Your kids don’t need to be child prodigies to have fun making art, says Skye Wellington.
Do you ever find yourself in an art gallery thinking ‘I could do that’, or ‘actually, my son/daughter (who is currently making the most of all this space by tearing through the gallery, narrowly avoiding pricey sculptures while I pretend not to be their parent – who brings kids to a gallery anyway?) could do that’?
We do. But then we’re not massively educated when it comes to fine art. But this got me thinking – surely we’re not the only ones who have these thoughts?
We decide to have an experiment. Out come the tubes of paint, large swathes of butcher paper and all manner of brushes, sponges and rollers while we all get our gear off (no, that’s not how we roll, but even if we’re wearing Cotton On we don’t fancy dipping into the holiday fund to buy more clothes because of an art disaster). Then the serious business of having fun, getting messy and letting our imagination run wild begins.
Will our free-flow, abstract enthusiasm yield anything beyond a good time? Will our kids become the next Aelita Andre, whose seven-year-old hands are responsible for creating paintings that sell for more than five-figure sums in New York? And is it wrong to even consider that possibility? (Probably.)
Once the paint has dried (and we’ve got our clothes back on), we frame up our results with the help of a little IKEA ‘Ribba’, hang our modest masterpieces and invite our friends over to admire our work.
Can they tell? Do they know these are the efforts of a bunch of novices, or will our attempt at the Jackson Pollock splatter technique fool them all?
In the end, we think, who cares – we had a ball. And like every good exhibition opening, our little gathering is celebrated with bubbles: the detergent-and-wand type for the little ones and champagne for the big kids. Fabulous, darling!
If you want to explore art in a fun environment with your kids outside of the house, try some of the suggestions below.
ARTARY KIDS
With ‘Art Jam’ workshops, camps and parties which involve more than just painting, Artary Kids even has an online gallery dedicated to works produced by children.
artary.sg/kids
MY ART SPACE
Managed by a group of artists for almost 10 years, My Art Space is held in the Istana Park and is designed to be a bonding opportunity for parents and kids.
myartspace.com.sg
ARThaus
Classes are very relaxed at ARThaus, but participants have the option to progress to more formal classes if interested.
arthaus.com.sg
ARTEASTIQ
Enjoy tea and cake while you paint and play.
arteastiq.com
Skye Wellington is the editor of HoneyKids Asia.honeykidsasia.com
