A fusion of the visual arts and music through the concept of rhythm.
This project promotes youth excellence by placing a fusion of the visual arts and music at the centre of learning. Art defines and clarifies the perception we have of ourselves and the world. Art is an emotional language and a tool of analysis, which beyond words, gives us a deep understanding of reality.
As we think with images, we need to research the way we process images and think. While teaching drawing and painting to children aged 7 to 11, I discovered that, under the spell of music, they instantly achieved the most graceful line control and a deep power of expression. Music and in particular, rhythm, convey so
much emotion that they literally lift our minds into a spontaneous flight across a picture or a task. Music infuses energy, enlightens our whole being with confidence and vision. Listening to music while carrying out an observation to sharpens our perception.
It is fascinating to see some dyslexic children, in particular, expressing their fear of a new task, their frustration through some broken and rigid lines, suddenly let their lines flow to draw with an extraordinary gentleness and precision.
A link between hand and brain is naturally established.
We see with our emotions, we feel, we touch reality with our inner eye or hands. Music sustains this link between hand and brain in its continuous flow. Another key phenomenon is that while the children become aware that they project their feelings through lines, and colours, they create a visual and symbolic code which is more precise than their own maternal language. Through this visual language, they discover the universal and individual elements of their humanity. They analyse as much as they create.
A simultaneous comparison of the rhythm and emotions conveyed by an image or a piece of music, structures their mind.
They soon play with the formal elements of art like a composer able to plan a contrast or the merging of opposite dimensions. They fluently visualise and mentally measure the emotions they express. It is a simple matter of a sustained awareness while organising an image.
The art of looking and painting could be described as a musical and visual rhetoric. Learning how to look and think are the same reciprocal processes.
It becomes as natural as breathing. Spontaneity, depth of expression, and structure are equally achieved.
Béatrice Cofield, Founder of Young Masters of Arts/Enfants des Arts
