The Artist

Mindset in the
Early Grades
ANABELLE A ARENA
COURSE PROFESSOR
Art first begin in the mind, with artistic skill we create what is seen
in the imagination.
A. Inspired by Daily Experiences
and Encounters
1. Exposure - The ability to see beauty every day does not
appear out of thin air; rather, it often takes someone else
explaining to us how something simple and commonplace
can be beautiful and in terms that are appropriate for our
developmental stages. Students will need to be exposed to
artwork that celebrates the commonplace over the course
of several occasions before the lesson sticks.
A. Inspired by Daily Experiences
and Encounters
2. Context - Beauty depends on the context-we know it
when we see or hear it, but when something is framed
within the right context, it suddenly appears beautiful.
Conversely, when something is placed in the wrong
context, we do not perceive it as beautiful. The trick, then,
is finding the right context for what we wish the learners to
appreciate.
A. Inspired by Daily Experiences
and Encounters
3. Age - Educators will need to tailor the experiences they
have planned for young learners so that they both
communicate the lesson while holding the learners'
interest.
B. Constantly curious
While curiosity is often cited as a characteristic of
scientists, it is also an essential part of being an artist,
Where a scientist is curious regarding the how and why of
natural phenomena, an artist should be curious regarding
how to make beautiful things given a set of limitations and
parameters.
C. Open minded
“Open-mindedness," is the willingness to be exposed to
new ideas and to consider them on their own merits. It is
the quality of not being "locked down" by a particular set of
rules or principles for the sake of tradition, but rather a
willingness to wrestle with ideas and ways of doing things
that might be very different from our own-all with the
attitude of learning new things to add to one's "toolbox" of
techniques and perspectives.
c. Open minded
Some areas where an open mind is an artistic asset are:
1. Lack of resources
2. The idea of perfection
3. Criticism
D. Art as Authentic Self-
Expression
Art can be defined as any expression of the inner desire to
create beauty. Art is art because the artist wishes to
express something.
E. Art as self-expression
Expanding this concept, we see that teaching art is not
limited to a simple technique- the how of art- but must
also include teaching it as a means of students to
communicate feelings, experiences, interests and desires-
the why of art..
F. Valuing authenticity
Wrapped up in the mind and heart of an artist is a desire
for affirmation that some outside validation Artists want to
know that what they want to express via their art has
indeed been expressed.
Validation the artwork can feel like personal validation. As
a result, there might be strong desire to simply imitate the
work of others for the sake of the validation it brings.
G. Enjoyment in the process
An artist must enjoy the process. This is why artists will
endure long, lonely hours of drawing a pattern by hand, for
example, or create sketch after sketch after sketch in
repeated attempts to understand the visual physiology of
something before committing it to a more permanent
medium.
1. Can comic books be considered "art"? Why or why not?
2. Can designing a slide presentation be considered an
"artistic" process? Why or why not?
3. Can editing a video to upload onto the Internet be
considered an "art process”? Why or why not?
4. Can editing a photo on your phone be considered "art"?
Why or why not?
Reference:
Tizon and Ignacio (2021) A Course Module for Teaching Arts
in Elementary Grades. Rex Publishing House. Manila,
Philippines