Process vs Product

This is a piece I wrote for my preschool newsletter but the topic is relevant here!

I like to think about the meaning of words that people in a particular field use repeatedly. I call it jargon because the people in the particular field have an agreed upon a meaning so don’t have to define their terms constantly. However there is the danger that the words used over time lose their agreed upon meaning and nobody really knows exactly what anybody is talking about. One of the best practices I learned from my highly impractical and non-lucrative philosophy degree was the necessity of defining terms.(or at least attempting to define them)

In the early childhood and the art education worlds we often use the terms process and product. We agree that for young children process is more important than product. This sounds simple but I don’t think it is. I think it deserves an ongoing conversation.

What does valuing the process over the product actually mean?

Children are constantly making things. The something that they make is a noun. It exists in space. It is a product. The making of the thing takes time and action. The making is a verb. It is a process.

But can we separate the two? In any process of making there is always a something. There is a material that is real, has properties that direct and limit what that maker can do. The maker is changing the material somehow but only to the extent that the physical properties of the given material allows. For example we spent many days this February making floating sculptures/boats to test in the water table. We used sponges, styrofoam, tape, straws, pipe cleaners, string, toothpicks, popsicle sticks and plastic bottles with lids. We used scissors and hole punches. What was the process?

Children attempted to combine materials to make something that resembled their idea of a floating thing. What were they faced with? What has to happen to put pieces together into a whole? How can I put a straw and a meat tray together? Which materials can bend? Which materials can be pierced? Which materials can do the piercing? The plastic tape did not have a dispenser like the familiar scotch tape so how do you cut a piece off? What materials can be cut and which have to be used whole? Very few of these questions were asked out loud but children acted upon the tape, styrofoam, pipe cleaners and with experimenting learned the answers. Children watched each other. So the process became a series of problems to solve in order to make the product.

What was the product?

The products that made it to the water table were varied - straw rafts, styrofoam and toothpick two or three tiered structures, meat trays with taped straws, bottle submarines. Children changed direction midway. Many parts of things were abandoned or incorporated into something else. Testing the craft was the highlight for some children even though the making took much more time. This was an activity that showed very clearly that the end product wasn’t the point (there remain many unclaimed pieces in the classroom!)

However the evolving product was very important to the process. Without that there would be no mission, no direction, no sequence to the process. The goal was the making of the thing! Here is the important idea about children’s products. They are souvenirs of a process that can’t communicate a true picture of the evolving forms in that process. The sequence of problems and the ensuing experimentation is what is important to children’s learning.

A useful way to think about children’s art or general making of things is a conversation between maker and material. A child acts upon a material and the material talks back. The child modifies the action. The material again gives feedback. Positive experiences in art result from happy, playful conversations. We can be surprised at the feedback! We can be curious about what a material will let us or not let us do. Children can have an initial vision of what they want to make and then realize it is not going to happen with that material or that action they are trying. Choose another material, try another action.

Whatever the end product the process has been the learning experience!

Spring Session 2018

Spring is all about painting here! Watercolor, tempera and acrylic. We will get inspiration from nature and fine artists. The last class in the session, as tradition dictates will be outdoor splatter, marble and body painting!

Schedule: Classes are 3:30-5pm unless marked
Tuesday K-Gr 3 3/20, 4/3, 4/24, 5/8, 5/22 (if there is a second class dates will be alternate Tuesdays- 3/27, 4/10, 5/1, 5/15, 5/29)

Wednesday Gr 2-5 3/28, 4/11, 4/25*, 5/9*, 5/23* these classes are 3-4:30pm

Fees: $100 for session, 10% discount for siblings

To Register: send me an email with your child's date of birth and class preference. I will send contact information form for you to bring with fees the first day of class

Artcamp 2018

What: Summer Art Camp is a morning program for 5-11yr olds. Art projects are linked to games, stories, playful physical challenges and experimentation with elements like water, sand, clay, bubbles, earth and air. We do individual and collaborative work with a variety of 2D and 3D materials. The work is inspired by nature, fine artists, the materials themselves, and each other. It’s summer and the aim is to get wet, dirty and immersed in the elements!

When: 9am -12noon

Week 1 June 25- June 29
Week 2 July 16- July 20
Week 3 July 23-July 27
Week 4 July 30-Aug 3

Where: 115 Robbins Rd, Arlington
Camp will be held in the studio down the driveway to the right of the house. Door is on the left. We will also work and play in the yard and at Robbins Farm Park

Approximate Schedule:
9:00 Gathering activity outside and inside
9:15 Meeting and Art Project, free play
10:30 Bathroom and snack
11:00 Walk to the Park, Games (this timing is subject to weather, how much everybody needs an open space to run and the whim of all the artists involved)
OR
Free play at studio

12:00 Pickup at 115 Robbins Rd

Early Pickup: Let me know if you need to pick up your child early. You can come to the park if we are there.

How to contact us during camp:
Studio: 781 646 8880
Ann’s cell: 781 366 5955
Drop off and Pick up: 115 Robbins Rd

What to bring

Bring:
-water bottle
- if raining, a rain coat

Wear:
- hat
-shoes to run in(no flip flops please)
-clothes that can get dirt, paint, glue and more on them(I have smocks)
-sunscreen (please apply at home)

It is also helpful if you eat breakfast and do a bathroom visit before you come to camp! (full stomach, empty bladder)

Snack: I will provide this
-Mid morning snack of some combination of crackers, cheese, bagels, muffins, yogurt, fruit or vegetables.
-Water for the drink.

Let me know if there are food issues

Assistants:
I will have an assistant with me from 10-12 each day. They will help me with materials, bathroom runs, cleanup and the trip to the park.

The Art
Visit my blog for pictures of past projects and summer camp archives. It will give you an idea of the materials I use regularly and the kinds of activities we do at camp. During Summer Camp we will do more with the outdoors and nature for inspiration. Each week will have a loose theme to tie the activities together. Some of the projects will produce products that we can play with outside. Some projects will be collaborative and others will simply be art to look at. There will be free time to experiment with materials.
The media will be a mixture of 2D and 3D.

I’ll let you know the themes later! (Not only do I need time to get it altogether, I also think that a theme does not tell a child what camp’s going to be like)

Registration! Please Read-  send me an email and I will send you the paperwork you need. I am not going to take information by email rather by mail (paper). When I receive a complete package your child will be registered.

Fees: $200 per week per child, $50 due at time of registration, balance due on or before 1st day of class
Sibling discount: 10% off total

The Registration Package
-contact information form
-photo and walk release
-$50 deposit per child per week
-cheques payable to Ann Wynne, address above

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