steve,
I think the best way for anyone one to get to know a new medium, whether it is a child or an adult, is to just ‘play’ with it a little.
I like your idea of having a whole group work on the same piece, by just making marks. This way the child can experiment with the movement of their hands, and how the colors play out onto the paper without the ‘stress’ of having to create something specific.
I don’t know about you but when ever I get some new art supply, whether paints, rubber stamps, polymer clay, or what-have-you, I always just fool around with it a while. With no particular purpose in mind other than getting to know the material.
I think that is what kids are often doing, just ‘playing’ with the materials.
PS. Birgit you are a fantastic Mom! Because of your foresight, your son’s art is still around to be enjoyed and discussed. Bravo!