The Artist's Eyes by Jenn Lee

This post is a little off the beaten track from my usual posts, but a topic I think is blog worthy. The topic is about overcoming obstacles and keeping momentum even when you are faced with challenges that try to stop you in your tracks.

You always hear someone you know or even yourself say, “This year has been the worst!” or “Could this year be any worse?” Doesn’t it seem like a constant recording that is replayed every year by someone or everyone? Well 2011 has been my personal year of challenges. I’ve spent the whole year dealing with health issues (don’t worry, I’m not going to draw this out into a personal pity party) that have left me in a wheelchair…hopefully temporarily!

My challenges have affected my ability to work with my sculpting or paint at my easel. At first it left me depressed, frustrated and feeling like every ounce of creativity was being drained out of my soul. But you know what? I found an alternative way to challenge my creativity. I’m not giving up on my sculpting, nor my painting, but finding other creative outlets that still challenge me and allow me to still use my creative/artistic energies until I can get back to the others.

The most difficult thing to do for anyone is to find a way to get around our personal challenges. Whether you have a full-time creative job, a part-time creative job or only a few hours a week to designate to your creative side…overcoming challenges of time constraints, family life, personal battles or whatever may be your obstacles can and must be met. As a whole, we find happiness in our lives by doing what we love, our passions, our interests, our outlets.

So I end this short blog post with a challenge for you readers….try and find some time to do something creative. Don’t let the challenges in your life get in your way. Regardless of your artistic or creative outlet, find ways to overcome whatever obstacles or challenges meet you…it’s a creative challenge in itself, but a challenge worth doing….in this artist’s eyes.

When it comes to my children, I have always tried to nurture their artistic side. I feel that nurturing their imaginations and ability to envision ideas is an important asset for their adult lives. Being able to create, envision ideas will help them in their workplaces as well as life skills.

When my fiance and I were deciding on where to purchase a home, it was important to him that we stay in Oldham County. He felt that the school systems here were some of the best in the area. After living here a year, I feel that I agree with him not only in their education, but in the art opportunities presented to us.

Oldham County Schools Art Center is a wonderful place for children to grow their creative side. They offer classes that touch upon just about every aspect of the arts as well as for any age group. Located in the heart of Crestwood, Kentucky Oldham County Schools Arts Center is conveniently located. They offer classes not only for children but adults as well.  The mission of the Oldham County Schools Arts Center is to provide educational opportunities and arts experiences to families, students, and adults in the county and surrounding area.

Children (and adults) can take classes in the Performing Arts, where they can learn dance, theater and musical instruments. OCSAC has classes in the Visual Arts where they can learn how to work with clay, drawing, painting, Theater painting and even digital photography. They have several galleries for artists to show their talents and a good size theater for their performing arts where they allow the public to see the shows the students work so hard at learning.

My nine year old daughter was given an art scholarship allowing her to choose a class to participate in this year. It was a great honor for her and of course us to see her receive it. She has natural abilities in the arts so it was a little difficult to figure out which class she would benefit from the most. In the end she chose Intro to Clay. In this class she will learn how to form and shape clay, learning basic hand building techniques working with coiled clay, slab clay and even the pottery wheel. This will be an exciting adventure and challenging class for her. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Whether you are an adult or have children, expanding your creativity and imagination is never a bad thing…in this artist’s eyes.

Over the years I have noticed all four of my children have enjoyed drawing and crafts. My fridge, walls and shelves have held many different pieces my children proudly gave me, of course most of these being during their elementary school years. How do you keep them inspired though as they grow up? This has been a challenge at times with some of them.

My oldest son is now twenty years old. Vince is a very good artist, though in his mind he doesn’t see it. He is what I call a mimic. He can take a picture and recreate the image in great detail. Over the years though keeping him inspired or interested has been a challenge. Now at his age, he doubts his abilities and cannot see outside the box.

My youngest two children are avid budding artists though. I average a ream of paper a month between the two! I have to box up artwork to keep from hurting their feelings that “mommy has no room on her display board“. They are content that mommy is saving their art gifts.

How do you keep them inspired though? I have often thought about this after the older two never kept their interests after their younger years, though the talent was able to be seen. Below I have listed a few ideas that might help you keep your budding artists interested in expanding their creative side.

Albums or Scrapbooks:

• Albums or scrapbooks can showcase their art and make them feel like their art is special. It’s also a great way for us to see their development over the years. With a scrapbook you can write a few little notes about your childrens art or what they were doing during this time in life, kind of like an extended baby book.

Cork boards or Displays:

• Buy or make a good sized cork board or display board to showcase your childrens art. It inspires them to create more when they see it up on the wall where everyone can see. I call mine “Moms Museum”. As well each of the kids have their own display boards in their rooms.

Craft magazines or books:

• Buying craft magazines or childrens arts and crafts books are great for weekends, rainy days or days when they can’t otherwise go outside, as well as summer vacation. It also adds to family time when you sit down and do these projects with the children. I have the pleasure of having an art studio/area dedicated to creative messes…did I say that? I meant creative art. My children are always begging for time in the art room. I can also say it inspires me with some of my own creativeness.

Online tutorials or projects:

• The internet has tons of great projects and DIY’s that you can find based on age or level of ability for the kids to create. It has given me great ideas like homemade play dough, self drying clays, baking clays, mobiles etc. They really get excited with each new project and they are honestly usually low cost and tons of fun!

Free websites:

• Almost all internet providers have small, free, easy to set up web pages you can create. If not, there are a ton of free hosting sites that will allow you the same ability. Create a web page for your child. How excited they will be to see their artwork on the internet! You can share the page with your family so they can share in your budding artists work.

These are just a few ways I thought about to help inspire creativity in children. I hope you find something useful in this and have fun with the projects if you choose to join them in some art fun!