What Does An Artist See?

Art-O-Vision: Seeing the World Through Artist Eyes

By Molly Anderson-Childers

What does it mean to see the world through artist eyes? It means seeing things a little differently than your family and friends do. It means weird thoughts, a thousand and one questions, crazy ideas, and wild imaginings. Where others see a cloud, the artist sees a hummingbird, a rocket-ship blasting off, a bull-frog on a lily pad in the middle of a big sky-blue pond.

Developing Art-O-Vision means seeing beauty in unexpected places: the noble face of an old woman in her garden; the blue-grey feathers of a mourning dove; a simple sunflower. You may look at an old magazine or a pile of junk mail and see trash… the artist in me sees a thousand possibilities for creative projects: images to sketch or write about; words to use in poems; stamps, shells, and a button for a collage I‘m working on.

Art-O-Vision: A Found-Art Collage by Molly Anderson-Childers. This piece combines fun lettering techniques with collage, creating an interesting depiction of the theme.

Making a Marvelous Mini-Collage!

Try out your Art-O-Vision now, and we’ll make a collage together. First, you need to look around your house, classroom, or backyard for interesting things to include in this piece. Photos, stickers, leaves and rose petals from the garden, a note from a friend, and an old postcard can combine to make a marvelous mini collage! Survey your world with artist eyes, searching for interesting words and images, and fun little objects found around the house. Coins, little dolls and toys, bus tokens, buttons, beads and shells can all become part of your art project.

Once you have gathered some interesting words, pictures, and objects to play with, cover a table with newspaper and begin! First, find a base for your collage. Postcards work really well for a base for a miniature collage because they are fairly sturdy, and often lovely to look at. Put the postcard face-up, then begin arranging things on it without gluing them down. Move everything around and look again…. Which way looks better? Try turning it upside down, or rotating it to see which way suits you. Keep playing with this collage-in-motion until you find something you like, then glue everything to the postcard and allow it to dry. After a little time has passed, take another look at your masterpiece. Ask yourself, “Is this finished? Does it need something else to make it complete?” If it is done, great! Hang it in your room or give it as a gift, then go make another one!

If your project isn’t done, what do you do? First, turn on your Art-O-Vision and take a look around. Walk around your house a few times, then wander to the yard, collecting anything that catches your eye. Stones, dried beans, seeds, and rice, and tiny toys can give your collage an extra dimension, and an added feeling of depth. Fabric, feathers, and ribbons or soft yarn can create interesting textures that make your work fun to touch and hold.

When your collage is done, use your best and most creative handwriting to create a cool signature for your work on fun colored paper, or cut out letters from a magazine that spell out your name. Maybe you can make a title or name for your collage, too! Glue them to your collage, and you’re officially an artist! Make as many as you like and put on an art show for your friends!

And, of course, you know the last step of ANY art project: clean up your mess! Don’t leave glue and glitter all over the kitchen table, please! It creates tension within parental units, and may result in severe yelling! (Trust me, I know from painful experience!) If you decide to ignore my advice, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Creative Writing Corner

Mix It Up: Bringing Poetry and Visual Art Together

Looking for a fun way to play with your words? Just combine your poetry with painting, collage, and drawing. First, let’s look at combining a poem with the project described above. This will make your mini-collage even more marvelous! Write a short free-verse poem or haiku on cool, colored paper. Glue it to the center of a postcard, then collage around it. You can also write the poem on the back of the postcard to create a double-sided poetry collage. Just add ribbons, beads, and stickers along the margins of the poem, like a picture frame. On the other side, create a collage that is linked to your poem somehow, with the same theme or some words and images from the work itself.

Try painting a poem in watercolor, then painting scenes, symbols, or characters from your poetry around it. Or use your talents in drawing, sketching, and cartooning to create cool lettering for your poems. Center the words on a piece of thick drawing paper and carefully swirl and curlicue them. Add stars, flowers, and animals to your letters if you wish — just have fun with it.

Seeing with artist eyes is not so difficult… it is simply a way of looking at a problem from a different angle or a new perspective entirely. Art-O-Vision, when used often, can help you to imagine other points of view much different from your own… a valuable skill for any artist or writer. Essentially, seeing the world through artist eyes will help you begin to work magic, creating projects and poems from the ordinary stuff of life, from your wildest dreams, and even from thin air, where nothing existed before. Abracadabra! •

© 2006 Molly J. Anderson-Childers. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Molly Anderson-Childers
Molly J. Anderson-Childers is a wildly creative soul living in Durango, CO. She is a writer, artist, and creative arts instructor. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fort Lewis College with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, and successfully completed their Elementary Teacher Education Program. Her work has appeared in various publications, including The Durango Telegraph, Southwest Colorado Arts Perspective, Images, Voice Be Heard, The Four Corners Business Journal and On the Wings of Poetry. To contact Ms. Childers, please email her at: stealingplums[at]yahoo.com or send a snail mail to P.O. Box 4281, Durango, CO 81302-4281.

3/22/06