During elementary school and middle school students are required (some might say forced) to take art classes. After talking with a variety of students most  of them did not like these classes. They didn’t like the teachers, the content, the time commitment pretty much the whole class. I think this exposure was too much too soon for most kids because these classes turned so many people away  from art. Whether it was looking at art or creating art, it was  labeled as “stupid and gay” and something most people seemed to have no interest in.

While I’m not sure what the solution to this problem is,  I have several  ideas. I think the most important thing is to give young students way more freedom. Especially those in elementary school. If you can let kids explore the different things that interest them, then I think their creativities  could flourish  early on and they could develop artistic  skills. For example, the amount of times we did a still life with  plastic fruit was ridiculous. I understand the importance of drawing an observation but why not let kids bring something into draw or perhaps  create  something with clay, legos, wood, or some materials and draw that. I feel like the more freedom students  are given to explore different mediums and styles the better, and with that freedom kids will develop these technical skills even more.

Another important thing to remember is art is a very teachable skill. A lot of people don’t like to draw or make art because they feel as though they are  bad at it. But they think they are bad because they compare themselves to people who are considered to be very good at art. Not everyone is going to  be talented  at hyper realism when they start but there are so many different styles that can be  accessible to entry level art students.  One can use the most basic supplies and work their way up to more advanced tools. Also the different types of art one  can create with different mediums is endless. There are so many different possibilities for anyone to explore.

There’s something for everyone to appreciate in art. Whatever your interests are you can definitely create art or find different art and creators that you find interesting.