Art as Play

 Art as Play

When we were little children we were usually allowed to use art as play. Daubing random colours on paper, our surroundings and on ourselves. As a proud parent I would treasure these artworks and display them then carefully store them away. A reminder of just how brilliant and creative my children were. 

Then came art as representation and we were all doomed to the voice of the inner critic, the outer critic and comparison. Much of the joy was lost from the process.

Let’s revive creativity as joy and process. Let’s play with colour and shape and marks without being marked by anyone. Stop caring about the outcome and play with process. Let’s express emotions. Just say ‘Ooo’ or ‘Ahhh’ when colours come together. ‘Wow’ and ‘Woo’ when a line goes down on paper. ‘Yay!’ and ‘Hooray!’ when we’ve made a big blobby squiggly mess.

So what if it goes straight into the recycling? We’ve captured something that could be more valuable than great art. We were there, in the moment, having fun, letting go.