Arts, as a form of expression, was a concept that was alien to me. I had always been told that drawing equates to art and further that art equated to replicating what a grown up would do or what we saw in our surroundings. For me, understanding art as a way to express one's feelings and thoughts-- in forms other than drawing-- only emerged in recent years. This broadened my viewpoint and I began appreciating the concept of art as a form of expression.
My memory of my "artistic" experiences begins when I was six years old--the age at which I remember becoming interested in creating things. My great-grandmother had taught me how to stitch and we would use leftover cloth from my grandfather’s textile factory to make different things. The things may not have been useful each time, and on other occasions led us to have several small bags, but my great-grandmother encouraged me to keep exploring the materials.
After that, as I continued to explore with different materials to create different things, I was never told that this was a form of art. In school, having an art class meant drawing. Each of us would have an “Art Book” and we would replicate what the teacher would draw. We were never given the opportunity to create our own pieces of work and were taught how to draw a house, a tree, human figures, different fruits and each child would have the same drawing. After constantly receiving grades like B’s and C’s in this class, I determined that arts was a field that was boring and one that I would not pursue. My narrow perception of the concept of Arts never gave me the opportunity to think of anything outside of drawing as art and led me to believe that I was not an artistic or creative individual.
After I gave up drawing, I enrolled in a drama academy for a couple of years where we practiced and performed different plays in front of audiences. I also learned Indian folk dance for three years and did several performances in front of smaller audiences. And while dance and drama made me feel a sense of freedom and served as an outlet to express myself, I never learned to truly appreciate these forms of art. I looked at these forms of art as just dance and drama and not something that could involve creativity because no one asked me to delve deeper into the experience that we were engaging in.
Furthermore, as I continued to engage in creating things using materials like clay and paper to make papier- mâché or photo-frames using natural materials, or explore photography and pottery, I never learned to appreciate these activities as forms of art. And while engaging in each of these activities brought the best out in me in terms of exploring my creative side, I still did not understand what it meant to be an "artist" (and I certainly did not consider myself to be one)! I had spent the summers making different things and selling them to people in my apartment complex, and other summers clicking pictures of people and things around me that fascinated me but I still did not categorize these engagements as being "artistic".
But now that I am in graduate school where I am studying to be a teacher for young children, my understanding of what it means to be "artistic" has taken a different turn. Since I have started to work with young children, I have realized that when one is trying to be creative, there is no one way of doing things. The children have pushed me to draw and create in ways that I was hesitant to experiment with earlier. For example, children have asked me to draw pictures of Batman, Spider-Man and even Obama. When I worked with a first grader who loved to draw, I observed that she did not hesitate in drawing any picture and watching her draw so freely made me want to push my boundaries and challenge my creative side.
I have made it a point to sit with children at the writing center and doodle or draw anything that comes to my mind. This practice has not only helped me move out of my comfort zone but has also allowed me to be a part of the children's thought processes and understanding their ideas and creativity. Working with children has constantly kept me on my toes and has given me the opportunity to delve deeper, explore and challenge my creative side.
Over the course of time, I have learned to appreciate the different forms of arts. My journey has helped me grow as an individual through my life and learn about and respect the varied forms of expression that people use to express themselves. I have also learned that I may not understand each form of artistic expression but it is important to acknowledge that each form is important. And finally, I have learned that it is important to nurture the artistic abilities of each child and be open to learning from them such that they do not consider themselves to be incapable or lacking creative abilities as I had once thought myself to be.
