Guerilla Art!

Art Word of the week: Space
Space: "is determined by the size of the canvas, be it paper, cardboard, wood or a shoe box." (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009)

I used the word space to describe my Guerilla Art as it is associated with the spaces in my building where I have left my mark. I have used much of the negative space in my building and filled it with the little post that is on the right. I used simple and clean spaces to place the image as it will draw more emphasis to the message, rather than a busy space to cluster it from being seen.

For the focus of my Guerilla Art Blog, I wanted to provoke some thoughts for some of the residents who live in my building. I have been living in this building for as long as I could remember, and growing up this building has been many things. It's been a magical palace, a giant house, a game, a dangerous enemy base, a cat-walk runway, a grocery store, a school, a stage for performances, a home, and a secret fort with many hiding spaces. While I was growing up, this building of many things had once had it's own park where my sister and my brother and I used to play at when the weather was nice out. But at some point in time, the building management decided to take down the entire park, and even put up signs for "no loitering" around the fence.

Right now, I have a little godbrother who also lives in my building. He is now 6 years old, and has made many friends with other children who are residents here. Every weekend several of the children of the building gather at the lobby to play together. Every so often, I will see them laying out their coloured pictures (that they've ripped out from their colouring books) and placing a "10 cents" sign beside it for adults to buy their drawings. Other days I may seem them hiding behind the lobby couches and using it as a fort. Unfortunately there is also a "no loitering sign" at the lobby as well and quite often the management or the supervisor comes to "break-up" their play experience.

I simply do not understand why they've decided to take down the park, and yet prohibit the children who are residents of the building from playing indoors.

AS A RESULT, the children in my building are deprived of the same childhood opportunities that I had when I was younger, and they simply have no place to play.

As early childhood educators we know how important the role of PLAY is to children's learning. And therefore, I have decided to focus my GUERILLA ART for the children of who live in my building.

These are the signs that I have placed in the lobby anonymously for people to read. ( Of course I had to do this discretely as this is probably considered some act of vandalism!) My hopes is to provoke thought for adult residents in the building who have children regarding a concern that may have gone unnoticed or forgotten.

After I placed the signs up, I watched the residents of the building who had walked into the lobby. Many people stopped to look and read what was there, because it was so emphasized due to the low amount of stimulation created by other areas of the lobby. I placed the images on top of the elevator buttons, so that people would read it while they wait, as well as inside the elevators.  I also placed this on the front door of the building, and the mail-box bulletin board. Because I posted these images right before children came home from school, I was able to see the reactions of both children and their parents. Almost everyone who entered the building stopped to read the post, and I hope that it has done what I originally intended it to do-to provoke thought in residents who may have not noticed this issue.

Insights for Early Childhood Education
Like children who scribble on walls and furniture, adults also must tune into their creative sides once in a while and leave a mark where it may matter to them. Here I have left my mark around my apartment building in the hopes that someone will think about an issue that I have considered as an issue for the children who are residents of my building. By tuning into our creative sides, early childhood educators can remain inspiring to children, and can encourage children to respect their own creativity, as well as those around them.

Reference:

            Schirrmacher,R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.