The Word Art Is Not Doing Art A Favor

When you ask kids to draw, they jump right in. But when you ask adults, the reaction is completely different. They freeze out of panic…

When you ask kids to draw, they jump right in. But when you ask adults, the reaction is completely different. They freeze out of panic, replying, “I don’t know how to draw.” Many kids don’t know how to draw either, yet adults celebrate kids’ creative work. Why are adults much more judgmental about their own artistic expression? At what point do we draw a line that separates those who know how to do it (artists) and those who don’t? When doodling stops being fun and it becomes something more serious. Something we call art.

If It’s Not Fun, It’s Not Art

Last week, I was invited to an innovation project on how to improve the art experience at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Coaching a group of professors, we embarked on the task of understanding how students relate to art. We realized that there is a love/hate relationship with art. Small chance events, at an early stage, determined on which side of the fence people stood.

Phrases like “this is not good enough,” “You don’t KNOW h…