10 Lessons the Arts Teach

At Art Buddies, we use the power of creativity, self-expression through artistic methods, and one-on-one mentoring to change children’s lives. The significant impact of the kind of arts learning provided by Art Buddies is highlighted here by the late Elliot Eisner, acclaimed professor of Art and Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education:

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid that fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable use to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.

SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

To obtain a digital version of this document, please visit www.arteducators.org/advocacy.

Unlocking confidence through Art Buddies

Written by Brookley Wofford

The arts – painting, crafting, music, drama, dance, etc. – arm kids with the ability to overcome challenges, express themselves and unlock confidence. When I discovered Art Buddies over two years ago, it brought me back to my days as a student. I was inattentive, lacked the ability to concentrate on things most kids find exciting, and found school deeply frustrating. My undiagnosed learning disability caused my self-esteem to plummet, and I began to shy away from engaging with peers.

After receiving an ADHD diagnosis in elementary school, a teacher recommended I add art classes to my curriculum and join after-school programs that focused on creative expression. The arts – being the intellectual disciplines they are – required complex problem solving that gave me the opportunity to construct my own method of soaking up knowledge. Finding a new sense of self-worth through drama clubs, painting classes, and ballet allowed my confidence to soar. I began to excel in school and my social life blossomed.

As an Art Buddies mentor, member of the Advisory Board and chair of the Communications Committee, I have seen firsthand how after-school programs such as Art Buddies continue to be a vital part of our school systems. While piles of fabric swatches, scissors, glue, pipe cleaners, paintbrushes and cardboard may seem like random supplies meant to simply keep students busy, to kids involved in programs like Art Buddies, those supplies mean much more.

Oftentimes children with learning disabilities are made to feel incapable of learning within a normal classroom setting. Since self-worth plays a critical role in the learning process, tools kids use in programs like Art Buddies help open the world of learning to kids who may have trouble with traditional teaching methods. Some students may be failing in math or history, but a completed costume at the end of an Art Buddies semester represents their newly found skills, self-expression, success, and confidence.

As an elementary student struggling to find a reason to care about school, with no interest in gaining friends, there is no way I could have fathomed how the arts would catapult me into the confident, outgoing, and successful adult I am today.

I graduated with honors in both high school and college, was crowned Miss Mississippi International 2012, had the confidence to move over 1,200 miles from the place I deemed home in order to pursue my dream career, and was recently named Miss Twin Cities United States 2015. Those achievements are minimal compared to the fulfillment I have working with Art Buddies.

I am honored to be a part of an organization that exposes students to the arts at an early age – without limitation based on their background, family income level, or learning preference. The arts – and the benefits they provide – should continue to be made a part of each child’s educational path as they begin their journey into the real world.

If you would like to help Art Buddies continue to unlock confidence through the arts, and help children build dreams, visit Art Buddies online or subscribe to learn more about volunteer and donation opportunities.

Buddy Guide helps kids & mentors create together

During Art Buddies, kids and mentors work together one-on-one on a special costume and Buddy Book that reflect each child's unique ideas, interests and strengths. Getting 3rd-5th graders to focus on an abstract concept like this at the end of a school day can be a challenge, so we use our Buddy Guide to help guide their creative journey.

Our newly reformatted guide is equipped with a planning calendar, idea-generating questions, and rough outline to concept their costume creation (kinda like a "buddy blueprint"). Special thanks to veteran creative mentor and Advisory Board member Taylor Baldry for lending his creative vision & illustrations for our newly formatted guide.

We love watching kids work with their mentors to come up with unique visions of themselves, and make their ideas come to life!