stories of slow dancing and slow looking
I feel like Sparks Creative Stories stick out online. . . because they’re slow.
Amid YouTube’s all-caps and crazy closeups, we see dancers in an endless moment, flying. Striking images created by dance photographer Tom Kramer with wonderful performing artists, shared now with kids in English and in Spanish.
We worry that young folk can’t focus in this impatient online world. But so much that’s aimed at kids is fast, loud and cranked out by computers.
But you can see children fascinated by a unique, handmade painting in a museum, drawn to the texture, the color, the scale of work that isn’t technically “for kids.” I’m inspired by the arts adventures visual artist Harriet Monzon-Aguirre takes her children on, and writes about.
Given quiet time, kids are naturals at the beautiful practice of Slow Looking
It’s true that nothing beats experiencing arts in person. But a gift of the online world is art accessible to anybody with an internet connection.
I hope the images of visual art in Sparks Creative Stories can be part of an ongoing global effort to help children grow into more thoughtful, hopefully more patient, grownups. Your ideas are welcome. I’m at SparksArtStPete@gmail.com.
I’m grateful to the incredible contemporary artists featured here, who so kindly shared their work to illustrate free stories for kids of all abilities in English, in Spanish and in ASL.
Please share Sparks Creative Stories with a friend who needs a bit of beauty.