Tensions and Possibilities in Our Encounters with Charcoal

October 31, 2018

There was much enthusiasm about the possible interactions with paper and charcoal. Charcoal has been used by artists for a very long time, dating back to 15,000 BC. The children at St. John Early Learning Centre are invited to join these long artistic traditions within many cultures around the world. To set the scene and foreground the importance of charcoal as an art material, we placed large pieces of white paper on the floor and offered children thin willow charcoal sticks.

In this initial exploration in the classroom, the children begin to understand some of the properties of charcoal. Charcoal is brittle, fragile, and easily breaks when pushed on paper’s surface. Charcoal leaves deep marks on paper that can quickly fade with a simple touch (charcoal’s impermanence). Charcoal travels from paper to hands to floor to clothes and back to paper. Charcoal slides easily over paper, leaving different kinds of marks (children are beginning to wonder how they might replicate some of these marks). Charcoal becomes dust.

As we notice what children notice about charcoal, we are reminded of the importance of getting to know a material in order to come to terms with the material itself (as artist Andy Goldsworthy reminds us).

For many of the children, this is their first encounter with the material and they are enjoying charcoal’s free and expressive style. We want to honour the time that children need to become familiar with the material (to know what charcoal is capable of) before inviting them to focus on a specific idea.

Although charcoal’s properties surprised the children, they didn’t hesitate to quickly engage with the material. In just a few minutes, children made many charcoal drawings: portraits of each other, portraits of dark forests, drawings of “marching” lines, drawings of lines that connect us all…

It is through these stories that children are getting to know charcoal.