Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Dec / Jan 2017: Special Edition | Page 32

Kids & Education

Creative Kids, Vol. 1

ART
CENTERS:
APPROACHING ART FROM
A DIFFERENT ANGLE

How setting up a child-focused visual arts center in your home can
help disprove the old misconception that artistic skill is a genetic trait.
by Shannon Frandsen and Amy Diener

H

ave you ever heard someone say, “I’m just not artistic”? Or maybe something like:
“You’re so good at art. I could never
make a painting like that.” You probably have, dozens or even hundreds
of times. But have these self-proclaimed non-artistic people ever tried
to develop artistic skills? Chances are
many people who think they can’t
make art have never attempted it.
What’s puzzling is that they practice
other subjects in a dedicated fashion.
We are not born knowing the alphabet or phonetics, but we spend a
lot of time learning how to read. We

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are not born knowing the first thing
about geometry, either, but many of
us learn the Pythagorean Theorem at
some point in our lives. Likewise, nobody comes into the world with the
ability to paint a masterpiece, or even
a stick figure, but for some reason
people spend very little time practicing art.
This paradox could be due in part
to the commonly held misconception
that creativity is an entirely inborn
trait, something we have or we do
not, right from day one. Our genetics
decide how tall we are and whether
our hair is dark; likewise, you might

have heard people indicate that genetics determine a person’s creative
skills. While it’s highly probable that
genius and talent are genetically
linked, this does not mean only a select few are born with any amount of
creative ability.
There’s a tendency to equate creativity with artistic skill as well that
worsens this mentality: If someone
makes one “bad” painting or feels
somehow discouraged, the kneejerk reaction is to throw up his arms
and say, “Oh, well. I guess I just wasn’t
born creative.” Which is to say: No
point in trying art ever again. Well,
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