Expressions from the Heart

John Rosenow, in his book, Living Long and Living Well, tells the stories of well-known people who made contributions to society throughout their lives – long into their wisdom years. What many of them have in common is that their early childhood years provided inspiration that lasted a lifetime. For example, Rosenow writes that the painter Georgia O’Keeffe, “absorbed the things she found meaningful” from her childhood experiences and “used them to inform her art: the connections with nature that were an indispensable part of her life…the music she loved…everything that could be useful to her in expressing what went on in one woman’s heart.”

Educators Bethica Quinn and Rosalina Rodriguez understand that art experiences provide children a venue for expressing what goes on in their hearts. Writing in their lovely dual-language book, Treasures in the Thicket/Tesores en el monte, the authors describe the gifts they received when they thoughtfully collaborated on a group book that reflected children’s personal experiences with their environment:

“Through the journeys of collaboration that we share with children, we learn about the complex inner worlds of individual children, about the arts of teaching and learning, and about what it means to be human.”

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