Classroom Art vs. Studio Art

I am an idealist and a creative. These are the founding principles that led me, six years ago to pursue creating a community based kid’s art studio over continuing to teach in schools. But please hear me when I say that I loved my job as a school art teacher. I mean I LOVED my job. I was lucky enough to work at a school that trusted their teachers to develop their own programming and to collaborate with other teachers in different subject areas. Without my public school teaching experience I would have no basis for what matters most in my eyes in art education today. I deeply admire school art teachers who bring the arts to all of our children and are absolutely the brightest light of the week for so many creative kids. 

My vision to create a kids’ art studio was simply to offer more. More drawing, painting and sculpture to the kids who live to create! More hands-on, sensory based, process focussed creativity for the kids who just can’t get enough. With an abundance of extracurricular sports, dance, music and the alike, there has always been a giant hole in extracurricular visual arts. This is why Mill Studio Arts exists. We are a kids’ art studio and that is different from the art classroom, let me explain how and why:

Time: 40 minutes just isn’t enough time to settle in and find a flow. In order to gain the most benefit from an art experience there needs to be time built in to think, make mistakes, start over, add, edit, and consider what comes next. Art is kinesthetic and involves the body and brain working in unison. Art is nuanced and complex. These things take attention and attention takes time.

Student-teacher ratio: Kids need and deserve our attention. Every child is so uniquely different that it is highly unlikely that one adult can attend to the needs, questions and ideas of 25 children. When teachers are stretched thin the quality of the student experience declines. At MSA we have found that a maximum ratio of eight students per one instructor is best for everyone. Not only best for the student experience, but also best in supporting our teacher’s ability to provide the most thoughtful, student-responsive relationships. We know that student-teacher ratio supports student-teacher relationship and this is the foundation for a positive art making experience. 

Process over Product: Typical school lessons are planned with learning standards and benchmarks as the goal. This is where grades come into play. School artwork is produced and measured against exemplars to meet school and state standards. 

In the studio we create because we are artists. We create because we all have something valuable to share. These things can never be evaluated using external measurements. Grades simply don’t make sense in the art studio. We want kids to feel what it’s like to be an artist. To learn in a way that is more true to the life of a practicing artist. To immerse themselves in the feeling of materials, the emotion of color and the possibility of trying something new!

Environment: The studio is our space, not mine. The walls, tables and materials serve no purpose without the teachers and kids who bring them to life. The studio environment allows us to come together, form friendships and play. It is an extremely special place because it is designed to support interaction and connection. Come on over, you can feel it when you walk through the door!