Art education offers safe haven, visual literacy growth

There’s a saying that goes “The EARTH without “ART” would be just “EH.” I believe that most people would agree with this statement, but as an art teacher, it is something that I take very seriously.
 I would like to focus on this idea with the role that art education plays in a student’s whole education and life.
To prep myself for this article, I reflected over the 20 plus years I’ve been teaching art. I also gave my students the opportunity to write down the reasons why they felt art is important to their education. From the note cards I gathered the main topics included these: creativity, a place to relax and relieve stress, hands on experiences, useful for life long skills, self-expression and criticial thinking.
I could go on and on about all the benefits of art education. I guess I would say that helping students learn to be more creative, to problem solve and to think critically while being self-expressive using techniques and skills are essential for the future globally.
As a child I was blessed with parents who encouraged my love of art by allowing me to “be messy” and give me the supplies and tools to experiment. I was also lucky to have an excellent art education here at Imperial Grade School and Chase County High School.
The art room was always a safe haven for me. My art teachers, Mrs. Beavers in elementary and Mr. Haneline in high school, provided an environment where I felt at home and I knew from a very early age I wanted to teach art. Because I was given the opportunity to have art class at least once a week at an early age, I gained a foundation of knowledge and skills that would soon turn into a lifelong love for art.
Currently, students at Chase County Schools still have the opportunity to have art class once a week at the elementary level and then in high school as a daily class. There are many schools that do not provide the time, budget and support like our school does.
The community has also played an important role in the support of the art department through donations and encouragement of our artists and their projects. I have had the opportunity to work with extraordinary administration and teachers in our district over the years that have also supported the art department.
 One of the most important things for me as an art teacher is to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for students, like I once had. It is not uncommon for some of my students to ask, “May I stay in the art room all day?” I have to smile because in my heart I understand what they are feeling, but I also believe in the importance of all subject areas.
I have found now more than ever that students feel pressure and stress at different levels, and for many of them art gives them the opportunity to express themselves and tune out the rest of the world. Also, our world today requires an increased level of visual literacy, which is simply the ability to read or interpret images. Students access their information through visual images more and more every day via social media, printed material, YouTube, etc.. Their ability to interpret and use this information is a critical part of their citizenship.
An intregral part of my students’ experience is working with all kinds of media. That is what they use to create their art like pencil, watercolor, oil paint, collage, clay, etc.  I encourage each student to at least experiment with as many supplies as they can. They work both with 2-D and 3-D art which enhances their experience in many ways. We were lucky to add an airbrush station to the art room this year.
So, parents, I implore you to allow your children to “be messy” and give them art supplies to have the opportunity to work with their hands and use their minds in a creative way. Hopefully in the future their “EARTH” will not be “EH” because it will still have “ART.”