Detection If Visual Talent

Detection and Development of Visual Talent
Author(s): Andrea Krpti

Source: Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 31, No. 4, Special Issue: Giftedness and Talent in
the Arts (Winter, 1997), pp. 79-93
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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Detection and
Development
of Visual Talent
ANDREA KARPATI
Introductory
Remarks: The
Multiple
Nature of Visual Talent
Art education in
Hungary-and
in Eastern and Central
Europe
in
general-
has
been,
until the
eighties,
based on the
assumption
that the
development
of visual talent
requires
exercises in different modes of the two-dimensional
representation
of
space.
Talent in
drawing
in
perspective
was considered
the
synonym
for visual talent. An
emerging
new artistic
language
of the
seventies and
eighties,
however,
seemed not
only
to
negate
but also to ridi-
cule this
assumption
and led to the creation of
highly appreciated
work that
clearly
did not
require
an immersion in linear
perspective.
The Let's
Design
Objects!
contest for children and
youth aged
six to sixteen that has been or-
ganized
in our
country
for more than a decade
brought
to
light
hundreds of
highly
innovative
young people
who were
precocious
in
design
but
many
of whom were unable to
give
an
appropriate graphic representation
of the
objects they
invented, modeled,
and
produced
in real
space.
In
1994,
the
theme of the contest was to
design
and build in model form a house that the
child would like to live in as an adult or that would be a shelter for a
figure
from a favorite novel. More than two thousand entries were submitted
and,
after
comparing
the floor
plans
and frontal views of the houses with the
models,
we could see
huge
differences in
quality.
Most children who excelled
in construction manifested a mediocre or
poor drawing
level.1 Different
components
of visual talent seemed to be unrelated to one another.
This
finding
is
supported by
results from earlier national
surveys.
In
1981 and
1984,
two national assessments of skills in visual
perception
and
creation were
performed
in
Hungary.
In both
cases,
the correlation between
the
developmental
level of
drawing
skill
(as
manifested in technical and
Andrea
Kdrpdti
is an Associate Professor in the
Department
of
Education,
Eotvos
Lorand
University, Hungary.
She has
recently published
articles in such
journals
as
the
Journal
of
Art and
Design
Education,
Arts Education
Policy
Review,
and Visual Arts
Research and has contributed
essays
to numerous
anthologies, among
them
Anxiety
and Fear in Children's Art
Works,
Education
for
the New
Europe,
Trends in Art Education
from
Diverse
Cultures,
and Visuelle
Begabung-Diagnostik
und
Forderung.
Journal of
Aesthetic
Education,
Vol.
31,
No.
4,
Winter 1997
?1997 Board of Trustees of the
University
of Illinois
80 Andrea
Kdrpati
expressive
tasks)
and art criticism skills
(measured
by
both verbal and non-
verbal
tests)
was found
very
weak or in
many
areas even nonexistent. Con-
trary
to the
assumptions
of most art teachers in our
country,
those who re-
ceived an excellent
training
in linear
representation
and color
usage
did not
automatically develop sensitivity
to works of art. Talented
painters
and
sculptors
were found unable to
develop
and
express
critical
judgments
and
even to make
sophisticated
selections
among
works of art in tests that are
used in
empirical
aesthetics to reveal the
degree
of
understanding
of
concepts
central to art criticism.2
In a
recently completed longitudinal study,
the Leonardo
Program,3
we
arrived at similar results. Students between the
ages
of six and twelve who
received five
types
of art
training
with different curriculum foci manifested
giftedness
in a wide
range
of visual
languages
and media
normally
not in-
cluded in
Hungarian
art education: folk
crafts,
model
making, design,
com-
puter
art,
photography,
video,
and multimedia. Most of the children who
were identified as excellent in these areas would not have been able to
pass
the
drawing
tests
required
for entrance to a
high
school with a
special
art
program.
The
generally
held belief about the
necessity
of accurate
drawing
skills for a
variety
of visual
professions
was
seriously put
into
question
and,
as a
consequence,
new forms of entrance examinations for art
colleges
and
art teacher
training
institutions are now
being
considered in
Hungary.4 Ap-
parently,
traditional art education seems to center on a
concept
of talent
that has no connection with the actual manifestation of visual
giftedness.
These data
support
Howard Gardner's notion that
spatial ability
is an
amalgam
of skills which
may
arise in sets but also as a
single
form of that
intelligence:
Central to the
spatial intelligence
are the
capacities
to
perceive
the vi-
sual world
accurately,
to
perform
transformations and modifications
upon
one's initial
perceptions,
and to be able to re-create
aspects
of
one's visual
experience,
even in the absence of relevant
physical
stimuli. One can be asked to
produce
forms or
simply
to
manipulate
those that have been
provided.
