sam's take on art

Sam knows that I teach my students about art. Lately, he's been wanting to have pretend school sessions, and I am often designated as the teacher. Sam lines up his stuffed animals (his fellow classmates) and we have discussions about sundry topics. We often talk about upcoming holidays, different types of weather, letters in the alphabet, or numbers. And we'll usually end up talking about art for at least a few minutes during each school session, which is fun.

As a result, Sam has shared a few of his own opinions about art. The other week I asked Sam what was his favorite type of art, and he immediately replied, "Mummies." I had to laugh, especially because he was so sure in his response. A few months ago we were looking at one of my survey art textbooks, and he noticed images of King Tut's sarcophagus (including the mummy mask shown on the right).

Sam has also informed me last week that statues can't be lots of colors. They are "just white." I guess he really is a part of Western culture, if he already realizes that marble is preeminent around here!

Today in "school" we talked about where people can display art. He quickly agreed that art can be displayed in a house and in a museum. (He gets most excited to talk about art being in museums, since we take him to the local art museum fairly regularly. His favorite place to go is the African art section, since he likes to look at the masks of animals.)

Anyhow, after a little bit of discussion today, Sam finally agreed that art also can be displayed in a park. But he said, "Yeah, art can be in a park. [Pause.] [Grimace.] But it will get a little bit dirty." Ha! Either he was born with (or has been taught) my aversion to uncleanliness, or perhaps we have a future curator/conservator in our midst.