The Art Room: a place to teach art and science

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In our modern highly specialized world, the realm of the practicing scientist and that of the artist appear at opposite ends of the horizon. Maybe so far apart on the spectrum as to be bumping backsides.

“Imagination is at the heart of learning,” was printed on our brochures for some years under a photo of a girl caught in the act of imagining. This dedication to creative thinking lead us to the growth of our Art Room, an accepted realm for creativity. In an attempt to get kids to think creatively about “serious” subjects, we discovered the value of the art room, a place where creativity and original thought reign supreme. So it was that our school soon developed two focuses—Science and Art. We wove them together in a tapestry of thinking and seeing.

Once again parents were at a loss, why was this “serious” school paying so much attention and time to Art! To help bring these doubting “academic” parents on board I wrote and posted at an Open House:

Art is for the Small Muscles;
So that some day they’ll be able to write, type, and tie their shoes.

Just what is the relationship between science and art? In the adult, modern world, they appear to be so far apart—the visual artists’ world and that of the trained scientists. But in the more holistic world of the child, art is simply another way of viewing, of understanding the natural world. Just as the artist must develop his “eye,” so must the scientist develop his eye for the fine details of the data. The scientist “knows” from his studies that the lateral line is there to give sensory awareness to the fish, and the artist sees with his fine eye its presence. And whether Jeremy is playing scientist or artist today matters little, for his drawing includes the lateral line. He is learning with all of his brain to look carefully at nature’s mysteries.

“Here, use the brayer a little more to spread the ink out more smoothly.” I say to quiet Tanya inking her first rock cod for printing. “Now you hold the dorsal fin up by this spine and I’ll get the paper centered,” I say as I lower the large sheet of rice paper onto the rock cod. “O.K. now pat it, but gently so the scales don’t get mashed. Right! Are you ready? Think we got it all?” As she pulls the inked rice paper up off the fish, I query her, using the anatomy terms we’ve just learned in Science. “How’s that dorsal fin looking? Can you see the lateral line? Did we push in enough along the pectoral fins?”

Perhaps it will take two or three tries, printing is indeed a fine art, but year after year whole classes of little people took home a fish print worthy of any well appointed wall. By keeping it simple, one colour, only one or two types of fish, using quality though affordable materials (rice paper in rolls is far cheaper than it is in sheets) and taking our time to go slow, to discuss the process, helping one child at a time, we were able to create an artful representation of one of nature’s creatures. All were impressed with how the prints revealed each fish’s true beauty—just exactly what we teachers were trying to teach! LOOK, look carefully at these amazing creatures, how beautifully they are made. And so science flows into art as art teaches science.

Helen Defosset was the Founder and Director of a private Pre-School/Kindergarten for 26 years. Teaching in inner city primary classes and pre-schools preceded a move to the country. A rural mountain community with no pre-school ignited her dream to start a school, one that really teaches. This article is from Little People’s School, a book in progress about that school.