Art and creativity

Art and creativity

"This means that a child's hand becomes a means of communication, and, as we see, just as a child is continuously speaking, so he draws. He expresses himself with his vocal cords and with his hand, showing latent tendencies of which he himself is still unconscious."
The Discovery of the Child p 283, Chap 20

Montessori saw the ability of the child to express himself as an individual as something of paramount importance.

She saw free drawing as one way in which he could do so and she set about analyzing what she could do to assist the child in this endeavor.

What she realized was that children used their movements and, in particular, their hands to help them express their thoughts. She therefore provided environments where they could work in an indirect way, mastering those skills which would facilitate later drawing.

"We call our system for teaching how to draw and write an 'indirect one'. When they are taught in this way, children become more and more capable of expressing themselves. They make hundreds and hundreds of drawings, producing at times ten in a single day with that same freedom from weariness that they manifest in writing." (The Discovery of the Child p 282, Chap 20).

Her emphasis was on the component parts of the entire skill that then culminated in the child's ability to express his ideas as he desired. She therefore analyzed what particular skills were needed for each task and set about devising relevant exercises for each one. She felt that natural creativity was part of the child's spiritual development and that the environment should provide opportunities for creative expression at every level.

Quotations

"Much is said today about free drawing, and many people are surprised that I have set up rigid restrictions on children's drawing. They compose geometrical figures, which they then fill out holding the pencil in a special way, or they fill in with coloured pencils figures that have already been outlined. To be better understood, I therefore feel obliged to stress the fact that the procedure which I am describing is only one of the factors in the analysis of writing."
The Discovery of the Child, p 280, Chap 20

"We do not give lessons in drawing or in modeling, and yet many of our children know how to draw flowers, birds, landscapes, and even imaginary scenes in an admirable way."
Ibid p 281, Chap 20

"We must therefore conclude that the preparation of the hand and of the senses naturally assists both writing and expressive drawing."
Ibid p 281, Chap 20

"We do not teach a child to draw by having him draw but by giving him the opportunity to prepare his means of expression. I consider this to be a great aid to free drawing since, being neither inefficacious nor incomprehensible, it encourages a child to continue."
Ibid p 281, Chap 20

"Another type of help which we give to drawing is that which we give to every type of learning. This consists in an analysis of the difficulties of an object's various components. In drawing itself there are various elements, for example, outline and colour."
Ibid p 281, Chap 20

"These two separate elements, line and colour, are determined and perfected independently of each other. This is done by an individual who succeeds in expressing himself artistically by combining these two elements."
Id p 281, Chap 20

"This does not mean, however, that progress in drawing continues indefinitely as it does in writing, or that the drawings indicate that the children will all become artists. In almost every instance, there comes at a certain moment a lack of interest in drawing; and another interest, such as that of writing, takes precedence."
Ibid p 282, Chap 20

"Briefly, the instinct for self-expression looks for a means to manifest itself; and this may be in at least one of two different ways. One of these is through writing, which is used to express ideas; and the other is through representative art."
Ibid p 283, Chap 20

"We might note in conclusion that the best way to teach drawing is not to leave a child completely free, but to provide the means for its natural development by training the hand."
Ibid p 284, Chap 20

"When a child gives up the effort to express himself with his hand, he hampers the free development of drawing. To avoid this loss, we should enrich his environment with means of expression and indirectly prepare his hand to carry out its functions in the best possible manner."
Ibid p 284, Chap 20

"The education of the hand is particularly important since the hand is an organ of the mind, the means which the human intelligence uses to express itself."
Ibid p 284, Chap 20

Study guide

The Discovery of the Child - Chapter 20

Journal articles

Hamill, S (1999) 'Discovering the Artist Within', NAMTA Journal, v24, n3, p38-53, Summer

Schneider, M (1996) 'Art in Elementary: Is there Enough?' Montessori Life, v8, n3, p20-21, Summer