Finding young artistic voices

Donna Davis has a simple theory when it comes to art and grade school students.

After 18 years as a teacher, she knows they won't all grow up to be Monet or van Gogh. But inside each of them, she believes, is a pool of artistic creativity just waiting to spill out onto paper or canvas or countless other mediums.

All they need is a chance.

"Every kid at elementary school age is an artist," she says, "because their minds are open. They can experiment and get messy."

The joy of helping kids discover and uncover that artist's voice -- no matter how refined it may or may not someday become -- is what keeps Davis coming back to her classroom at Naperville's Owen Elementary School.

And it is, in part, what attracted a watercolor artist such as Hugh Skibbens of Warrenville to come to the school last week to talk to students about his paintings and, more importantly, work directly with youngsters to share some of his techniques.

Skibbens spent three days at Owen showing more than 500 students, among other things, how he creates different textures in his paintings using everyday items like sponges, tissues, a toothbrush and even a credit card.

This is the third or fourth time he's appeared in Davis' classroom; first in Coal City and now at Owen, where she's been teaching for about five years. His appearance was made possible through a $1,300 grant from the Indian Prairie Education Foundation.

That grant paid for both Skibbens' appearance and for Davis to buy supplies students needed to create their own watercolor landscapes using the same materials -- from Japanese paint brushes to watercolor paper -- as the visiting artist.

Skibbens met with students from kindergarten through fifth grade in 50-minute sessions on Tuesday to create a painting from start to finish before their eyes.

Then he spent the next two days working directly with students in fourth and fifth grades as they created their own landscapes to display at school.

During the course of the week, he shared a variety of approaches to give their work texture, from sprinkling salt to scrapping a credit card through the wet paint.

Skibbens says he enjoys talking to students and fielding their questions.

"The more enthusiastic the kids are, the more I get into it," he says.

By showing them how to use household items in their painting, he hopes to demonstrate that "with watercolor you don't have to go out and spend $100 for supplies."

Skibbens says he got interested in watercolor painting while exhibiting some of his oil paintings at a show when he was just out of high school. He was checking out other displays when he came upon a watercolor artist whose work he admired and who inspired him to tackle the medium himself.

Davis says having a professional working artist in the classroom immediately gets kids' attention and gives many the inspiration to experiment with their own painting.

"They get to see someone who's alive and not just in their books or in a museum," she says.

Davis herself is a watercolor artist who does children's murals and even painted one of the dolphins for last year's Naperville Area United Way's outdoor public art exhibit. Having her work on display downtown gave her a little extra cache with her students, she says.

Virtually every kid at Owen spends at least 50 minutes a week in Davis' art classroom. She says both she and most her students wish it could be longer.

But, she says, she couldn't be happier with the commitment to the arts, both at Owen and throughout Indian Prairie Unit District 204. That commitment was one of the things that convinced her to move here so her own children could attend District 204 schools.

Skibbens agrees that artist-in-the-classroom programs are an ideal way to help students tap into their creativity.

"With art, kids can go right home or to another class and it's something they can do right away," he says.

"You don't have to wait to grow up to be an artist," he tells young students. "It's not the same thing with brain surgery. They won't let an 8-year-old do brain surgery, but they will let you be an artist."