by Sally Treadwell

Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.
-Robert Motherwell

Does your kid think that Caravaggio is a guy on The Sopranos? That Man Ray is a poisonous jellyfish? That Martha Graham is a snack cracker? That he should say “Gesundheit!” when someone mentions Tchaikovsky?

Go ahead and laugh, but, according to Americans for the Arts, the organization behind this attention-getting ad campaign about the lack of art in schools, those amusing scenarios are scarily close to the truth. So who cares?

Heck, we all should. Involvement in art of any kind has been shown to improve children’s overall academic performance and test scores. According to one study, students with four or more years of art and music education under their belts scored 59 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT and 44 points higher in math. Art also fosters creative problem solving, visualization and communication skills, and helps kids to become more open and express themselves.

One 11-year study concluded that low-income children who participated in arts programs were far more likely to do well academically, win awards and be elected to class office. Another showed that after-school arts programs decrease negative behaviors and improve attention span, commitment and tolerance.

What’s more, business and tech writer Daniel Pink posits that now that many traditional money-earning skills like accounting and computer programming are being sent overseas, right-brain skills could actually be more useful and have greater earning potential. Being able to think creatively, to see relationships and connections and the big picture, to create better design through empathy with other people’s concerns—that’s where the future lies for a lot of our kids, he says. Check out his theories in Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

But more importantly, experiencing and creating art makes for a much fuller and richer life. It’s just plain—well, fun. Eye-opening. Invigorating. Thought-provoking.

And so, if your children don’t get much art at school—and even if they do—make sure that they get lots of art, all kinds of art, with the family.

Experiencing Art
The memory is still vivid. There I am, seven years old, sitting enthralled in a darkened theatre and breathing in heart-stopping adventure and romance, thrilling heroes and villains, and glorious music. And blinking as I startled back into the “real” world; and then hugging the experience to my heart, walking around in the intensity of heightened possibilities for weeks.

Live theatre, dance and music are quite simply the closest thing you can currently get to a magic carpet ride. Movies are great, but they don’t come close to the living, breathing reality of performance and the collective stillness of a totally engaged audience. And art galleries and museums present an unparalleled smörgåsbord of visual excitement. Prepare your kids while they’re tiny with books and “starter” performances.

Some of our favorites for kids: the Peking Acrobats, should they come to town, are absolutely jaw-dropping, and if your kids are sufficiently wowed they can join the Atlanta Jugglers Association. The Atlanta Symphony has neXt Generation concerts (look for The Heartbeat of Music), Young People’s Concerts (try Symphony Street), and, this month, live performances of Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery—one of the fabulous Classical Kids series that weave snatches of classical music into a story by way of introducing kids to classical music. The Legacy Theatre gives performances to inspire and classes to give your kids their time in the sun. The High Museum hosts a variety of programs to make art accessible for kids—Discovery Backpacks, special family tours, Studio Saturdays and Second Sundays.

Go to artsinatlanta.org, www.southsideartsagenda.com, www.just4familiesonline.com/links for links to performing and visual arts venues, or try artrelish.com, and rejoice in the multitude of choices that a big city offers.

Looking at Paintings, Sculptures and Drawing
Don’t ever feel that you have to doggedly check out every picture and sculpture in a museum or gallery, however limited your opportunities to go there. You’ll just get mental indigestion. Instead, teach your children to find a picture that whispers to them and then sit down and look at it until it shouts.

First they should think about what it says to them; then read the title and see if it gives a clue as to what the artist was thinking—and then look again. Meaning is almost always layered. Sometimes an artist is telling a story, particularly in classical paintings. In portraiture an artist will often incorporate little jokes or sarcastic comments on the sitter. Look at the clothes, and at animals, books, and other props in the background. Many a patron has realized too late that his protégé was being subtly snide!

Abstract and modern artists, however, often want you to forget stories and look in a completely different way.

“Silence the ‘reasonable critic’ inside that wants to translate a painting into words,” said painter Alan Tompkins. “Just experience it. Don’t break the spell.”

Every individual will like, or not like, a work of art in a different way—to some people a Mark Rothko painting is a meditation, to others it’s a waste of space—but you should teach kids to look at everything with eyes and minds wide open.

Nor is art confined to special exhibitions. Your children should look up and around. Architecture is art; so is the stone facing on an old bridge, or an arrangement of found objects on a windowsill. Look for line, for beauty and contrast, for barely-seen details.

Making Art
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way—things I had no words for.’ — Georgia O’Keeffe

Bliss, when you’re a year or two old, is grasping a big fat crayon and discovering that it makes marks. Or squishing up a big wad of play clay and finding that you can make a snake. One brave playgroup we went to encouraged toddlers to play with—sorry; experience the texture of—vats of cooled spaghetti . Very satisfying!

Be sure to have plenty of art materials always available for your kids and a space they can be messy in, even if it’s just the kitchen floor, layered in newspapers. Strip little ones down to a diaper if need be and prepare to plonk them in the tub if they use themselves as a canvas. Look at everything as grist for the mill—Sydney Wishwell, 12, says that one of her favorite art projects ever was a sculpture made from carefully woven and balanced twigs.

Remember that art for children should be about the adventure and wonder of the where-will-this-take-me-next process, not fretting over a perfect end product. “I finally figured out that I was helping them to make take-home gifts for their parents, not teaching them the craziness of creation,” said one art teacher who promptly turned her class on its head to great effect.

