MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Local resident, Estelle McIlrath, noted the many photographs in Mossel Bay Advertiser of Grade 1s colouring in and doing other exercises during their first week of school and has stressed the importance that children "do art".
She advises: "Get them to observe things and draw and paint them, or depict them in different media. If they are colouring in, they might as well be creating their own artwork from scratch."
Results
McIlrath has been teaching art for about 40 years and has achieved remarkable results, with her students' work being exhibited nationally and also internationally.
She has taught so-called intellectually challenged children and Alzheimer's disease sufferers, who blossomed under her tutorship.
McIlrath has a studio in Dana Bay. If parents and teachers would like assistance or advice, call McIlrath (072 716 6419)
She says children can draw fruit, plants, flowers and more. If there is no art offered at school, they should be encouraged to do art after school or during weekends.
Cognitive development
"Doing art" is integral to their cognitive development, she emphasises.
McIlrath has scrapbooks full of copies of the art her students have done, in many different media and of different subject matter, over the years.
There is an amazing variety of work and it is remarkable the children's ability and prowess when one considers their young ages.
During McIlrath's career she has taken children on many outings to see animals and observe plants. They have painted murals and worked on huge papier mâché projects.
The media they have used include paints, pen and ink, quills and ink, tin foil to make embossed images, clay and more.
The children have produced drawings, paintings, engravings, sculptures, ceramics and more. She even gets children to create three dimensional items from paper.
Useful tool
McIlrath stresses that getting children to produce art serves as a useful tool to assess children's maturity, levels of observation, ability to draw and their sense of colour.
Teachers will be able to see who might be the future make-up artists, hairdressers, floral artists, draughts people, architects, fashion designers and interior decorators. There will be glimpses of the future engineers and botanists.
Which children have the best brain-to-hand communication? This will be revealed.
McIlrath teaches children to observe closely and portray what they see.
She is totally against children churning out hackneyed drawings of how they think houses, faces, animals and plants look, without actually looking at them.
Full potential
"If you want to get to know children and help them reach their full potential, get them to do art," she says.
"It's a problem-solving process."
She says that if children or adults are tired, anxious and stressed, they are using the left side of the brain too much and they need to use the right side of the brain.
"Using the right side helps people become more socially adept and believe in themselves.
"Art helps people to understand the world around them better," McIlrath says.
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
