Youth Art Month Exhibit Displays the Benefits of Art Education

By Catie Donlon

Where can you find dancing penguins, magical castles, Egyptian masks, and a fire-breathing Chinese dragon all in one place? At the Youth Art Month Exhibit, the possibilities are endless.

The annual student-exhibit is open from March 5, to April 15, 2014 in the Steeplegate Mall and is displaying the artwork of first to twelfth graders from all over the school district. Paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, ceramics, and photography will all be exhibited, allowing us to see the variety of unique ideas that our children have to offer as well as the benefits our art curriculum is providing students.

Art is more than just a hobby or something to decorate a house or fill a museum with.  I would argue that art has the capability to give people happiness and the tools to solve the problems of the future. As members of the Concord School District, we are lucky to have the art program that we do, with numerous classes, talented teachers, and this yearly art show. However, as a society, we need to change how we perceive art and better understand the positive impacts it can have in education.

Unfortunately, art and creativity are not currently valued to the same extent as other subjects like math and reading in our society. Examples that demonstrate this point include the structure of our current curriculums. Graduation requirements at Concord High School require four English credits and only half an arts credit. The standardized NECAP test that students take to measure the achievement of our schools has three sections: math, reading comprehension, and writing. In addition, the Common Core State Standards that New Hampshire has adopted set mathematics and English language arts expectations for schools, but do not address the arts.

Although math and reading should be emphasized because these skills are important for all people to have, I truly believe it is just as important to have the ability to be creative. We live in a complicated world. There are economic crises, government shutdowns, global climate change, cancer, and poverty, and there are no definite right or wrong ways to solve these problems. I believe that those who have the ability to think critically in new and adventurous ways, will be the ones to tackle the problems of the future.  But as students are continuously graded and evaluated based on whether they answered questions correctly or incorrectly on tests, they are not being encouraged to discover innovative ways to solve problems independently. High scores on math and reading tests are not going to cure the world of its troubles.

Therefore, we need creative people with all forms of intelligences including logical, interpersonal, visual and musical. We should be encouraging this variety of intelligences through teaching our children in more holistic ways that include art education.  

Art allows students to be critical problem solvers and to learn from their mistakes. A prompt for an art project can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways, and these interpretations are all “correct.”  One of my favorite parts of taking an art class was seeing how everyone made a unique piece of art while answering the same question. In a ceramics class I took, we were assigned a project to make a box out of clay.  The results included a box that looked like the Empire State building, a whimsical Dr. Suess-like box, a flower-shaped box, and a movie-theater popcorn box. When all interpretations are valued, students can also feel more affirmed than in other classes. This feeling is important because everyone deserves to feel like they are worth something.

Art can also be beneficial for the social and emotional well-being of children, as it provides an outlet for emotions and expression.  Social and emotional learning and development is important to children because cognition and emotion are inextricably linked to one another. Research has shown that people cannot learn to the best of their ability when they are not able to understand and deal with their own emotions. Through art, students can explore their feelings and ideas through different media, and the act of creating can help their overall well-being.

As the Youth Art Month exhibit is now on display, we have the opportunity to see the benefit of art in schools for ourselves. We can see the creativity of children and the joy that art can bring. As members of the Concord School District, we should value and acknowledge our art program for all of the good that it does and should provide it with more support. By going to this show, appreciating the art in our community, and supporting our students’ passions, we are encouraging the future generation to continue to be creative.  Together we have the ability to shift our society’s view of the importance of creativity and art in a positive direction. I know I will be at the mall, and I hope to see you there. 

Catie Donlon is a 2012 Graduate of Concord High School and a Tufts 2016 Undergraduate Biology Major.