(Full Pamphlet Available in the Gallery)

This is an exhibition to simply showcase one child’s “start” as an artist, finding the colours she likes, her own brushstroke techniques, textures, application of various media.  Gradually, she demonstrates the ability to draw shapes, faces, expressions, limbs, and then comes the compositions of a person holding a balloon, then friends shown as multiple happy people and bunnies. A happy sun. A building. And the ability to sign her works by herself.

Collaborative works with her mom usually involve the slightest addition by mom, or assistance.

In the case of Carnival 1, mom started the canvas with the things that Vivian loved most at the time: balloons and popsicles. Then Vivian was presented with the prepped canvas to make her additions. Carnival 2-5 featured the same approach with mom making the background and then Vivian applying the other items.

In Post Its and Paper, Vivian asked mom to draw items and then would try to copy, resulting in a smattering of post it artwork, compiled onto a canvas and painted by mom to commemorate those “parallel play” works. This would develop into Vivian making sketches and then tearing around the image to glue onto paper or in the case of the Torn Paper Pieces, onto canvas, building the case for the Guggenheim Drawings composition.

In June 2023, mom took Vivian to NYC for the first time to visit the Guggenheim’s “Year with Children 2023” exhibit, to see the works in person. Upon entering the exhibit room, Vivian ran to each station, took them in, relating to what had been created by and reflected the children themselves. Vivian took out her sketch pad and drew up a bunch of drawings of people she saw in the gallery that day, and those portraits were applied to a canvas that Vivian had previously used – in that previous painting session, she had attempted to draw a face but since her early faces started with one large eye and then a second small eye, she was discouraged by the fact that the eyes were such different sizes and she stopped that painting prematurely. Mom decided to take that beginning painting and deriving direct inspiration from her daughter’s work, transformed those beginnings into a large, happy being, retaining the original tendency for one larger eye. This proved to make Vivian and mom smile – success.

So far we have seen Vivian’s first painting, drawing, brush-head painting, recognizable attempts at drawing faces, composition, and now we arrive at her first painted composition of a bunny - her favourite animal. Note the use of the full canvas. It is also important to note that Vivian would always have a sese of when she was finished a painting and walked away from the canvas.

Art with a child is fast and messy and so exciting. It is a wonder to facilitate them by making sure paint tubes get their caps back on fast enough, meanwhile letting them make their own creative decisions in colour, placement and execution on the canvas. Some folks think that kids just like to muck things around, and to some extent that is true while they experiment with the substance, but there also exists intent very early on as well.

 In terms of colours, Vivian squeezed paint onto the canvas then learned to eventually mix the colours while on the canvas, and then off the canvas in a mixing tray, then apply onto the canvas. In “Punchy,” this was a drastic move from mixing all the colours to keeping them deliberately separate and placed next to each other.

Vivian and mom Sylvanna VanderPark are artists of the SV Studios group, found at www.svstudio.art to see the family legacy of artists and complete portfolios.

 Vivian was born January 12 2019 and is a preschooler at a parochial school in Northern Virginia.