Art Lessons build Confidence

Experiencing the creation of art helps children to build confidence through learning positive internal dialogue while learning how to observe their world. Young artists learn how to improve their skills when they receive consistent specific positive feedback of their work during art lessons. For example, while a student is drawing a tree, it is imperative for the instructor to watch for opportunities to praise the work in progress: "That tree is looking really great ~ you're doing a great job of describing the bark with your light and dark lines". Another student nearby almost always pipes in with their thoughts too! "I really like how that looks like real bark!"; and soon all eyes are looking around the table and observing peer works in progress while sharing inspired ideas. A well timed positive feedback enhances success and invites questions and collaborative conversation for all!

Watching, experiencing and doing helps each student to understand and approach problems with confidence as they arise. With art, it is important to learn how to see and how to organize shapes on paper before adding little details. An untrained artist may start drawing the tiny leaves of the tree and become overwhelmed before getting very far with their drawing. After a few positive lessons on how to see big shapes, a learning artist can lightly sketch out a rectangle for the trunk and a circle or oval for the foliage on top and then choose which leaves to draw in greater detail, and what areas can be left for imagination ~ before becoming exhausted! This positive successful experience spills over to other subjects and life skills as art students learn how to see and how to think their way through challenges using their internal dialogue.

It is a wonderful thing to see an art student struggle through making lines on a piece of paper begin to resemble something observed ~ and even better to see over the course of an art session, numerous positive observations become a natural part of the student's own confident internal dialogue.

ShawnaLee Kwashnak, Middlebury artist, Active Girl Scout Leader (2 troops!), and Mom of three, has been instructing art for over 25 years to students of all ages and abilities. She loves sharing her love and joy
of art with enthusiastic and dedicated young artists. It is a special thrill to see a student's work evolve while gaining confidence!

For more information:

artist@shawnalee.com

www.shawnalee.com

Facebook: Portraits by ShawnaLee