Earlier this year Giles Ward was approached by the International Child Art Foundation based in the US. He was interviewed for their latest quarterly ChildArt magazine that features artists from all around the world who focus on animals and the natural world.
IACF’s mission is to “seed children’s imagination, cultivate their creativity, and grow mutual empathy through the arts for a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future.”
Giles was asked about the inspiration for his work and why he finds nature such an exciting and inexhaustible subject. He was also asked how he found his love of painting and what advice he would give to any child who enjoys painting and drawing.
You can read the whole magazine online here:
https://icaf.org/resource/flipbooks/AnimalArt/
About ICAF
ICAF fosters children’s creativity and infuses it with empathy. On its own, creativity is morally neutral; it can just as easily be channeled to destroy, rather than to create. For creativity to be a force for good, it must be infused with empathy. ICAF inspires the young to become creative-empaths, ready to work together for innovative solutions and collaborative innovations.
Why do we use the arts?
The concepts of creativity and empathy are rooted in the arts. Children can imagine the unimaginable and paint it. Mural-making can limn their collective imagination and scaffold empathy. Art is a universal language that crosses borders and boundaries.
What do we do?
We organize the Arts Olympiad, publish the ChildArt quarterly, and produce the World Children’s Festival. By fostering children’s creativity and developing their empathy, we fulfill six of the Social Development Goals (SGDs) of the 2030 UN agenda. We bring quality education, promote good health, ensure gender equality, reduce inequities, eradicate poverty, and build peace in communities and the world at large.
For more information about this wonderful and pioneering organisation you can read more here:
