How to cut loose your inner artist

23
Jul

How to cut loose your inner artist

Creative time has gotten really loud at my house lately, as in my kids are in the habit of yelling while they draw.

And the kicker is I paid money for them to learn how to do this.

More hair! Ahhhhh! shouts my daughter as she adds gobs of hair to her 3-D fish drawing with rapid pencil strokes. Ahhhh! Ahhhh!

All this commotion and real fish dont even have hair.

When my husband and I signed our kids up for Mark Kistlers summer art camp in Grand Rapids, we didnt know he would teach our kids to yell stuff out when they draw, and we also didnt realize we would become his students, too. For a week, Jeff and I sat together with our 5- and 7-year-old daughters in class and followed Kistlers animated instructions to draw fish, dinosaurs, marshmallows, monsters and robots in three dimensions.

Because the parents of the youngest students are required to stay, we all learned to shade and add texture and appreciate that adding hair to just about anything automatically makes a drawing completely hilarious if youre younger than the age of 10 although a bald marshmallow got big laughs, too.

After a week of participatory observation, it seems like Kistlers class is fueled by laughter.

Oh, I entertain myself, he told the class before showing an old photo of himself.

See, no gray hair, he said pointing to the photo and then to his hair that since has turned gray. This is me before children and after children. Before children, after children.

The kids laughed because Kistler was being goofy. The parents laughed for other reasons.

Kistlers expertise

My husband and I decided to sign the girls up for class after reading a story about Kistler in this newspaper. A proven art educator, Kistler has starred in several drawing shows on PBS, and won an Emmy for his work. He also wrote several books: Learn to Draw with Commander Mark, Mark Kistlers Draw Squad, The Imagination Station, and Drawing in 3-D with Mark Kistler. With Scholastic Publishers, his four book childrens series is titled Dare to Draw in 3-D!

The weeklong class was our first exposure to Kistlers high-energy approach to teaching kids and parents how to draw without feeling intimidated or like theyre going to keel over from boredom. Kistler used stuffed animals, pencil power, and silly sound effects to keep students engaged and parents amused.

One of his props is a giant rubber ducky that misbehaves.

The rubber ducky peed on me, Kistler said during one session when water began leaking from the toy. Hes peeing everywhere! Ahhh! … That was freaky!

While using silly jokes and jellyfish with astounding hair growth may seem like a crazy way to teach drawing, it works.

During five days of hour-long sessions, I didnt notice any kids squirming in their chairs. Little kids were paying attention for a whole hour. Kistler entertained them, grossed them out and had them riveted at the same time. And most importantly he built them up with affirming words about their drawings and coached them to take pride in their work in their work. Its pretty great to watch a class of elementary artists motion like they are slicking their hair back and saying: Beautiful! about their art.

Masterfully engaging

I wasnt planning to write a column about Kistlers class, but by the third day of our family attending, I had experienced a bit of a transformation. I entered the class hoping to help my 5- and 7-year-old daughters preserve their love of drawing and expecting to pass the time crocheting in the back of the classroom while my kids did the work.

But Kistler is masterful when it comes to getting parents engaged. His helpers pass out paper to all parents and children, and everyone is expected to draw, so we did. And we had fun. I learned to draw a 3-D T-Rex, a super cute fish, a sea horse and a ninja poodle that can be easily adapted and turned into a fiber-bearing sheep.

Even though Im not thrilled about the fact that my kids are spontaneously shouting out Kistler lines like: Mom, the dinosaurs drooling on my foot! Ahhh! while Im driving the car, I am glad we all went to class together. And dont worry if you missed out on Kistlers camp. Word is that hell be back in town next summer. And your kids also can take lessons from Kistler virtually at draw3d.com.

While I could do with less yelling, Im happy to see my daughters so excited about drawing hair on everything from dinosaurs to jelly fish. It also was a kick to pick up some drawing basics myself. And while Im not going to be applying for a job at Pixar any time soon, it feels good to believe I can draw again. Ihavent felt that way since I was about 9.

Who knows, maybe one of these days, in the privacy of my own home, Ill let loose and draw a fish with pigtails knitting under the sea. And if I do, you better believe that when its time to add the hair Ill be sure to yell, More hair! Ahhh! Ahhh!

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