Creative Play as an artist

Creative Play as an artist

    I read Eliza Pitri's book, Art Education, and found that the creative play she emphasized time and time again was all contained in the simple example given just above. It is that adults often look at children playing and say, “Now, do you want to stop playing and do something else?, is a dangerous question that blocks emotional and social growth before reaching adulthood. She described play as a very serious area from an educational point of view (even using the word business). In other words, it is an essential learning medium.

  This is essential for children's education and growth, and it was argued that play-style learning should be introduced to the entire curriculum, not limited to a simple recess time in the curriculum. To underscore this importance, she cites as an example that by the age of 4, children can learn everything through play without any additional instruction. This kind of play is spontaneous and creative, with unlimited freedom without any restrictions. In other words, in her words, “there is no extrinsic goal, motivation is intrinsic.” Therefore, it is said that even teachers or parents should play as friends without intervening in this. This is because at the moment of intervention, play is distorted and controlled, and passively with someone's notice. She believes that because play occurs with familiar objects and follows her search for unfamiliar objects, she gives meaning to her actions and gives her self-control. The goal of this creative education is to enable children to make choices, communicate their choices through play, and receive feedback from others.

  At this point, I remembered an experience when I lived in Germany. In the town called Waldstadt where I live, the Waldorf School was very close. I often passed the Waldorf School or took a walk there. However, I noticed one strange thing. The children were playing outside every day. And they used to show off what they made while watching me pass by like a wonder. I asked her husband on a walk, ‘Is it okay that you guys play like that every day?’ And later, I was surprised to learn that the school was attended by outstanding German Nobel laureates and artists. I play like that every day, but when did I study and get the Nobel Prize?

​ However, according to Sponseller (1974), as the starting point of Eliza Pitri's artistic and creative play education was to identify the positive contributions that play provides to all stages of life and all areas of development, I unknowingly confirmed the positive contributions with my own eyes. It has been counted. To sum up, Eliza Pitri's creative play uses the spontaneous, free, self-exploratory, intrinsic, and communicative attributes of play itself among the functions of play that can make a positive contribution throughout life to solve problems occurring in the educational field. It means to use it as a medium that can be used.

  The limitless freedom of play and the capacity for unconventional creative forces are once again confirmed at the Victoria School. I wanted to know the driving force of this school, astonished by the fact that a university that had been in ruins due to a simple low enrollment rate has now become the best art university in North America since 1985 when Bob Maskell took over as principal. Principal Bob Maskell converted the school into an arts-oriented school and actively employed professional artists. And it has changed children's education from tedious paper and pencil learning on a desk to space education that takes place on a playground, auditorium, or stage under the leadership of a professional artist. In free spaces, children develop a greater sense of ownership in their learning experiences, as knowledge is not acquired as a collection of facts, but rather within the context created by a theme or story. I especially like Sherrl Cleland, art teacher's words, using art as part of 'practice' should be as natural as breathing. Music, fine arts, drama, dance and literary arts make the teaching and learning process three-dimensional, more realistic and therefore more meaningful.

In fact, through a project called The Space Between, they share the thematic characteristics of the gallery's current exhibitions and experiences between visual artists and viewers, performers and audiences, students and professional artists, and develop themselves as true artists. This is the same point of view in that Eliza Pitri's creative play utilizes the multifaceted advantages of play, but in Eliza Pitri's case, there is a difference in that professional instructors or artists are involved, unlike Eliza Pitri's play, which excludes external factors as much as possible.

  In my opinion, in childhood, Eliza Pitri's play classes help develop children's creativity, but for students who have to step into the jungle of direct socialization as adolescence, I think the Victorian school style professional education is more suitable. This is because Victoria School engages experts, but participates as a partner sharing the experiences of student-led projects, so I think it is a good way to systemize it to some extent rather than leaving it as play itself without a separate system, even if it is creative play. . It's just that using the aforementioned art as part of your practice should be as natural as breathing.

 Finally, I am very happy that through creative play I have found clues and evidences that will give meaning to my artistic activities. Through my painting work for the past 10 years, I have created a philosophy that painting should be natural, spontaneous, free, spontaneous, interactive and accessible like play. This is the result of a combination of failures, trial and error, and rewards that I have experienced through painting. In that sense, I am currently concentrating on creating natural patterns using the baluns meshing technique. I needed a name for this job. And I feel very lucky to have discovered the name of my work.