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Eight-year-old Sebastian Dean is participating in an exercise as part of an education program based on artist Shantell Martin’s new exhibit at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, Mercer County.
The activity involved drawing something inspired by a prompt chosen at random out of a jar. That drawing would then be combined with contributions from others who participated in the activity to create a large mural.
The picture Sebastian is drawing includes a feature that is similar to a Droste effect, where it shows a picture within itself. He said the smaller picture was supposed to be the Mona Lisa. He said he likes art “a lot” because it gives him a chance to make new things.
His mother, Melissa Dean, said that it was important to nurture Sebastian’s interest in art.
“It gets him doing something new at home,” Dean said, adding that Sebastian also draws with his father. “I think it provides that quiet, meditative time for him to just draw, whether it is drawing or coloring or doing clay art.”
Drawings by 5-year-old Richard Van Pelt (left) and 8-year-old Sebastian Dean connected as part of an activity from which a mural was created with contributions from visitors to Grounds for Sculpture, related to their new exhibit featuring artist Shantell Martin. (P. Kenneth Burns/WHYY)
Tiffany Allen, director of education and engagement at Grounds for Sculpture, said parents are enthusiastic about their children having the outlet available to them each month.
“They love knowing that when they come that all the materials are there and that freedom to create is there,” Allen said. “They don’t have to bring anything, just themselves and they can just run with it.”
Studies have long cited the benefits that arts programs outside of the traditional classroom can have for children. A 2013 Australian study found that students who participate in outside arts programs have higher school motivation, engagement in class, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Another study published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences suggested that initiatives to promote arts engagement in children may improve children’s self-esteem.
Allen said that the museum wants the community to know it is a resource for children.
“We go to the schools, different back-to-school nights. We go to the art teacher conferences,” she said. “We make sure that we stay connected so that they know that we are a place where you can come and that where art lives and that you’re able to just immerse yourself in that.”