I remember George Washington. He was everywhere. A portrait of George was hanging in most of my classrooms until fourth grade. He was portrayed crossing the Delaware as part of the birth of our nation. He is on the dollar bill that we handle every day. We drew portraits of him to put in reports. We made dioramas that celebrated his role as the father of our country. George Washington was a visual icon that helped to teach me about our country’s history and geography, as well as math. After fourth grade, I remember fewer visuals. History was a boring blur — until I began to study art in college.

My art studies introduced me to a different George. This one inspired a renewed interest in history, geography, math and science. I began to learn about the history of the world through paintings, sculpture and costumes. Georges Seurat was responsible for this renewed interest. My first introduction to him was through his painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

This painting depicts people in a public park on a sunny afternoon in France, painted in 1884. His attention to details included the costumes, the landscape and everyday objects that defined the time, place and characters of that period and made me realize that the arts provide a profound historical record of actual events, geography, culture, scientific thought and the mores of any given time. His color theories were intriguing and sparked an interest in science. It was then that I discovered that art is a tool that helps a person build a relationship with the world — a tool that helps instill the curiosity needed to pursue this relationship. “Too bad all my subjects weren’t taught through art when I was younger,” I remember thinking. “Everything would have made much more sense.”

Since then I have become a teacher of the arts to children. My wish is to help my students prepare a creative toolkit that will help them enjoy, appreciate and make sense of the world — to learn to see. Becoming a capable artist is often an additional bonus, but not the focus. Part of this toolkit is developing a relationship with the world through creative activities that enable students to look at the world from many points of view; to instill divergent thinking skills; to think outside of the box. The toolkit includes how to see (instead of how to draw). Then, they learn the how-to of drawing and creating other forms of art by looking at nature, photographs and the objects and people around them. While they are looking, they are making careful observations of shape, size, color, texture and lines in the things they see. When children learn to see, they begin a journey of exploration and observation that continues to fuel their curiosity.

I now teach about Georges Seurat, as well as many other artists. When taught to pay attention to the details in paintings that give clues about the time, place, characters and even the beliefs of an artist, children develop observational skills that make them detectives. They become curious about the people in the painting and want to know more. Looking at art helps spark an interest in history, culture, science, nature, environment and civic awareness. I also use art to interest children in developing creative techniques that enable them to explore, make discoveries, and manipulate and control materials in their environment. Art also helps children discover that there is often more than one solution to a problem.

Observation, exploration and invention are all skills that are developed and nurtured when learning about and creating art. Art helps children make everything make more sense.

Cynthia Hardwicke has been teaching art for 20 years at Londonderry School in Harrisburg. She has bachelor of arts degree in K–12 art from Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. Her students have written and published two award-winning books about Monet and a book about Leonardo da Vinci.

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