Today, I had a tutoring session with this one girl. We have been working on this piece for the Reflections competition. Do you remember when you were in school, doing Reflections competition? I did it for a few years in middle school and high school. Anyways, we were working really hard on it and the student felt quite accomplished by this particular piece. She just started learning how to use a brush as well, so we were touching up the painting... then her mother got the brush and started to paint, correcting all the smudges and imperfections.
I was so shocked at the moment! It clashed with my ideology... you don't just 'fix' a child's drawing for the sake of getting a great result and a nice pretty picture. I can understand the mother's ambition of making the piece clean and nice for the competition, but it took a lot of energy for me to let go of that moment.
Don't get me wrong. Everyone has a different parenting style, and I am not the one to judge. Some mothers sit with me and children and they 'actively' participate in lessons, correcting kids how to use a crayon and how to color. Yet... when you do not allow a space for a child to explore, fail, and achieve out of their minds and creativity, a child will eventually produce a mirror of a parent's expectations.
After the lesson, the mother packed me a nice hot sandwich and a drink for dinner. She had a kind of warmth of my own mother. With confused emotions, I drove home thinking about what just happened.
. . .
Later this evening, I went to Michael's in Johns Creek (one of affluent suburbs in Metro-Atlanta) to submit the child's drawing to be matted. There, I saw a couple spending a very long time choosing a right matting color for their children's school photos. The mother especially had a serious look... every tint of color mattered and even the width of mat was going to be an important decision.
There as I was waiting, I thought about aesthetic decisions we all make every day outside of art context.
Last night at Atlanta Contemporary Center of Art, Nato Thompson (Chief Curator at Creative Time) talked about interesting issues of public art and its audience. He said artists are not the only cultural producers anymore... people are going crazy with phones and social media to document happenings - real happenings. Artist should perhaps acknowledge 'the current condition of cultural and city landscape' and catch poignant and genuine moments of lives that matter to people.
I witnessed a very important aesthetic decision making taking place at Miachel's. Even though I could not help to be skeptical about their aesthetic preferences, in their own terms, they were genuinely caring about their standing as parents and - perhaps artists.
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| I took a snapshot of this couple, trying to pick out the best matting colors for their children's school photos. |
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| Family Paintings at Michael's |
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| Work of art at $79.99 |
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| According to Michael's, Christmas is coming real soon! |
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