beauty has no skin tone

By: Danielle Kearns
     A child begins to establish their sense of self -- including esteem and self-representation -- by the age of five. There are certainly signs before then, which was incredibly apparent during my time as a preschool teacher, but they will begin identifying things on their own terms around kindergarten. Now, being surrounded by art on a daily basis, it is so interesting to see how that manifests in a creative space.
     A two year old can (and will) have an opinion of which shade of blue they'd like poured into their palette. They sometimes possess a clear vision for their piece before they've even picked up a brush. This dinosaur is going to be purple. This ballerina is going to be blue. This bank is going to be yellow. Parents will often give color suggestions or try and steer children in one direction or another, but it's quite interesting just to see where a child naturally gravitates and what they will create if given the option.
     It gets a little trickier when the item being painted is a person instead of an animal, figurine, or plate. "What about the skin color? What color do you want for that?"
     We have found this particular article enlightening on the subject and would like to recommend it as a read for you this week. In a world that is ever changing, tolerance and self-love is something that should always remain a constant. 

How do children of color learn to draw themselves? 
By: Melinda Faukuade from The Outline

"Everyone is an artist, and everyone should be proud of who they are. It’s supposed to be an exercise in self-esteem, which even at a young age, children have already conceived — according to the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, self-esteem has already formed in one direction or the other by age five. Because art acts as an outlet a kid might not have elsewhere, taking note of how they draw and what they feel about it is important." - Melinda Fakuade