New to Waldorf and would like to set up an art room in my house

[jayamy]

Hi, we have decided to go the Waldorf direction and I have always tried to set up my art room Montessori - like. So now that I am switching, is there anything I need to know? Do I need to put all the colors together when arranging pencils, etc. scissors, glue, paints, etc..

Any advice would be great. I don't have an actual classroom I can look at until the fall, so I have no clue.

[LuxPerpetua]

Is there a way to set up a Waldorf art room?  I'm not being snarky but I didn't realize there was.  What does a Montessori art room look like? 

For us, we have an art wall that is part of our bedroom.  We tape blank easel paper up in 3 layers (for height).  Underneath it we have baskets of crayons (I am saving our beeswax ones for lessons so we have regular Crayola and Crayon Rocks), markers (not Waldorf, but dd prefers these), colored pencils, and chalks.  We also have a basket of scissors and glue (including glitter glue, which is a favorite) and a stack of construction-type papers.  Oh, and a basket of stickers and stamps because people give them to her.  We have a painting day once a week so our painting supplies are put away in my crafting basket.  Not by her art wall (because it really IS a small space) we have felt scraps and needle-felting supplies, along with things like paperclips and pipecleaners, which are good for sculpting.  We currently use clay and playdough but keep those in the kitchen.  This Fall we're going to make our own beeswax for modeling, but I'm keeping that in the kitchen too because that's the best place to use it.  I think really the important thing is to have things available for use, but not only that, but to make sure your child sees YOU using them in your crafting so they will imitate.  That is probably obvious to you, but for some people it isn't so I thought I'd mention it just to make sure.  We do a lot of crafting at our house, so making books, sculpting, painting, making cards/toys, etc. is really second nature to dd--something that I am very proud of.  Blessings!

[Gunter]

lately, i have been thinking a lot about this, too. 

Nicole at Frontier Dreams has a post about their creative space as a Waldorf inspired family. 

I would love to hear and see more examples of how people are doing this (as an area of homeschooling for me) especially from a Waldorf perspective.  right now, all of the crafty type stuff is on top of the shelves in our playroom.  the playdough is in the kitchen.  some art stuff is in the office (DH works from home and I have a crafty space) for the girls.  But, i'd like it to be more centrally located/in one place and i would like it to be more accessible to all of us so we do more with it.  Hope that makes sense.  TIA!

[elefante]

Originally Posted by Gunter 

lately, i have been thinking a lot about this, too. 

Nicole at Frontier Dreams has a post about their creative space as a Waldorf inspired family. 

I would love to hear and see more examples of how people are doing this (as an area of homeschooling for me) especially from a Waldorf perspective.  right now, all of the crafty type stuff is on top of the shelves in our playroom.  the playdough is in the kitchen.  some art stuff is in the office (DH works from home and I have a crafty space) for the girls.  But, i'd like it to be more centrally located/in one place and i would like it to be more accessible to all of us so we do more with it.  Hope that makes sense.  TIA!

Great link! Thanks for sharing!

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I feel that Waldorf and Montessori are very similar hen it comes to the space in itself. Where they differ is the approach and the "doing" aspect. As long as the space is kept clean, organized, and accessible, you really can't go wrong here. 

We're in the process of moving to a larger space, and I didn't take any photos of our space sans-children before packing up, but our creative space has a large surface at child height, and flat files [shallow drawers] underneath containing different sorts of objects. A space for large sheets of white paper, a space for origami paper, a space for natural objects for crafting [small stones, sticks, leaves, etc], and a space for various materials like cardboard, newspaper, cut off scraps, etc. 

Our art table is accessible from all sides, and all tools are placed on a nearby shelf in mason jars. We keep oil pastels, chalk pastels, soy crayon rocks, colored pencils, and graphite pencils and charcoal pencils are in the same jar. This shelf is at the height where even the two year olds can reach, and the shelf above can be reached by the older 3s and 4 year olds and on that shelf we have all of the glue, paste, scissors, watercolors, tempera.  Aprons are hung on the sides of the supply shelf, and in our preschool they are optional.

We choose to sort by medium versus color because we are somewhat minimalist in our approach and do not provide excess. Once the green has run out, we replace with one new green pastel, etc. 

[elefante]

Oh, and it is typical that a Waldorf art space is void of the color black. We don't follow this. I'm not strictly Waldorf, though. We're Waldorf inspired, but I simply don't agree with many details such as the use of black in children's artwork.

[Melaniee]

ITA...I never really thought of a "waldorf art room." Perhaps that is because places are so multi-purpose. We don't have a dedicated art space, we use our kitchen counter or dining table and all the supplies are in a cupboard. Art things come out and then go back away. Though my kids go to school, I presume were we homeschoolers we'd be doing it lots more at home. ;)  I guess I would just say, aside from the typical Waldorf art supplies (the simple watercolors, big brushes, painting boards, beeswax crayons, paper without corners, beeswax), wood tables and chairs (as opposed to bright plastic ones). Things as simple as possible, not lots of words or art covering the walls (a little art, but not tons). I can't remember where but I remember hearing something about not displaying their work up on the walls, but I know I see it displayed on the walls in the grades now, and we do at home (but only one or two things at a time). 

[JudiAU]

Originally Posted by elefante 

Oh, and it is typical that a Waldorf art space is void of the color black. We don't follow this. I'm not strictly Waldorf, though. We're Waldorf inspired, but I simply don't agree with many details such as the use of black in children's artwork.

Is this part of Waldorf color theory? What is the reason for avoiding black. Both of my kids adore drawing on black construction paper because you can make such great designs with litle (white, pink) or silver/gold pencils.

[elefante]

Originally Posted by JudiAU 

Is this part of Waldorf color theory? What is the reason for avoiding black. Both of my kids adore drawing on black construction paper because you can make such great designs with litle (white, pink) or silver/gold pencils.

I'm not sure. But according to this thread: http://www.mothering.com/community/t/699765/little-known-things-about-waldorf/0_40 I guess black is used at some Waldorf Schools? Although in my experience, I haven't seen it, at least not in kinder [which is the age group I primarily work with]. Also, you can scroll all the way down here: http://www.openwaldorf.com/art.html