On Creativity: A Sample

I so often get asked about 'creativity' in my home. What curriculum do you use? Do your children take art classes? How do you get your kids to be so creative? Do you schedule in art time? I thought I would try to show you a bit with just one little sample...

We recently watched Wagner's Siegfried  (Part III of The Ring Cycle). Three evenings, three acts, all nine of us, four and a half hours of opera. The rich, lavish Metropolitan production of Wagner's epic music was magnificent.  And every one of us loved it. (Okay, Act III was a bit, er, sensual for our taste - but there you have it, that's Act III for you.) When you experience something so profound and beautiful and epic and otherworldly, it is only natural to want to continue the experience...

Kateri peruses the liner notes

to remember and live it and have it move you still.

Side Note: One nice advantage of watching opera on DVD is the subtitles! So easy for even Kateri to follow the gist of the plot. A funny: as we were discussing the Gollum-esque scene where Siegfried is able to know Mime's thoughts, Michael couldn't figure out how he knew that this power came through the tasting of the dragon's blood. How did I know that? It's not in the text. he asked. From Rush! was the obvious reply, for we had indeed once again read one of our favorite chapters from The Saturdays before watching Seeg-freed. (How could we not?)

Lively discussions about the music, the singing, the conductor, the scenery, the cast, the costumes, the makeup, the interpretations - so many aspects of the performance were talked over as we remembered bits and pieces and our favorite parts and the things we didn't like. The fabulous forging of the sword (how does he sing while swinging that hammer against the anvil?), the dreaded symmetrical boils on Mime's head, the eerie glow of the writhing Erde, the 'artistic license' of the interpretation of Fafner - so very much to talk about!  There is jolly joking as Dad waves a sword around singing Notung! Notung! at the top of his lungs and perhaps there is a mother singing dramatically as she bemoans being awakened from her eternal slumber by her Wotan husband. Parts of the score are looked at by musicians, the orchestral music is blared through the house, little girls play dress up and swathe themselves in scarves being alternatively Erde and Brünnhilde. We have people young and old singing to each other in operatic fashion, making up lyrics on the spot to sing an epic song or to ask to pass the butter.

So when Kateri woke up the next morning and declared she wanted to make a Siegfried scene, I knew I just had to stand back and watch her work her magic...

Do you mean out of paper?

Yes, that would be good.

Would you like a folder to hold your set?

That would work nicely. Thanks, Mom. I like that. Then it can stand up.

Here's the colored paper for you.

The bottom should be green grass and I'm going to make a pond with fish in it. I'll get the scissors and the glue.

Would you like this tree I made for  you?

Oh, yes! That's nice! Thank you!

I have to get to work now. Just call me if you need anything else.

There has to be a sun and a moon and I could put on some star stickers...

I made the Wanderer and Siegfried and Alberich and Mime the ugly dwarf. I gave the Wanderer lots of bling because he had sparkly stuff on him in the movie. See his eye patch? And his big floppy hat. I gave Siegfried his sword Notung and he has his horn and he has boots. I made the singing bird a bluebird. He can sit on the tree branch. Alberich was sort of greenish. How do you like Mime's hair?

Kateri, I love Mime's hair. It's perfect. And I love his tattered clothes.

Would you like a little twig for Wotan's staff?

Thanks, Mom. That's great. He can stand up against this rock.

I made the dragon really, really huge because he is a big fierce dragon.

He has to have fire coming out of his mouth so I'm making lots of red fire.

Can you help me glue on the little bits of orange fire? It's really tricky.

I would be happy to. Just show me where you want them.

Kateri, would you like to use this gray packing paper? We can scrunch it up to be Fafner's cave.

Oh, yeah, Mom. That's really great. I like that. Now he needs lots and lots of gold for his treasure.

I'll find you some gold bits. And here's a gold envelope flap I saved - you can cut it up for more treasure.

Thanks, Mom. Look, I made a big gold ring!

Look, Mom! Siegfried is getting ready to slay the dragon!

