Gluing with Scissors [Arts Explorer #6]

            That's right, you read it, we're gluing with scissors. Just to clarify, we are not using scissors as a gluing instrument, because that seems as though it would be difficult and quite dangerous (even though there are safe scissors for children, you take away dangerous and you're still left with difficult). This Arts Explorer is inspired by Honigman and Bhavnagri's (1998) article Painting with Scissors: Art Education Beyond Production. What stood out to me the most in the article was how combining personal experiences to art education was very meaningful to children, and through this they gathered lots of information, were able to construct knowledge and even grow their language (Honigman & Bhavnagri, 1998).

(Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dphock/465220299/)

My Gluing with Scissors activity:

            I think I will waste lots of space if I list every supply that can be used for the activity, so to keep it simple, anything that can be glued that a child would want to use for their art. To start, a child has a piece of paper, whether it's a small circle, the size of a bristol board, or an outline of themselves. On this paper they can glue whatever is it that they link in any form of pattern they feel is appropriate. They can glue fabrics they like, colours that appeal to them, pictures of family, pictures of their community, tissue paper, or even pom-poms (which are just fantastic as paint brushes by the way). During the process of creating their art, and when they feel that they have completed it they can talk about it amongst their peers and with their teachers. Just like in Honigman and Bhavnagri's (1998) article, the children can talk about colours and meanings behind different things they have incorporated.

            The art word of the week is Shape. I like shape because the activity that I was explaining above I had imagined as a two-dimensional art piece, not to limit a child and only allow them to do it that way, but it is how I saw it. Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) identify shape as a measure for critiquing two-dimensional art because it has length and width. "Some characteristics of shape are:

·         simple or complex

·         clearly defined or vaguely defined

·         tall or short

·         big and large, or small and little

·         solid, heavy massive; or open, light

·         hard or soft

·         symmetrical or asymmetrical" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p140)

References:

Honigman, J. J., & Bhavnagri, N. P. (1998). Painting with scissors: Art education beyond production. Childhood Education, 74(4), 205-212.

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar