Then there is the instinct of making—the constructive impulse. The
child’s impulse to do finds expression first in play, in movement,
gesture, and make-believe, becomes more definite, and seeks outlet in
shaping materials into tangible forms and permanent embodiment. The child
has not much instinct for abstract inquiry. The instinct of investigation
seems to grow out of the combination of the constructive impulse with
the conversational. There is no distinction between experimental science
for little children and the work done in the carpenter shop. Such work
as they can do in physics or chemistry is not for the purpose of making
technical generalizations or even arriving at abstract truths. Children
simply like to do things and watch to see what will happen. But this can
be taken advantage of, can be directed into ways where it gives results
of value, as well as be allowed to go on at random.
And so the expressive impulse of the children, the art instinct, grows
also out of the communicating and constructive instincts. It is their
refinement and full manifestation. Make the construction adequate, make
it full, free, and flexible, give it a social motive, something to tell,
and you have a work of art. Take one illustration of this in connection
with the textile work—sewing and weaving. The children made a primitive
loom in the shop; here the constructive instinct was appealed to. Then
they wished to do something with this loom, to make something. It was
the type of the Indian loom, and they were shown blankets woven by the
Indians. Each child made a design kindred in idea to those of the Navajo
blankets, and the one which seemed best adapted to the work in hand was
selected. The technical resources were limited, but the coloring and
form were worked out by the children. The example shown was made by
the twelve-year-old children. Examination shows that it took patience,
thoroughness, and perseverance to do the work. It involved not merely
discipline and information of both a historical sort and the elements of
technical design, but also something of the spirit of art in adequately
conveying an idea.
One more instance of the connection of the art side with the constructive
side: The children had been studying primitive spinning and carding, when
one of them, twelve years of age, made a picture of one of the older
children spinning. Here is another piece of work which is not quite
average; it is better than the average. It is an illustration of two
hands and the drawing out of the wool to get it ready for spinning. This
was done by a child eleven years of age. But, upon the whole, with the
younger children especially, the art impulse is connected mainly with the
social instinct—the desire to tell, to represent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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