The Teaching Method of Natalie Robinson Cole

Creative Painting - Big and Beautiful

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Natalie Robinson Cole's method of teaching painting, was to encourage children to paint on large 18"x 24" sheets of paper.  She wanted the children's compositions to be big and bold, touching the edge of the paper.  She took her children to different locations to "get the eyes full"(p. 5).  Students did not draw or paint on location.  Instead, they began drawing their compositions back in the classroom after visiting a site. In the example in the book, she takes the class to a macaroni factory, then returns back to the classroom to have students paint the scene from their own memory.  

"A good picture is like a birth.  It unfolds and is not forced."

Robinson Cole felt that teachers should use a "hands-off" approach in teaching drawing and painting.  She should never take the paintbrush from the child's hand in order to show him how to paint something.  And, she felt teachers should not draw examples on the chalkboard of how something should look.  It should come from the child's mind instead.  Otherwise, the child will end up copying the teacher's work and true freedom of expression will be lost. Teachers should respect how children paint with no preconceived notions of scale or proportion.  

"You got to do it your own way.  You mustn't be afraid; just feel it inside and do it."

Although her method is hands off, she still offers guidance in filling out a composition.  Students start with an outline in black, holding off on any other colors until the outline is complete.  When a child feels he is finished and Robinson Cole feels that more work can be done, she holds the child's work up in front of the class and asks for input.  The children offer suggestions as well as praise and encourage the child to continue. 

Robinson Cole states that children have "their own dynamic way of using color" (p. 15) and she encourages her students to utilize strong and vibrant color in their work.  



Swing!

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Robinson Cole used the term "swing" in order to describe the rhythm of a piece.  Sometimes it referred to the "pull" of a picture (p. 16).  It also referred to the direction and pattern.  It was her way of teaching how to create dynamic work that was interesting to look at.  


Trying out Robinson Cole's methods in the 21st Century

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I decided to try out Natalie Robinson Cole's method for painting with my daughter Maddy and her friend.  I gave each child a large 18" x 24" sheet of watercolor paper and told them they could paint anything they wanted, as long as it was large, dynamic and bumped the edges.  We began to brainstorm ideas.  Maddy's friend wanted to paint a forest scene.  Maddy decided to paint a pop singer.  Both girls asked lots of questions as they went, checking in with me often.  I heard "should I" quite a bit.  ("Should I put a deer in the scene?  What does a deer look like?") The school experience of these girls is quite different from Robinson Cole's students in urban Los Angeles in 1940.  These two girls have been educated in a No Child Left Behind environment, where standardized testing is the norm.  They have also grown up in the digital age and will never know a time before the internet.  

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I can see that wanting to do it "right" is important to them.  They seem to have a bit of difficulty moving forward uninhibited.  


Of course this little experiment on Robinson Cole's method was conducted in one afternoon.  Robinson Cole had more time with her students and they were aware of her expectations.  I believe that if children are given the opportunity for freedom in the classroom regularly, their creative juices would flow and they would paint with more autonomy.