But while much of art should be child-directed and spontaneous, good art classes should also be part of the picture, giving them the tools to translate their thoughts into a medium. Learning about proportions, relationships, and shadow and light gives them a strong foundation, a little like learning multiplication tables before designing a car engine. It also helps them to look—really look—at the world.

Music
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”—Plato

The correlation between music and academic achievement is extremely strong; so strong, in fact, that the schools that are the highest achieving in the country (academically speaking) spend 20-30 percent of the day on the arts, particularly music. Music indisputably improves the spatial-temporal reasoning necessary to understand mathematics. One study found that almost of all the foremost technical designers and engineers in Silicon Valley are also practicing musicians.

Even if you’re not musical yourself, it’s easy to give kids the recommended daily dose.

• Fill your home with jazz, classical music, swing; whatever you like. The Classical Kids series is a wonderful way to introduce children to Mozart, Bach et al—my daughters will still sign the Queen of the Night’s fantastic PMS-y aria at the drop of a hat—or find a good recording of Peter and the Wolf.

• Sing frequently with little ones and help them learn to keep the beat. Any number of parent-child groups have Circle Time, or get together with your friends to sing a rousing chorus of the Wheels on the Bus and march around the room. And no purchase necessary—encourage them (sorry!) to bang on upturned pots while you’re cooking.

• Music lessons, either through school or privately, are important. Follow your child’s interest. If he yearns to play guitar, piano lessons may just become a hated chore, and vice versa. If money is short, ask a local church about chorus.

Dance
“Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.”  ~William Stafford

If there’s one book that my kids always loved to hear, it was “My Mama Had a Dancing Heart” by Libba Moore Gray. Mama always found a reason to dance, whether it was a “frog-hopping/ leaf-growing/ flower-opening hello spring ballet” or a “body-flat/ arms-moving-up-and-down/ snow-angel/ hello winter ballet”. The book’s irresistible cadences would inevitably send my kids leaping around the room and out into the yard. Twirling and humming come pretty naturally to all little kids and Mama had the right idea about dancing.

Formal dance training teaches many of the same lessons as music along with high-energy physical coordination and flexibility. Ballet helps kids to achieve proper posture and strengthens their legs; it’s the foundation of many other types of dance. Tap dance instills a great sense of rhythm. Jazz dance has all of the above, plus extra pizzazz. But then there’s also contra dancing, belly-dancing, Sabar, Flamenco, African dance, Latin dances like merengue or salsa; hip-hop or modern dance. And don’t think dance lessons are just for kids—many dance schools have parent-child or mother-daughter dance classes, and you’ll be setting a great example for your kids if you dance joyfully and often with your spouse or partner.

Get Your Full RDA of Art
No way, no how should the arts be an optional extra. If your children’s school is pushing arts aside to make time for “academic” classes, be vocal about getting art and music lessons reinstituted. And bringing art into your everyday life can be as simple as singing together while you’re cooking dinner, or reading a library book like Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars—but consider it as necessary as Vitamin C.

Make “Stained Glass” Hearts for Valentine’s Day
Here’s a Reuse, Recycle project for V-day. Gather up all those broken crayons and stubby ends. Peel off the wrappers and either grate the crayons or shave them with pencil sharpeners, depending on the age of your kids (tiny fingers and sharp graters don’t always mix!). Lay a protective layer of newspaper on your ironing board, add a sheet of wax paper, and scatter the crayon shavings over it—enough that, once melted, they will cover the entire sheet. Place another sheet of wax paper over the top before you (or your child if they’re old enough) carefully iron it until the shavings have melted. You can blend colors to achieve some really beautiful effects. Once cooled, cut into hearts of varying size and punch a hole into the top of each heart and attach a ribbon hanger to make a gorgeous sun-catcher gift.

Making V-Day Dinner Special
Romantic Valentine’s dinners à deux often go by the wayside once kids arrive, but that’s no reason not to make dinner special. Have your kids spread a lovely cloth on the table and then scatter heart-shaped glass pebbles and confetti (look in craft stores) and a spattering of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses across it. Light red or gold candles and get out some pretty wineglasses for toasting each other with sparking peach juice. Teach your children how to set the table with your nicest silverware—remind them that the knife blade should always face in and a salad fork should be offset against the taller dinner fork.

Then serve dinner in courses for extra elegance. For instance, if you usually have a side salad, serve it as a first course instead. Add a garnish to the entrée. Strawberries dipped in plain melted chocolate and allowed to cool make a luxurious, but relatively healthy, dessert and can double as a simple centerpiece.

Send a Valentine To the People Who Love Our Community
Is Valentine’s Day all about romantic love—or, as one witty single mom we know sourly puts it, Singles Awareness Day? Nah. It shouldn’t be, anyway.

This year, put a little love into our community, too! Send a Valentine, plus a check or a promise of a few volunteer hours, to one or more of the organizations that put heart and soul into loving our community and making it better.

Here are a few of our favorites. Let us know what your favorite organizations are so that we can include them next year.

Humane Society
404-875-5331
www.atlantahumane.org

Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity
www.schabitat.org

Fayette Senior Services
770-461-0813
www.fayss.org/

Henry Arts Alliance
770-460-1604
www.henryartsalliance.org/

Noah’s Ark Animal
Rehabilitation Center and Children’s Home
770-957-0888
www.noahs-ark.org

Fayette Council on Domestic Violence
770-460-1604