When we feed our children on beautiful, rich fare it naturally produces fruit. We don't need to prod or cajole or press or probe. We simply nurture a little bit.  Just like when we read 'living books', our children can't help but want to live the books. It's a natural, intuitive, organic process that occurs when we encounter the stuff of life that moves us. We want to live it and breathe it and touch it and taste it; we want to hear it over and over again. The books we read and the music we hear and the natural world around us we explore and everyone and everything we experience becomes a part of our very selves. And from the wealth of all we encounter pours forth the outflow of creativity. We just have to watch and wait and water and let it grow. We make a path for it to flow. We delight and wonder at the outpouring.

And that's a little sample of how we do 'creativity' in our house.

Comments

[Katherine]

My eldest introduced our two youngest boys to Wagner productions on you youtube. Soon our 4yo year old was taking a hammer and small metal sword and hammering out the rhythm perfectly while singing "Notung! Notung! Niedliches Schwert!" He belongs to little homeschool choir and after the first session when I asked him how he liked it and what they sang, he told me and then added disappointedly, "But we didn't sing Siegfried." If you ever get a chance you should read Willa Cather's "Song of the Lark" - the main character becomes a Wagnerian soprano.

[Nadja]

Oh, wonderful! Kateri is just brilliant...I love her little set!

I may have to rent the Ring Cycle...I don't know if the kids will sit through it (in fact, I find Wagner a bit heavy and have never sat through the complete opera myself!), but maybe the myth will draw them in. With our German background, it ought to be required curriculum here...

Hurrah to your creative crew!

[Phyllis All Things Beautiful]

Beautiful. I love how you have described the process. It is exactly the way it is in our house, except that I have resisted making parts for my boys because I had thought that it should be all their own creation. I see now that my helping would just assist in the creative process, not take away from it. Thank you for giving me bit of wisdom.

[Kimberlee]

Katherine, what a wonderful story! I can just see a four year old Siegfried...
Nadja, I don't even really like opera! But we all enjoyed this so much. It was so nice to have the subtitles, and we only watched one act a night. We borrowed it from the college library - you might want to check your library or use interlibrary loan if you need to. And yes, Kateri is really something. You should see her paper Etsy shop...
Phyllis, sounds like you have a wonderful creative household! Josiah especially used to make so much out of paper when he was little...

[Josette]

I enjoyed watching your little Kateri work...it came out so nice. I love her dragon! You do indeed have creative children!

[Martha in SD]

I too agree this was a great narrative. I enjoy seeing your creative household. I do have some questions. How do you manage all of the creative "stuff" in your house? How long do you keep things that your kids create. How do you decide what to keep or not keep? Do you keep a supply of "whatnots" just for this reason, and if you do, how do you manage the "clutter"? How do you balance school with the creative moments? I know, that's a lot of questions. But, I do appreciate any advice you can offer.
Staying close to God,
Martha

[Kate Wicker]

Wow! Thank you for sharing these beautiful, creative glimpses of your life.

[Ellen]

Wonderful post. I love the concentration on Kateri's face - very intense.

[Rebecca Williams]

Thank you for the post. Our family likes to watch movies on Sunday evening together. It can be difficult to find truly good ones however and wonder if you would ever make a list of your recommendations. We read so much during the week that Sunday movies are sometimes a way to give our mouths a little break. :)

[Lindsay]

LOVE it!. I'm so inspired!

[San]

Absolutely fantastic! We've been reading tales from The Knights of The Round Table, this sparked an impromptu "play" with Lego pieces taking centre stage. Benedict and I happily re-enacted one of our narrations, it was the best twenty minutes I've spent in a long time!

San

[Celeste]

Thank you for this glimpse! It was a blessing for me to read.

[Elissa]

Truly amazing.

[regan]

i'm drooling over all this creativity going on here...we are deficit in that area right now...*sigh*

[Faith]

I love this "explanation" of how you homeschool. My eldest is nine; and we have homeschooled from the beginning-- we read, we cook, we play; like your family they are very creative and artistic. Of course I always second guess how we go through our day-- your blog is so encouraging!! ...and my oldest boy is named Josiah... if only you were close so I could get some knitting lessons!