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Art 133
10/17/17
Unit Paper 4
The big idea of play can become a broader scope of various art creations in a classroom.
Play can be humorous and joyfulness as Pink states in Chapter 8 of A Whole New Mind. Pink
(2006) explains that Humor often involves incongruity (p. 197) which can often tell a story.
These stories can be made through humorous art where the viewer must utilize their right
hemisphere to appreciate the humor in art where it tells a story and find new perspectives within
the art. George Szekelys approach on art through play can be demonstrated in different ways in
a classroom with all ages. Szekely (2011) states Playing allows for independent exploration and
creates avenues to see things in fresh ways, to discover, and to invent (p. 64). Through play of
various materials and methods, students are able to create their own art and give into the 21st
Century Art Education Approach of choice-based and learner-directed. Children can create their
own art through materials such as tape, glue, play doh, aluminum foil and makeup. If a child is
given a free range of options they are able to let their creativity flow and push their personalities
into their art pieces. Szekely also mentions children's play by breaking things to discover how
things work and making messes to clean up that can create a sense of art through constructing
visual relationships of the pieces. With both Pink and Szekely, a teacher can imply choice-based
and learner-directed approaches by allowing students to have some choice in how they make
their art but also enable a sense of direction to younger students to ensure they are utilizing
materials accordingly.
In my own classroom, I think free choice would be a fun idea but I think it would be
difficult to do as students are so used to guidance. Doing free choice as a college student was
already difficult for myself because I grew up receiving instruction from teachers. Working with
preschoolers now, we play with a lot of play doh and have never thought of it as art until I read
Szekely. I think when I am in my classroom I am going to give all students play doh at the same
time and see what they create. As of right now, I have one student who makes robots out of
play doh and connector blocks but I have never considered his imagination art until now. I also
think using a limited amount of materials such as tape and glue only would be an interesting art
project to see what students design with limited amount of materials. I think, as a teacher, could
learn a lot about my students if they are allowed more choice-based approaches in art.