Creativity: Coloring Books?

Loving this multi-colored horse and especially
how the brown mane becomes the brown cloud!

When I was getting my degree in Art Education, I was warned against the many evils of coloring books. Ha. No, seriously I was. Apparently they kill creativity because they tell a child the way something is supposed to look (instead of allowing them to come up with their own way of representing it) and teach them to color inside the lines "or else." I'm not entirely certain where the "or else" comes from but I suppose it means or they get in trouble or they'll disappoint or maybe it means or they will lose confidence because they'll recognize that they're bad at what they were supposed to do. I'm grasping at straws here honestly because after having kids, I discovered that coloring books are not in fact "evil." I resisted, as I had been brainwashed, I mean trained to do. I tried to refuse to allow them in my home but somehow they crept in. And I discovered that my 2 year-old loves scribbling all over Elsa's face (get free Elsa printables here). She gets so excited to have a piece of paper with her beloved princess on it, and that excitement moves her to pick up crayons and go to town. And she is thrilled with the results. Sometimes she pokes holes all over the page with a pencil. Sometimes she ends up ripping the center because she goes over the same spot so many times. Honestly, she's doing exactly what she should be doing in the manipulative stage of art development (usually in ages 2-4 or 5). Experimenting with art materials and making her mark on the world. I'd prefer she do it on a blank page so it's all her, but whatever gets her to start experimenting has got to have some good in it, doesn't it?

See how she even carved her name in the side?

Take my 4 year-old. She's currently making her mark everywhere - her bed cover, my wall, a
squash from the farm, whatever she can find. She scribbles, she creates, and she is so proud of everything she does. And she gets super excited to color in an outline of Tinkerbell I print out for her (find some here). Sometimes she tries to color inside the lines, developing her fine motor skills and sometimes she lets loose. Also, she often will bring a coloring book to me and ask me to color with her, on the same page. It is a fabulous bonding moment that always ends in giggles as our crayons collide. It's not about the end product, it's about the process. Is it promoting creativity? Perhaps not, and I guess that's where the supposed "evil" lies. But is it laying a foundation of art experimentation? A habit of adding color to the world? A love of adding their "mark?" Yeah, I think it does.

Grid drawing might not be the most creative way to
draw but super famous creators like Chuck Close 
have used it to create their paintings and it didn't
 keep my daughter from giving Iridessa her own flair! 

I do think there are situations in which coloring books can cause problems. Those would be ridiculous situations in which a child is marked down or criticized for not coloring inside the lines or for "doing a better job." Or when an adult or older child deflates their happiness by informing them that Elsa's skin is not supposed to be purple and that the sky should really be blue. Have you ever seen that happen, whether it's with a completed coloring page or a unique drawing? Oh it's so sad. So just as money is not the root of all evil, the love of it is, coloring books are not the problem, we are. Our response is key. Our attitude may just determine whether they pick that crayon up again or not. Coloring books can be a vehicle to get a child excited, especially one who lacks the confidence to confront a blank page because they don't yet have the skills to properly compose what they see in their heads. It would be a problem if coloring books were their only exposure to "art making" (And don't even get me started on adults calling their coloring in the recently trendy adult coloring books "art"). Coloring books can relieve tension and can be good-old-fashioned screen-free fun. In fact, I'd venture to say that coloring books only squash creativity when we take the creative part (i.e. purple-skinned Elsa) away as an option.

Argument for Arts #1: Opening Our Eyes

"To my young friends out there: Life can be great, but not when you can't see it. So, open your eyes to life: to see it in the vivid colors that God gave us as a precious gift to His children, to enjoy life to the fullest, and to make it count. Say yes to your life."  -Nancy Reagan

The United States, the country most in which most of this blog's readers reside, is a nation that has been cutting funding for arts education for years. Why? Well, quite frankly, it's not going to be on the test. And it's not on the test because it's not deemed to be essential. While I heartily disagree, it's probably more important that my view is supported by countless studies conducted by people who are much smarter than I am. (For a quick overview, check out the 10 studies compiled here). I am an art educator, so my bias is clear. But my background also means I see first hand what art can do to improve our lives.
So thus begins my series: Argument for Arts. The arguments that follow in this series aren't necessarily ranked in order of importance because that's just not something I'm up to doing--but I have to start somewhere.
Argument #1: Opening Our Eyes.
A study of the arts by adults and children alike opens the eyes to a better understanding and appreciation of the world around us. Why do people go to the theater? Because it allows us to see a life, a situation, or an event from somebody else's perspective. If you're the actor on the stage, the only way to adequately connect with the audience is to fully understand the character yourself--to see the world through your role's eyes. How do they feel in the situations that are presented to them? The performing arts teach us, both as actors and audiences, to see--and feel--from a different perspective. Is there anything this world needs more of than its inhabitants to have this skill? (Not to get too controversial here but, for example, think racism and acts of violence towards and from police). I mean, amazingly enough, the uber-popular musical "Wicked" has inspired international throngs to feel sorry and root for the "Wicked" Witch! I certainly never saw that coming after "The Wizard of Oz" scared and frankly scarred me as a kid.
Photography is another apt example. Photographers learn to see what others overlook, or aren't patient enough to wait to see. In a really cool way, you could say that their camera becomes your eyes. I may never get to see Antarctica in person, but professional photographers Michael Snedic and David Burren have. Just look at their photos! Breathtaking. I can see what it looks like without getting off my couch. And thanks to them, I now want a pet penguin; although, I could also blame that on having read Mr. Popper's Penguins as a kid.
Then take my forte: painting. My grandma once told me how her painting teacher had asked her to look at a tree out the window and tell her what colors she saw. My grandma said it was green. Her teacher responded, "but how many shades and variations of green do you see? I see dozens!" Wise words. I see so much more variety, so many more marvelous details, and so many more colors and shapes than I did before I spent time painting them. My husband often asks me to point out different colors I see in a shadow or a cloud. He then squints and gets excited when he can see them too. Without my art training, I'd never see this deeper beauty. On family walks, I tend to be the one who points out a funny-looking bug or a cool-looking rock on the path--but only because I've been trained to look. And because of this training, I am able to see the beautiful in the mundane and I appreciate the richness of my life so much more! Sure, it might drive my kids a little crazy when I pull the car over and point out an amazing cloud formation, or tell everybody to stop what they're doing and notice the way the sun is highlighting that crazy-shaped mountain. But I don't want to miss it, and I want to train them to see it too.
Whether it's to appreciate the beauty in the world that surrounds us or to better understand the lives of our fellow humans, we all need our eyes opened in a way only the arts can accomplish.