Artist Biography
When I first began my college journey, I had my heart set on studying music and performing arts, and was interested in the field of music therapy. I knew I had a passion for the healing arts. During my studio classes, I found myself fascinated with clay. Working with clay was different from other art forms I had previously tried; I found the texture satisfying, and loved the concept of literally transforming my mistakes by pressing, pulling, and smooshing. I immersed myself in the creative endeavors of the Expressive Arts Therapy major with a ceramics minor. During senior year, I was accepted to an internship at Glen Urquhart School (GUS), within their art education program. The work with the kindergarten class inspired a new passion for me; that is, educating children through art. This thesis incorporates my passions, expressive arts, art education with children, and ceramics into one, and includes four expressive art activities for early elementary-aged children, all with corresponding animals made of clay. Each activity is centered around a child development area, including: social relationships, spatial awareness, emotional regulation, thinking, and learning. Associative animals include: a cow for social relationships, a turtle for spatial awareness, a dog for thinking and learning, and a koala for emotional regulation. The animals serve as a fun element for the children to inspire their learning. I hope that this work informs how we can use the arts to support health, wellness, and healing for young children in the classroom.
Thesis Abstract
This thesis explores how the expressive arts can support child development in early childhood education and overall well-being. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how expressive arts can work alongside child development to support learning and overall growth. Engaging in child-led arts-based activities encourages self-expression, supports early literacy skills, and allows children to communicate in multiple ways. Through hands-on creative experiences, children can build social, emotional, and cognitive skills while staying actively engaged in learning. To investigate this topic, I identified four areas of child development based on what I observed at my semester internship at the Glen Urquhart School, specifically in the kindergarten class. The four areas I chose were social relationships, spatial awareness, emotional regulation, and thinking and learning. A variety of materials were used throughout this process, including clay, acrylic paint, and many other mixed media supplies. The procedure for this thesis was conducted in two parts: the development of arts-based experiments and the creation of the final artwork. The art experiments included the design of expressive arts activities and the creation of associative clay animals to represent each developmental area. These activities incorporated multiple modes of expressive arts, including movement, sound, storytelling, ing and coloring. The final artwork included a series of clay figures, interactive pieces, and visual components, including a short illustrated story and a set of four coloring pages. This thesis also explores how expressive arts can support child development, along with the limitations of this project and possible future directions.