A note from Shana Cinquemani, IDEA School Collaborator and PhD candidate at the U of A in Art and Visual Culture Education:
My passion for the Reggio Emilia approach is grounded in their exceptional consideration of art as one of the “hundred languages” that children use to communicate and express themselves.
A core aspect of this perspective is the idea that each artistic language (or material – so think clay, drawing, photography, etc.) has it’s own alphabet; it’s these alphabets that make up the language of art. As such, an important part of the children’s early studio experience at the IDEA school will be time devoted to exploring these alphabets – time for the children to simply explore the varied materials we’ll work with. This will allow them to see how these materials work and what can be created with them – to learn their special alphabet.
I encourage you to keep your eyes and ears open for these artistic explorations and the development of your children’s many languages!
~Shana