I learned a long time ago that children keep you honest and help you see the world through a much simpler, beautiful point of view. They are fearless and curious. The world is still new, interesting and valuable. They are more than conquerors; they are unconditional givers of love and friendship and unspoiled in their optimism. Anyone who has spent time in a creative activity with children know that creating with kids can be interesting and challenging.
I started my art teaching experience at a summer vacation bible school (VBS). There was need to help in the art and crafts club and since I was known to paint a little, I was immediately recruited. Can I tell you that the enrollment of a church body is proportionate to the enrollment of their VBS? Small churches have reasonable sizes classes of children to work with while larger churches have class sizes that can be compared to an overflowing bucket of slime. Needless to say, I had the challenging experience of volunteering for a larger VBS enrollment. There were kids everywhere and corralling them was like herding cats. It was a frightening experience that I did not re-experience.
However, there was something that struck me about that week. It didn’t take expensive materials and professional equipment to inspire those children to create things they would be proud of. Construction paper, glue, glitter, popsicle sticks and paint created a world of inspiration. And when a space has inspired 2-3 people, the inspiration is contagious. I’ve seen this environment recreated time and time again at VBS, art fairs and art classrooms around the planet.
In my own home, I have a small classroom where I teach art classes and sewing/needlework classes. Students ages 5 through 20 have taken lessons in this space and although my enrollment has been as little as 2 students, the results are the same. Kids, when given the right environment and supplies, are very creative. They willingly dive into the each project with gusto. Not all projects turn out to their liking, but they are not discouraged and they don’t quit. They are open to trying what new experience lies ahead.
That is a lesson I have taken well to heart over the last 20 years. It’s easier to be critical and give up on something than to keep moving forward in my creative efforts. I’m one who gets bored pretty easily and needs new challenges. I thought I had to stay with one or two mediums to become an expert, but I just never had the attention, persistent…I don’t know – commitment to get to the expert level before growing tired and bored with something. What I did learn about myself is that by giving myself a chance to try new things when I was inspired to, I have developed a pretty decent level of expertise in a variety of crafts and skills over the years. I have a pretty good eye with a camera, can draw and paint things that people want to own, can created pretty much anything I can imagine with a crochet hook and have made some nice quilts. Its taken more time to master the wood shop skills but my latest bowls are very nice and the tables my husband and I made this year were so nice that someone ordered one.
Crafting is not always about becoming an expert, but about the process of learning how to do it. Each and every project has moved me towards better work, work that I will proudly share with other. Like those wonderful children in my art classes, I don’t exercise a critical eye that discourages my work anymore, but use it to help me improve my craft. I no longer look at new mediums and crafts as something that is out of my league, but as new experiences that will make me a better artisan, a better person. If I can take the things I learn and share them with others, whether through gifting or teaching, all the better. If what I create brings joy to others then there is no challenge out there that isn’t worth the effort.