These abilities are
clearly
not identi-
cal: an individual
may
be
acute,
say,
in visual
perception,
while
having
little
ability
to
draw,
imagine
and transform an absent world. Even as
musical
intelligence
consists of
rhythmic
and
pitch
abilities which are
sometimes dissociated from one
another,
and as
linguistic
intelli-
gence
consists of
syntactic
and
pragmatic capacities
which
may
also
come
uncoupled,
so, too,
spatial intelligence emerges
as an
amalgam
of abilities.5
These ideas and research results indicate that the detection and
develop-
ment of visual talent should take as
many
forms as visual talent itself.6
Hungarian Gypsy
children,
for
example,
have
practically
no chance to
get
into
secondary
schools with a
special
art
program
because entrance exami-
nations demand
pencil drawings
of still lives and
geometric shapes.
These
Detection
of
Visual Talent 81
children have an
exquisite
sense of color and draw their
expressive,
Sur-
realistic
images
without an effort at linear
perspective.7
From their
early
years, many
of them
display
an
outstanding ability
in handicrafts like bas-
ket
weaving, knitting, sewing,
and wood
carving. Many
of them who could
pursue
a career in
design
and architecture will
actually
end
up producing
simple
household items and
selling
them in
marketplaces.
Their talents are
never
developed,
never even
detected,
because of the traditional academic
methods of
judging giftedness
in the visual arts.
Another
problem
in connection with research on visual talent is that
studies focus on the
analysis
of the work of child
prodigies
and the detec-
tion of traits of
outstanding ability
in the childhood
output
of established
artists.
Very
little is known about those who excelled in
youth
but could not
establish themselves in the artistic
community.
Was it because their skills
faded
away
at a certain
age?
Is visual talent a
gift
that vanishes with time?
Or did other factors influence the rise to fame of some? Mark Freeman
sug-
gests
an intricate web of character
traits,
social
background,
effects of the
living
and
working
environment, and,
last but not
least,
sheer chance. Edu-
cation,
so it
seems,
does not matter a
great
deal: "If the desire to be an artist
overrides the desire to create
art,
the creative
process
itself will have in
part
become a means to an end other than the creation of art."8
All the artists whose fates are described in his book are
graduates
of one of
the most
prominent
art schools of the world: the Art Institute of
Chicago.
In
1963,
a
study
on how various
cognitive
and
perceptual
abilities and
personal-
ity
traits contributed to
creativity
in art was initiated
by
M.
Csikszentmihalyi
and
J.
W. Getzels at the
University
of
Chicago.
In the course of the
project
it
became obvious that social factors were also involved in
realizing
creative
potential.
Therefore,
in 1980 Mark
Freeman,
student and associate of the
two
researchers,
located and interviewed 208 artists of the
original sample
in order to discover the
interplay
of
personal
and social factors in artistic
success. His
book,
a mixture of interview
extracts,
poetic essays,
and scien-
tific
inquiries using
various methods of art
sociology,
shows what it actu-
ally
took to succeed in America in the sixties and seventies of our
century.
The book overwhelms us with the
power
of Freeman's beautiful narrative
and makes us
ready
to
accept
his
major point:
social
reality
is
perhaps
the
most
significant
factor
determining
the fate of the creative individual. For
the
European
reader,
this
assumption
is not
encouraging
at all.
Thus,
in order to come close to the nature of visual talent and
give
it a
real chance in art
education,
two lines of
inquiry might
be
pursued.
First,
we need to reveal those skills and abilities that constitute the mindset of the
visually
creative
person
in order to detect and
properly develop
her
gifts.
Second,
we need to
engage
in a
continuing
social
study
of talented individu-
als to see how their fates are influenced
by
the interaction of their character
82 Andrea
Kdrpdti
with the culture and social
setting they
live in. This article intends to sum-
marize some
findings
about recent
Hungarian
research on visual skills that
address some
assumptions
educators have about
giftedness
in art that
may
require
reconsideration.
