On learning to make messes

When reading Lamott and thinking about writing, I can't help drawing parallels to making visual art. In teaching elementary students art, I have often run into the fear of messy. You might think this would only happen with 4-6 graders, but I have seen this as early as kindergarten and through out all of K-6 over the years. Some students just don't like to get messy. Give them an open ended project with plenty of creative choices and they are likely to break down in tears. For some, the messier the project the worse this becomes, paper mache is a great example. I think we all like to have parameters in our life, especially in our schooling. Tell me what you want and I will do that. Is that what you wanted, Mrs. Byrne? If we truly create our own idea and go with it, what is the worst that might happen? We might make a mistake. Now, we get to the real dilemma. Lamott says, "Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess shows us life is being lived."(pg 28) I have had many times in my life where I felt if only the clutter was all straightened out, that life would somehow get much better. I have never found it to be true. My piles of books, notebooks of ideas, paintings, postcards and pictures all over the wall of my studio, inspire me every day. Students need this kind of inspiration too. Lots of books to read, pictures on the walls, magazines and art work on the walls. Maps and atlas and globes nearby. They need fertile ground in which to create. Lamott tells us the Kurt Vonnegut said, " When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth." She says, " So go ahead and make big scrawls and mistakes. Use up lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend...as children we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here, and by extension, what we're supposed to be writing."(pg.32) I think Lamott is on to something here. We need to create a space for students to feel comfortable enough to make messes and risk mistakes.