Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/changing-lenses-its-all-about-art/5016543/
Two days before I am to leave on a US study tour of Reggio Emilia schools my glasses break. Now, I just need them for reading, but I did not want to miss a single moment of this experience. My new glasses became a metaphor for my journey and its connection to my beliefs about children, art, and learning. My encounters with teachers, artists and children, both here and abroad, who understand that it is all about art never disappoint me. Their classrooms are filled with inspiring ideas and a bounty of visual and tactile delights. Teachers and children are engaged in careful observations and stimulating dialogue about real learning. In these classrooms, children, parents, teachers, artists, and community members confirm my belief that the early childhood experience is all about art. Not art as a noun, a product defined by medium, materials, and size, but art as a verb. Art as a verb honors its original meaning and intent, which is to put things together (Booth, 1997).Here in the United States, our view of art as needing specialized training or our concern with art as something precious or expensive leaves most of us with only an external role ...