‘Process Art’ for Kids – encouraging creativity and critical thinking through artwork

Guest Blog Article by

Victoria Maslennikova

Hello, I am Victoria and I run a children’s art studio in Killara – WonderLab Art Studio. I opened this business just recently and was doing pretty well before COVID-19. There is a lack of creative activities in the area and I think I have found my niche market.

Let me tell you a little bit about my studio, why I decided to open it and what I do.

I used to be an early childhood teacher in the past and I worked at a day care centre for a couple of years. This is where I developed my love and passion for young children’s art. I started researching this area and found out there is an art industry that is really booming at the moment in the US – ‘process art‘ children’s art studios. I decided to give it a go and rented a space in Killara in October last year.

To understand how my approach to art teaching is different to other approaches, I must say that I am NOT a professional artist and I don’t teach children formal art. What I teach is called ‘process art‘.

In process art children are given materials and simple guidelines or techniques for working with materials, and what they create with these materials and techniques is completely up to them. During the class I will be mentoring them on fine motor tips, on the effective ways of using art media, but I will never criticise their artistic choices, the way they combine materials or ask them to follow step-by-step instructions of how to create something. At the end of the process art project, all the art works look different and unique.

Have a look at this example – the children were given a series of strategies on acrylic painting and then they were asked to paint a turtle using the painting strategies they had learnt. Everyone was approaching this task at her own skill level and all the art works look unique!

Why is this approach to art education effective?

First of all, when children create their own art instead of following teacher’s instructions they are practicing their creative thinking skills, problem-solving and imagination. There are no step-by-step rules of how to make things and children have to use their creativity to finish the project. This really makes them think and create – qualities that are highly important not only for becoming an artist in the future but in all other spheres.

Secondly, our school education is not very good with instilling creativity in children. If you look at the type of tasks schools assign to children – they are mostly literacy and numeracy tasks where children have to drill and memorise facts and information. It is good for training memory but not very good for developing creativity. Even art and craft tasks that children are asked to perform at school are usually very simple colour-in or step-by-step drawing tasks that do not develop creativity. That is why process art studios offer unique and important experiences for children – experiences that develop creative thinking skills and imagination.

I hope the COVID-19 situation will finish soon and I will be able to continue developing my business in the studio, but in the meantime, I am busy developing my online program. I am planning to start running Zoom art classes in Term 2. There is a lot to learn for me at the moment –things like technical issues (light, web cameras and tripods), but I think this might be a new business opportunity for me.

I would love to hear from you!

Victoria