Picture Collaging with Scissors

Communicating personal identity and understanding of the world can be a difficult process, especially for children who often have trouble turning thoughts into verbal communications. That is why art is such an important endeavor that should be encouraged throughout all children's development. Art is a way for children to use visual pictures and words to communicate how they are feeling inside. For this blog I decided to use scissors and magazine pictures to express my own personal identity and at the same time show an understanding of the world around me. I think that this activity could easily be modified and used in a classroom, to allow children to express their selves as well as to find out their understanding of the world around them. 

Collage
Creating a collage is an abstract process that involves combining different pictures and elements of art together to make a complete whole. It can include words, photographs, hand-drawn pictures, pipe cleaners, bobbles and much more. The only important thing is that you create something that works together as a whole. 

For my personal collage I chose to put in a number of pictures as well as a couple of key phrases that I found to be representative of myself and my understanding of the world. The phrases I used were: where the sky is the limit, be the root, free your mind, and choose your own destiny. For me personally, these represent how I feel about myself as well as how I see the world around me. Racism and all sorts of discrimination still exist and I think they could easily be eradicated if people would only choose to free their mind and see all people as equals (which is not so easily done). For myself though i feel like the sky is the limit and has endless possibilities for all people all over the world. I think people, as well as myself should try and be their own root, meaning they need to find their own ground, their own place and spot in the universe to begin their life. 

When I chose my pictures for my collage I kept with the theme of openness and freedom by choosing open eyes, water (which represents a sense of freedom to me), an umbrella, two colored people (blue and purple) and a picture of the world. I purposely put a picture of the umbrella over the world because I feel like it is our job as humans to protect and care for the world and the people and animals within our earth. I included a picture of a pair of hands holding flowers because I believe that we hold the key to beauty, what we think is beautiful is beautiful. Finally, I put in a picture of a blue and purple person because to me this represents the idea that we are all the same, no matter what our appearance may be. It does not matter what is on the outside, whether we are blue, purple or green, but what is on the inside. 

I believe this art activity could easily be transformed to use in a classroom setting because of the benefits it holds for both the children and the educator. By asking a group of children to use a collage made of pictures and words to represent themselves and their understanding of the world, the teacher and the children can get a better understanding of the kinds of beliefs and ideas that the classroom holds. I think for this kind of art project it would be important and beneficial for the children to bring in magazines from home, to help children to represent the different cultures and beliefs they have at home. 

After completing the collages I think it would be important to have a sharing period where children could explain to classmates why certain pictures or words were chosen for their collage. This can help children to reflect on why this activity was important and also to advocate tolerance. 

After completing this project and blog I feel like I have a better understanding of why art is so beneficial for allowing children to express their thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it is much easier to acknowledge our feelings and beliefs that we carry through art and pictures. Especially for young children, the ability to use words to express feelings is very difficult. Bringing magazines from home and giving children the ability to explore and create in a comfortable environment is an easy way to bring understanding and acceptance into the classroom environment.