Growing brains and hearts with art
Kids get creative at the Farmer’s Market and Art Center paint bar

Sienna Wells, left, paints the hand of Cyrus Lewis at the kids booth at the Durango Farmer’s Market on July 14. Sienna is the daughter of Regina Wells, who runs the booth, which offers kids art activities./Photo by David Halterman

by Jules Masterjohn

The Saturday Farmer’s Market in Durango, a favorite summertime hangout for locals and visitors, is not only a place to get locally grown crafts, music and foods but it is also where young children grow healthy brains. Weekly at the market, pint-sized people get a healthy dose, and I mean that literally, of artistic activity at the Kids’ Booth. In the shade of the booth’s canopy it appears as though kids are merely manipulating clay or paint in random activity. Yet, inside each little brain is being developed the child’s ability to function with intelligence and creativity. And it simply looks like play!

According to research in childhood development, the earliest years of a child’s life are the most critical for brain growth. From conception through a child’s second year, the brain is establishing its quantity and quality of neuropathways. During the first four years, like a sponge soaking up experience, the brain is open and receptive to stimuli. Minnesota-based author and child development educator Phyllis Porter writes, “Touch, talking and things an infant sees and smells all build connections … These connections die if not maintained. If there are no experiences, the connections are pruned back and the brain remains small.”

If Regina Wells, coordinator for the Farmer’s Market Kids’ Booth, has anything to say about it, there will be no small-brained children running around Durango. Mother, teacher and creative soul, Wells spends her Saturdays making materials and an expressive environment available to children and families.

Watching the spirited activity at the art booth, one realizes that the adults enjoy this creative time as much as the kids. One father, who was repeatedly asked by his son to “make something, daddy,” was clearly having fun getting his hands in the clay. Parents seemed touched as they observed their toddlers interact with kindness, helping each other, and sharing smiles, materials and tools. This is also a place where families meet other families, building our community’s family support network.

The philosophy of “process over product” is clearly in action here. There are tot-high tables that hold big hunks of clay and various kitchen tools, offering themselves up to the whims of any child. The most used tool is the garlic press. I heard “oh, wormies” as a wide-eyed child, fingers slowly pinching the air, watched another young one expel tiny stings of clay from the tool. The water table, a favorite of the toddlers, is a fascinating place to watch. Over the years, Wells has been awed by the base level of attraction that the 1-foot-high,plastic table filled with water and floating toys has for the kids. “They are like animals heading for the water, they gravitate right to it,” she said.

Wells believes that, at this young age, kids don’t need structure with their art materials but simply experience with the different processes inherent in the various materials. As children grow older, perhaps nearing the pre-teen years, she sees a need for skill-based art lessons. But until that, the Kids’ Booth will be dedicated to “free creative play” as Wells terms it, and will be a place of “yes.” “Preschools and schools are so restrictive in terms of getting messy,” she said. “Here we allow kids to feel in control of their own situation. If that means a mess, so be it.” Though art supplies and art-making are part of many of these children’s lives, the total permission to explore – by flinging, splashing, slapping and pounding – is best given in an environment set up for this sometimes-messy freedom of expression.

Parents feel grateful for having “clean-free” creative zones available to their children. Kristin Harmon’s son, Cyrus, is an active painter but doesn’t have a dedicated space at home for “flinging paint.” A “permissive environment” is perfect for letting Cyrus “really play.” Mother and son frequent the Farmers’ Market and the Durango Art Center for unrestrained creative time.

The Durango Art Center’s Paint Bar also offers a robust environment for families on Saturdays. Located in the Garage Art Studio in the back of the building off the alley, the environment is raw, loaded with materials, and inviting. All the art materials – stacks of paper, paint, markers, colored pencils, paper, glue, blocks and Play-Doh plus protective plastic red aprons – are out and available for use.

Recently, I encountered three generations of the Lea family at the Paint Bar. All were intently engaged in a creative pursuit. Granddad Robert was documenting family members’ work with his camera while Grandma Phyllis, son Patrick, and daughter-in-law, Daniele, as well as two granddaughters, Isabel and Ava, got their brushes – and hands – into the paint. “Look, mom … dad is really getting into it,” came out of one girl’s mouth as her sister, intently focused on her black tulip, glanced up to say, “Oh, dad, that’s SOOOO cool!”

Grandma Phyllis, from Durango, thought this would be a fun activity for her out-of-town family. “This is such a great resource for our small community. In terms of family activities, it’s much better than going to the movies.” With a proud smile on her face as she surveyed her brood, each exploring with the paint, she offered, “And it just doesn’t get any better than this.” Intergenerational learning and sharing are unique experiences in our modern culture, where the usual roles of parent and child can dissolve into humans simply playing together. •

The Durango Farmer’s Market Kids’ Booth is open from 9 a.m. until noon each Saturday. Cost: Free. The DAC Paint Bar hours are Tuesdays, 5-7 p.m., Fridays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Saturday noon to 4 p.m. Cost: $6 per hour.