Relationship
between Visual and Mental Abilities
The first such
assumption
is that art is for the
senses,
not for the
intellect,
and
development
in this area will not
yield positive
results for the central
objective
of traditional education: intellectual
development.9
Art educators
have
always
been
intrigued by psychological findings proving
that there is
no,
or
merely
an
insignificant,
correlation between the
developmental
level
of mental skills and that of visual skills and abilities. In the course of the
Leonardo
Program,
the aforementioned
Hungarian
national research
proj-
ect for curriculum
development,
we decided to
prove
that Leonardo's idea
about the erudite
painter,
the
pictor
doctus,
may
be true for children whose
visual abilities are
properly
fostered. The Leonardo
Program
was coordi-
nated
by
the
Hungarian Academy
of Crafts and
Design
to assess the devel-
opmental potentials
of five different curricula
designed by
teams
consisting
of two art
teachers,
an art
historian,
an artist or
designer,
and an educa-
tional researcher.
They represented
an effort to harmonize the
require-
ments, ideals,
and
experiences
of all fields related to arts education.l0 In
order to evaluate the
specific
and
general developmental
effects and defi-
ciencies of the five different
approaches
to art
instruction,
the
programs
were tested in twelve
elementary
schools in selected
grades
one
through
eight.1l
Student
performance
was assessed
through
a set of
internationally
used
psychological
tests and a set of educational tasks. The
major objective
of the
project
was to
prove
the
efficacy
of curriculum models based on non-
traditional
approaches:
crafts and
design,
color
theories,
photography
and
video,
interdisciplinary
aesthetic
education,
and art criticism and aesthetics.
We utilized a set of six
psychological
tests to see how five different
ap-
proaches
to visual art education affect different areas of mental
develop-
ment:
general
intellectual
abilities,
creativity,
visual
memory,
and attention
span.
Assessment tasks and tests resembled "normal" art activities as
closely
as
possible
and were
incorporated
into the curricula to avoid
"testing
effects."
Moreover,
a
portfolio
of
completed
works and sketches done dur-
ing
the
years
of the
project
were collected in order to
identify extraordinary
performance
in areas not
previously
considered
important
for the detection
of visual talent:
photography,
video,
design,
and crafts. The work of the art
teachers was
continuously
monitored
through participant
observation
by
curriculum
design
team members. All curricula were tested for three school
years
(six terms).
Pre- and
posttests
were administered at the
beginning
and
Detection
of
Visual Talent 83
at the end of the
experimental teaching process. Psychological
measures
involved the assessment of
general
intellectual
development, perception
of
space,
attention
span,
visual, numeric,
and verbal
memory,
differentiation
skills
among
visual
cues,
and
creativity
in both the verbal and visual do-
main. Our evaluation
battery
also included
portfolios
and
ethnographic
ob-
servations of the classroom environment that monitored the educational
validity
of the
programs
and
yielded
data that
explained
the results of
psychological
measures.12
Chart 1: Curricula of the Leonardo
Program
and Visual Talent Areas
Developed
CURRICULUM
FOCUS
1) VISUAL
ENVIRON-
MENT /DESIGN
KNOWLEDGE
-
history
of
crafts,
design
and
architecture,
- environmental
aesthetics,
-
cultural
history
SKILLS AND
ABILITIES
-verbal and visual
methods of art
analysis:
form/
function,
color
composition,
iconography
-planning
-modeling
-folk crafts
-craft and
design
techniques
ATTITUDES
-protection
of the
natural and man-
made environment
-preservation
of
cultural
heritage
-efforts to
shape
own environment
aesthetically
2)
COLOR
-biological,
chemical,
-observation of -refined color taste
and
physical
hues and shades -interest in color
characteristics of -creation of color
usage,
colors
scales, contrasts,
experimentation
-historic and
harmonies,
and
contemporary rhythms
meaning
of colors
-expressive,
functional,
and
communicative
use of color
84 Andrea
Kdrpati
-photography
and
video as an art form:
history
and aesthetics
-techniques,
themes,
and
genres
-photography
and
video as a method
for
exploration:
scientific and doc-
umentary
photography
common
structures,
themes,
expressive
and
compositional
means of fine
arts,
music,
literature
and dance
-methods of
"polyaesthetic"
analysis
-
interdisciplinary
approaches
in
arts criticism
-basic
photographic
and
laboratory
techniques
-mixed
techniques
-methods of
analysis
of
photo
and video
-interdisciplinary
analysis
of works
and
genres
of the arts
-improvisation
with
common arts
structures and themes
-revival of the
integration
of arts
forms in folk customs
-critical attitudes
toward
press
photography
and
commercial video
clips
-interest in and
tolerance for new
genres
in the media
arts
-frequent
use of
photography
/
filming
as an
expres-
sive and
scientific/
documentary
means
-positive
attitudes
toward arts-related
experiments
and
"polyaesthetic"
genres
of art
-observation of
similarities and
peculiarities
of the
art forms
-preservation
of
folk art
heritage
through
the
cultivation of cus-
toms and crafts
5)
ART
-facts, data,
and -verbal and visual -art as an
agent
of
CRITICISM
concepts
about methods of art national
identity:
AND
styles, genres
criticism preservation of
HISTORY and
iconography
-methods of cultural
heritage
-cultural
history
of historical
analysis
of
-open
and tolerant
the area and its works of art attitudes toward
monuments
contemporary
art
Tests for
spatial
skills
Rybakoff
and
McQuery
Test.
