Children Conditioned to Create Images Essay

No one exists outside of culture, and it is a difficult thing to be a true nonconformist in art, whether one is a child or an adult.

To truly tap into a deeper wellspring of creativity requires a child to feel as if he or she has a free space to imagine, without the pressures of creating art as it 'should' be done. Encouraging children to draw a 'house that looks like a hat' or asking children to color in a picture of a strawberry in 'every color but red' is one way to urge children to avoid their desire to conform to adult expectations, to do what their friends or doing, or to indulge in the satisfying predictability of routine.It is less the desire to please adults, or even the pressures of adult assignments that inhibits children: children like routine; they often like the same bedtime story, cartoons, and food. Adults must show warmth and trustworthiness so children will feel they can take risks in art, whether that means risking making a mistake in clay, or coloring in a person's face with a purple crayon......