By: Alison Colman

The idea for starting a series of art workshops for preschoolers came from a conversation I had with a good friend of mine, who, like me, is a mom to a two year old (or in my case, two). After chatting for a while about the usual trials and travails of parenting toddlers (their ability to turn the most innocuous of objects into weapons of mass destruction, their exhibitionist tendencies in the most public of places, what to do when s/he squeezes a few extra lives out of the cat and so on), our conversation turned to the subject of preschools. 

In addition to being moms of two year olds, we are also both art educators, so naturally we began discussing the role of art in preschools. My friend, an adjunct professor, mentioned that one of her students was conducting her research at the ArtStart preschool, housed within the Parkersburg Art Center in West Virginia.  After describing ArtStart, my response was, "wow, that sounds incredible - wouldn't it be nice if Columbus had something like this"? Of course, the answer to this question was yes. And somehow, we came up with another question: "what would it take to start an arts-based preschool"? 

Starting a preschool is a huge undertaking, so we thought it best to start with something smaller which would let us try out some of our ideas. Because I had several years of experience organizing art workshops, it seemed only logical that organizing a series of art workshops for preschoolers would be the next step. I pitched our idea to another friend, Jessie Glover Boettcher, one of the founders of Wild Goose Creative, a local arts incubator. She was extremely receptive, as she was planning to expand Wild Goose offerings to include children's programming, and we all immediately set to planning the series. Jessie assisted me with raising funds for art supplies and getting the word out about the workshops, while I researched age-appropriate art activities, created the curriculum and sorted out the logistics.  

And now, the fall 2012 workshop series is open for registration! The workshops will provide children aged 3 to 6 and their grownups the opportunity to explore a variety of media and make art at sensory art stations. Children will learn through working with developmentally appropriate materials such as paint, construction paper, objects from nature (leaves, sticks, sand), and so much more! The workshops are grouped by theme, and each theme is explored over two separate sessions (two consecutive Mondays or two consecutive Tuesdays). The fall themes are The Alphabet, Food, and Animals. Above all, my goal for the workshop series is to provide a safe, fun and creative space for young children and their families to create and learn together. 

To register, please visit: http://www.wildgoosecreative.com/kids 

A little about me: 

Art has been a part of my life ever since I was a young girl - I was always drawing! I earned a BFA in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon, worked as a computer animator for several years, and then went back to school to earn an MA and PhD in art education at the Ohio State University. After graduating I was s professor of art education at Ohio University-Athens for five years, and moved back to Columbus in 2007. I am now the founding director of the Fuse Factory Electronic and Digital Arts Lab and mom to two adorable 2 1/2 year olds.