Art Analysis of an Elementary Student According to the article, Ten Lessons the Arts Teach, The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world (Eisner, p. 3). The purpose of this analysis is to delve deeper into the perspective of one student. The importance of this analysis is to gage students development because as Erikson (1996) stated, Childrens abilities to create drawings and to understand art develop in a parallel fashion to changes in the cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth. The focus of this paper is to analyze the artwork drawn by a student to try and determine which Lowenfeldian Stage of artistic development the child may be in. I do not know anything about this child, however, based off the artwork presented, I believe the child is in transition between the Preschematic stage and the Schematic stage (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). Method
The student being studied in this piece of artwork is unknown leaving me to make various evidence-based assumptions. Looking at the students artwork, it can be assumed that the child is female. Evidence of this includes what looks to be the name Sydney. The objects that appear to be hearts further lead to the assumption that the artist is female. The source of this information is included in the drawing of what appears to be a young girl. I visually analyzed this drawing and researched about the meaning of similar childrens artwork through readings produced by experts in childrens art development. Findings
The student being analyzed has characteristics of both the Preschematic stage and the Schematic stage (Brittan and Lowenfeld, 1970). This leads me to believe he or she is in transition. According to Brittan and Lowenfeld, this student appears to have characteristics of the STUDENT ANALYSIS 3
Preschematic stage, which is usually between four to seven years of age. This can be assumed because the student expresses the inclusion of arms, a body, fingers and feet. He or she drew a picture of what looks like a young girl. The student also includes hair, and other details expected by the end of this stage, such as a face and clothes (Brittan and Lowenfeld, 1970). The clothes in the drawing are depicted by a triangle. This is evidence that the child is at least five years of age, according to the Lowenfeldian stages (Erikson, p. 36). The face seems to have a "people are looking view", (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 48) with a smiling face. Another characteristic represented in the Preschematic stage involves the students space representation of objects floating around the page (Brittan & Lowenfeld). These shapes seem to be hearts. The student appears to have characteristics of the Schematic stage because the drawing depicts no overlap (Brittan and Lowenfeld, 1970). Also, the drawing appears to be an X-ray drawing due to the fact that the line of the body can be seen through the triangle. The body could also potentially be represented by a geometric shape (the triangle), depending on the perspective of the viewer. Another characteristic representing the Schematic stage would be that the arms and legs show volume and are correctly placed, according to Brittan and Lowenfeld. I not only looked at Lowenfelds stages when analyzing this drawing, but I also looked at Wilson and Wilsons (1982) characteristics of the student. According to Wilson and Wilson, this student demonstrates the simplicity principle. This student sees a young girl as having a head, two arms, two legs and a body. Wilson and Wilson state, "The child depicts an object in as simple and undifferentiated a way as conforms to the child's expectations for the depiction of the STUDENT ANALYSIS 4
object." It can be assumed that the student saw him or herself as a person with a head, two arms, two legs, and a body. I did not feel that this drawing fit under any other topic. Conclusion The student being analyzed seems to be drawing objects that interest him or her, the hearts. It can be assumed that these hearts are important to the child in some form. According to Maryland Board of Education, this means that the child is embellishing symbols. Instruction for further development consists of providing experiences such as field trips and visits that furnish vivid impressions for art expression. Teachers should also provide experiences that will necessitate the use of visual discrimination (Maryland Board of Education, 1974, p. 3). According to Maryland Board of Education (1974), the student is characterized as being able to relate symbols. This means that the child begins to group two symbols to show their relationship to each other (p.4). Evidence of this would be the child connecting the triangle with the lines to create a body. Another example of this would be the child grouping the pieces of the face and hair to create a human figure. Instruction for the educator would be to encourage the child to become aware of spatial relationships between himself and an object or between two objects (Maryland Board of Education, 1974). The student is also able to draw and organize a picture in which all items are related (Maryland Board of Education, 1974). This means that the teacher could scaffold the students into using his or her experiences as an art form in order to express his or her thoughts and feelings about the experience. STUDENT ANALYSIS 5
Researching this students artwork has allowed me to see that teachers can learn a lot about a child through their artistic expression. It is important for teachers to allow this kind of expression in the classroom because it allows the students to activate their brain and helps students to gain the necessary tools for learning in the classroom.
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References Eisner, E. W. (2009). What education can learn from the arts. Art Education, 62(2), 22-25. Erickson, M., & Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesnt) know. School Arts, 96(2), 40-42. Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. In Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception, 1-4. Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan. Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (please note that the chapter title is called Learning to Draw: Nurturing the Natural)