Things Fleeting... the Value of 'Temporary Art'

I'm forever touched and amazed by what you might call "temporary art." From the mystical beauty of Sand painting to the fragile spectacle of Ice Sculpture. -Jim Victor

As with all brilliant ideas this was discovered by accident, and boy what fun it was!

The children were creating up a storm, as usual, and those fun bingo dabbers were a part of the fun! Although those bingo dabbers are lots of fun, it tends to be a bit limiting. So, when one of the children drew a bit 'off the paper' I wondered what it would be like to draw on the floor. So after a bit of a test, to see if it washed off... and it did so we went to town! 

 I love the illustrations that were exhibited in this process. They were very purposeful, and thought out. It was as though the children realized that they were engaging in a special moment. One that was fleeting, and one that needed to be savoured.

 The children were involved in the cleanup process, and that seemed to be as crucial to the creativity as the actual drawing. We loved using the spray mop that was full of vinegar, helping the bingo ink to wipe right off.

 This was my own personal illustration that started the process. The child is erasing it, telling me it 'isn't good enough'. This was a reminder that the children wanted this to be their own creations, and that's fine with me.

We did discuss that our school floor was the special floor that we could create on, we did notice that it was different than that of our floors at home, so there was a definite distinction between the things we do at school and the things we do at home, so no worries moms and dads, there shouldn't be any illustrations on your floors at home.

These 'whole body arts' or 'big arts' is another unique was to incorporate Gross Motor play into our art, plus it was so much fun! 

I also wanted to share this lovely selection about the value of 'temporary art'. 

'Children begin exploring their creativity at a very young age. You can give a one year old a chunky crayon and he will discover that he can make marks with it, and that his actions determine what the marks will look like. From these earliest scribblings until about age five or six, and sometimes beyond, children's art is process oriented. This means they are more interested in the creative process, than in the eventual product of their work. A young child may spend 30 or more minutes at an easel with different colors of paint, and end up with what looks to an adult like a field of mud. Don't think the time was wasted. The child has been experiencing the feel of the brush and learning how different strokes look on paper.'

Margaret Christy