Guest: 5 reasons to get creative with the kiddos

Often we think of art-making as a solitary endeavour; championing the artist who has quirky flare, honed skills and an emotive perspective. But art and creativity can be deeply collaborative and connecting. The process of creating in company stretches far back into history and is well worth resurrecting into the modern family.

Lets kick-start with the disclaimer that family in this context is wide scoping and definitive of anyone you care about it, it might include spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends or flatmates or your favourite aunty. Now we have that cleared up let me share five reasons you should make art with your family and how it will benefit you.

1. Connection

Perhaps it sounds a little obvious but art-making is a great way to connect with others. There is a number of ways that creativity promotes connection; the first is that it becomes a shared experience, an external “out there” activity that is active, energised and personal. You can choose a process-led or a form-based activity that is adventurous, familiar or appeals to the family’s interests. Art-making inevitably has its ups and downs; as the unpredictable eventuates, you get stuck on a difficult step or the outcome was completely left of field. These are all moments to problem solve, empathise, delight or humour together and are all foundational blocks for building deeper bonds.

2. A creative way to work on the tricky things

Whilst creative activities can be a great means of building connection, they can also bring some of the tricker parts of the relationship or individual traits to the surface. Any difficulties with a competitive nature, sharing, impulsivity and self esteem are sure to arise. The temptation is to avoid difficult things. Avoidance is human and sometimes knowing how to tackle them is half the journey. Art making can be a great way to indirectly and enjoyably work on tricky things. Sometimes sharing goes unnoticed in the pursuit of a creative masterpiece. Considering the type of art making, like the process and the materials, as well as the relational context will help you moderate challenges and approach them in a manageable way.

Reducing things to a practical length for this blog post, there are 2 key things to consider:

• whether working parallel or collaboratively is useful to your or your family. The former is when each person creates their own artwork on paper or in form if it’s a sculpture. The latter is when you are all working together on the creative project, perhaps it’s a shared drawing on large paper or you’ve conspired to build a spaceship from your recyclables, either way there is usually a central artwork.

• whether your art process is form or process led. Form based artwork means there is a recognisable product or outcome; there are expectations and sometimes a methodical process to making. Process art is wholly focused on making art as an exploration. The point is to explore the art-materials, to play with them (make marks, textures and gestures without it looking like anything) and to be expressive; there is no expected outcome; although sometimes you do end up with artwork.

If you find family art sessions are too fiery, stressful or you have deeper experiences of difficulty and emotion in the family it may be useful to recruit the help of a trained art therapist.

3. Momentos and legacy

The physicality of art is a wonderful consequence to process and I feel part of the reason why we place so much value on arts many forms. Photography for example is an incredible medium to encapsulate a fleeting moment of time and all the feeling and importance encoded within it. Other forms of art making contain memento and legacy but in a different way, they instil a moment of expression, perception and creativity. If you make art together, then sometimes you have the delight of the memory of spending time together but you also have the physical outcome of that. Real life treasure!

4. No words needed

One of my favourite reasons to make art with others, is that the interaction doesn’t rely on words but feels just as connected and nurturing. Sometimes we just don’t have the words and whilst sitting in silence on the lounge is okay too, silences often go unnoticed in the richness of art-making. Art can be a perfect activity if you and your family are experiencing loss, grief or big change and words just don’t seem to cut it. If you’re looking to artmaking for whiling away time in quiet company together, choose activities and materials that you have some mastery over and are soothing rather than challenging.

Painting on glass is another fave art activity. We’re lucky to have this interior window we love to paint! A glass sliding door is great, but the shower is perfect, plus easy cleanup is the best part! (aaaand contained mess if there are toddlers involved!)

5. Play and spontaneity

When I interviewed Cat on the Art Muse Podcast one of her biggest values of her creative work was celebrating play. It is a powerful experience to be able to wash away stress and support connection. Play can involve crawling around on the ground as characters from the last read storybook but it can also be found in creative activity. Playful art making is all about leaning into the process and exploring. Hold expectation loosely and set up a safe environment where everyone feels comfortable to try things without any judgement or ridicule.

Are you convinced?

If you would like to listen to more on this topic you can listen to my episode on relational artmaking on my Podcast Art Muse here. I also have an amazing episode interviewing Cat Timms here. I have some freebie practical suggestions for family art-making on this blog post too AND excitingly, I have a guide for a whole year of family artmaking, with an activity a week and a whole lot of information to get you started on a creative and connecting art journey with your family. If you need some financial relief use the discount code artmusefamily52.