Several months ago when visiting the Bay Area Discovery Museum, they had an outdoor interactive painting gallery that was quite possibly one of the most genius interactive installations that I could not stop thinking about and had to bring to life at work.
Since a lot of our time is spent outdoors at our centers, creating an outdoor interactive painting gallery was the perfect solution to create a permanent art space where children could freely paint everyday on sculptures, canvases, statues, textures, frames, figurines and more.
To set this up we used a lot of outdoor garden sculptures/statues/figurines and mounted them onto planters with a cement adhesive. On the fence we upcycled old frames and canvases in all different shapes, sizes, and textures. Lastly on the plexiglass glass we placed different garden flowers, leaves, animals and two sections with nothing to be a blank canvas. For the materials to create we placed two bar carts filled with tempera paint, paint cups, and paintbrushes. It is truly something special when people on your team help create your vision together.
As educators, to see the evolution of a child fostering their own curiosity, making choices independently, and having the confidence and independence to become their own masterpieces is truly magical.
"Your children are not a masterpiece that you create. They are their own masterpiece creating themselves, and you have been given the privilege of watching them be the artist."J Warren Welch.
Process art experiences such as these not only support their intrinsic form of creativity it validates their ideas and work. From all developmental aspects of a child when we let children learn to make their own decisions, solve their own problems, create so freely they feel empowered + confident, and ultimately we have truly honored that "they are their own masterpiece creating themselves."