Professional development with Ann Pelo

During the term break, the whole team attended a professional development workshop organized by Reggio Emilia Aotearoa New Zealand. It was a presentation by Ann Pelo from America on the language of art.

What impressed me the most is how Ann defined art. She described art as an experience with emotional engagement, which involves thinking, feeling and expressing. Specifically, she suggested that art is a verb rather an a noun. So, we should be 'doing' art, instead of 'creating art', the focus of which is the product, an object. What an inspiring way to say the process is more important than the product.

As the process is so important, have we as teachers been doing enough to show respect and support? I ponder. I think, sometimes, we might need to stay around and listen to children when they want to talk about their work. And what else can we do to prepare the environment? Perhaps make sure it is away from busy foot traffic, with lovely music in the background; keep it tidy regularly, and present the art resources neatly alongside plants, natural resources...

Furthermore, Ann believed that art should be more than visually pleasing, and it should also be intellectually provocative, showing the curiosity, confidence, rigor and passion of the artist.

I can relate Ann's ideas with many episodes of children doing art at my kindy. Just like the collage picture on the left. It illustrates a new way of seeing art as a combination of textures, colors, lines, and patterns through collage and drawing. The artist is curious and he plays about with artistry and ideas with confidence. He spent long periods of time to complete the work, thinking, reflecting and adding details, which demonstrated his passion. This is what art is about.


In particular, I like Ann's encouragement to teachers to develop skills and experiences together with children. While art teachers at school specialize in art, early childhood teachers may not have the necessary skills under their belt. But we can competently support children as long as we are committed to learn. Many years ago, I had written an article investigating various ways to support art in the early years. I'm glad that Ann also believes that art is more than the art techniques.

Be courageous next time when being confronted with a blank piece of paper!