I grew up in the artist's family, so living with art was a natural part of my life since early childhood.

Our walls were covered with my father's paintings and all rooms had constantly changing exposition of sculptures. Now, when I am in my forties, I can see that contemporary art that surrounded me in my childhood had an enormous impact on me as personality.

That is why I think it is important to grow your children surrounded by art.

I remember my University professor saying "Children are humans, only small ones, so why do we treat them like some underdeveloped creatures?". I like this quote a lot and I do think that children deserve quality art rather than just infantile nursery animals or unicorns.

I didn't carry any scientific research, so all that is listed below is based on my own experience, opinion and intuition.

Me, two years old in my childhood home in the 80's.  

1. Art boosts fantasy and helps to fight monsters

As you can see in the picture above, there were many artworks in my childhood home and I remember having a story in my head for every piece, whether it as a figurative or an abstract. 

I Imagined what happened in a painting and why, sculptures also had a role of imaginary creatures. In this picture I am about tow years old and my mother's portrait is hanging above me.

The painting has a dark background, so I imagined that there was some natural disaster, like a volcano or an earthquake that made the earth split, but my Mum has some kind of superpowers, so she is not affected.

I saw good and bad guys in all artworks and even antique furniture. I think it made me realise that you won't be eaten by monsters if you give them a proper fight back :).

2. Children see more than adults, so you can learn from them 

All of us would love to keep that inner child inside ourselves, your own children and art can help to do that. When I got married and moved in with my husband and his son. 

We painted the walls in white and I started hanging large scale abstract artworks. "What is portrayed in these paintings?" the boy asked me.

I advised to look closer and he told me much more than an experienced art critic would do! He saw a frog, a pig, an alien's head... The conversation went on and on, and it was a very interesting discussion.

"The Flood" - limited edition print by Aloyzas Smilingis-Elis.

3. Art awakens a creator

A lot of people who know me would say that I am a creative person although I am not creating art. It is about finding solutions and making decisions.

I think I must thank my childhood for that. Naturally, I tried to do what my father did. I have spent a lot of time drawing and I know that children are also inspired by good art.

My fathers friend visited our house with his daughter and she discovered a talent and passion for art. My dad has her first abstract in his collection now :) 

4. Your child will develop good taste and aesthetics

Whether it is literature, music, food or visual arts, we are not born with good taste - it is developed.

The more art you see, the better you are at distinguishing professional from amateur, good and bad colour matches, shapes and proportions.

Even if your child does not become a painter or a sculptor, good taste and the sense of aesthetics are very useful in adult life. It really helps me in editing photos,, building websites, designing marketing materials and it really served me well in my marketing and PR career.

Now that I have listed my reasons, I just can not finish my blog post without inviting you to take a look at my collection dedicated to the little ones, so check it out -  contemporary art for kids! 

Any questions? Just drop me a line on goda@artgoda.ch and don't forget to subscribe for inspiring, artsy news and advice!