In honor of Read Across America Week, the Art room door is decorated as one of my favorite books to read to my youngest students: Beautiful Oops by Barney Salzberg. It sets the right tone for turning “mistakes” into opportunities for new work and is important to artists at all levels.
I have had this quote hanging in my classroom since I began teaching, and I love that I still hear students reading it aloud to their classmates: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
In the Art Studio, students practice critical thinking skills, often referred to as “Studio Habits of Mind”: Develop Craft, Engage & Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Reflect, Stretch & Explore, and Understanding Art Worlds. Whether we are observing penguins or trying to understand Wassily Kandinsky’s musical paintings or learning about the ways of the ancient Egyptians, these powerful thinking “habits” are the backbone of what we do in the art room.