Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Garbage sculpture

Jack brought home a "garbage sculpture" today from preschool. It was basically a paper cup with two que-tips sticking out of it held there by play dough. It was a nice little piece of abstract art. He was real happy with it.
When Jacob saw it he was intrigued. Jacob thought all the stuff was neat but wanted to know what it was. Jack replied, "it was garbage sculpture." Jacob asked again, "Ya, but what is it?" Jack repeated his answer. Jacob could not comprehend it wasn't something. I could see that he just needed to be something. He suggested to Jack maybe he should draw a face on it so that it could be a bunny, but Jack said no its a sculpture.
I can see both strength and weakness in Jacob's struggle to understand the garbage sculpture. His strength is that he works towards a complete representation of something. He needs the practical, concrete; he can use that to achieve much in life. His weakness is his struggle to understand why anyone would create something that does not attempt to represent reality. He is potentially missing great beauty in the world just because it isn't "real."


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