This is the Week of the Young Child and one of the most important things in a young child’s life is imagination. It’s important to encourage children to use their wonderful gifts of imagination and creativity so that they grow up to be creative adults who can think outside the box and solve problems in unique ways.
To support the Week of the Young Child, I provided an art class for a group of kids ages 8-10 at the YWCA on Monday. The subject was “Cave Art.” Prehistoric art is remarkably sophisticated and in some ways very much like the modern art of today. The children were shown pictures of 32,000-year-old art from the Lascaux caves as well as Native American art that is about 2,000 years old. Usually the more sophisticated appearing Lascaux art is chosen as the “newer” work. The group enjoyed hearing a little bit of history about this amazing and inspiring art period.
The kids were given kraft paper (tough, usually brown paper made from chemically treated wood pulp, like paper bag paper) which they colored on with crayons. The paper was then crumpled and watercolor was applied. The crayon acted as a resist and some very unique artwork resulted with this technique.
In other news, we encourage you to visit the Ohio Watercolor Society Exhibit, which continues through March 27, Tuesday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m. The show is sponsored by Central Mutual Insurance Company and Purmort Brothers Insurance agency.
The Wassenberg Art Center is located at 643 S. Washington Street in Van Wert. Contact us at 419.238.6837 or wassenberg@embarqmail.com. Information about current classes and exhibits is on the calendar at our website, www.vanwert.com/wassenberg.
By Hope Wallace, Executive Director of Wassenberg Art Center