I was born in England and attended an English “state” school (known as a public school here). Kindergarten was all day, from 9:00 until 3:30, and in the equivalent of grades 1-5 school was from 9:00 until 4:00 each day.

There were no school buses and I walked about one-and-a-half miles to school each day, and the same back in the afternoon. At the age of five, this was a long way! But all of the students who walked to school, and some came further than I did, quickly became used to it.

My parents raised my brothers and I with no TV, and from an early age, perhaps looking for something to do, art was what I liked best. I drew constantly. In kindergarten and first grade we could use art materials every day to make pictures, illustrations, and patterns (as well as learning to read and write, of course) but in second grade our access to art was taken away. It was considered much less valuable than the “grown-up” things we had to learn- reading, writing and arithmetic. I kept waiting for the art to return, I thought that the teacher had simply made a mistake.

I could not understand that something so vital to me was not equally as important to everyone else. Although I did well enough with all this new, “grown-up” material, the spark of joy that school had brought went out.

I did not have art again in elementary school until on one day in sixth grade we got to make writing folders with marbleized covers. Our teacher felt that as we were about to go to “secondary” school (a combined junior high and high school) we should take a keepsake with us to store all our papers in. I still have mine in the attic. Even though we had no art class to speak of in elementary school, I went on to make a career from the arts and have been teaching art to people of all ages ever since.

As I reflect on a childhood without the arts in my elementary school, I am thankful that their value is better recognized today. A substantial amount of information is received from our environment through our eyes; it is a huge part of the cognitive development of children. From orienting ourselves through space as we move, to relating to other people, to becoming perceptive, self-directed learners, the arts can be a great resource. If we do not help our students make the best use they can of their ability to see and feel, help them notice and analyze their environment, and use their visual memories, perhaps their education is not complete. A lifetime of confidence in one’s ability to think and create may be missed.

I am happy to say that in Westbrook schools, the arts are seen as an integral part of a child’s education. That little spark of joy that art lessons can bring will not disappear here.

The art teachers at Wescott Junior High are overcoming the problems of cramped space- the students are making i-movies, exploring printmaking and building shoe-sculptures.

At the high school students have been printing photographic images on eggshells, making art from old chairs, and sculpture from clay.

At Prides Corner School, Becky Knox is using an innovative program to foster visual learning in her K-2 students, and at Canal School Jean Shorey has been exploring color mixing through observing Maine lobster buoys.

Over at Congin, the art room and cafeteria entrance are filled with a profusion of paper cut-out flowers, fish and leaves that resemble a Matisse installation.

At Saccarappa, the students have been looking at Winslow Homer seascapes and making their own ocean paintings. The arts offer unique opportunities for self-expression and innovation; they can speak to the heart of learning, and that is very powerful.