WHY ‘MAKING’ MATTERS MORE THAN EVER
For Suzanne Rodgers art education is about critical and analytical thinking, adaptability, empathy and creative confidence. Developing curiosity is the first step.
What is art?
“I can’t draw, so I’m not good at Art.” Most teachers have heard those words, and every time they are spoken, a quiet misunderstanding about art education is revealed. The belief that art is about technical ability, about control, precision and neatness, still runs deep. Yet Art and Design has never been only about skill. It is a way of thinking, questioning and making meaning visible. In the studio, learning is not linear. It begins with curiosity, moves through uncertainty and often ends in discovery. That is what makes art such a powerful tool for learning because it teaches young people how to think through doing.
Learning by making
Within art, deep knowledge is constructed through making rather than delivered through instruction. A drawing, a collage or a sculpture are not outcomes but forms of inquiry. The studio becomes a site of material thinking where students test ideas through interaction and discover what materials can and cannot do. Meaning emerges through that conversation between hand, eye and mind.
When students learn to trust the process of making, to take risks and to follow uncertainty, they begin to experience art as a way of knowing. Technical skill is no longer the measure of success; it becomes the tool through which new understanding is formed. Each mark, cut or fold is a small act of analysis, a decision shaped by curiosity rather than prescription. Learning through uncertainty is what prepares students for the world beyond the classroom. In the studio, they learn to navigate ambiguity, to make sense of complexity and to respond creatively when outcomes are not yet known. This mirrors the kind of adaptive, critical thinking that defines genuine innovation.