Selected items from the Torrence and Guilford
Creativity
Test.
Test for Creative
Thinking/Drawing
Production
(TCT/DP) by
K. Urban
and H.
Jellen
("Assessing
Creative Potential Worldwide: The First Cross-
Cultural
Application
of the Test for Creative
Thinking/Drawing
Produc-
tion
[TCT/DP],"
Creative Child and Adult
Quarterly
13
[1988]: 151-67).
3) PHOTO,
VIDEO
4)
INTE-
GRATED
ARTS ED.
Detection
of
Visual Talent 85
Here,
general findings
about the
relationship
between mental and visual
abilities will be
outlined,
while another article discusses which curriculum
type
turned out to be most successful in the
development
of certain
aspects
of visual talent.13 Our most
important finding
is that
intelligence
and visual
talent are much more
closely
related than was
previously
assumed: five of
the
eight
tasks for visual creation and
perception
that we used are not inde-
pendent
(on
a
p<0.001
level)
from the Raven
Intelligence
Test. The level of
aesthetic
perception
as measured
by
the Visual Aesthetic
Sensitivity
Test
(VAST),
a set of
graphic
artworks created
by
an
exhibiting
artist,
is
closely
related to the other
psychological
measure for
analytic thinking-the
word
and
image
subtest or FAT. This result
questions previous
studies that
denied the existence of such
relationships.14
It is
conspicuous
that,
from
among
the art criticism
tasks,
only "sculpture"
is unrelated to the intelli-
gence
tests. This is an area
largely neglected by
both the traditional and the
experimental
curricula;
thus even
bright
children will be unable to
produce
a sensitive criticism of the three-dimensional work shown.
For
ages
six to
eight,
correlations between both
expressive
and technical
drawing
skills and
general intelligence
are
stronger
than for older children.
With
growing age,
differences in
intelligence
will have less and less effect
on the level of visual creation. So
far,
our results seem to
support
those no-
tions that reduce art education to the status of
intellectually undemanding
areas and erase it form the
compulsory
curriculum for adolescents.
Still,
we
found one connection between the intellect and the
drawing
hand that does
not diminish with
age: perspective drawing,
considered
by
Renaissance mas-
ters la divina
prospettiva,
the
gift
of
gods
that Leonardo
hoped
would elevate
painting
to the rank of science. Our technical
drawing
task
supports
the
views of the
great pictor
doctus:
apparently, intelligence plays
a crucial role
in
understanding
and
solving
certain technical
representation
tasks. Results
of this test correlate
significantly
with measures of
general intelligence
in all
age groups,
from six
years
to fourteen
years.
Hungarian
art educators seem to be faithful followers of Leonardo as
they
have
traditionally emphasized
technical
drawing
in all
special pro-
grams
for talent
development.
As we have
seen,
these tasks
develop
intel-
lect;
but do
they
foster the
spatial
skills so
necessary
for artistic creation? Is
art education based on two-dimensional work able to fulfill its internation-
ally accepted goals
and contribute to
enhancing
students' orientation in and
(re)creation
of
space? Regrettably,
our
findings give
a
negative
answer to
these
questions.
In
Hungary,
the
representation
of
space
is a
very important part
of both
the
elementary
and
secondary
art curriculum. Problems like the axonomet-
ric
arrangement
of
geometrical shapes,
the
depiction
of an
object
from a va-
riety
of
angles,
and the
acquisition
of the rules of one- and
two-point per-
spective
are central to the efforts of most art teachers.
Sophisticated spatial
arrangements
are used as models from as
early
as fifth
grade (age
eleven),
86 Andrea
Kdrpdti
and the final examinations on the
secondary
level as well as the entrance
examinations for the arts academies and universities of
technology
also in-
clude
complex
transformation and reconstruction tasks. The Leonardo Pro-
gram
did not intend to
develop
new
programs
for
learning
about conventions
of
spatial representation,
but we were interested to find out
which,
if
any,
of
our alternative curricula
proved
beneficial for the
development
of the
per-
ception
and creation of
space.
Our
psychological measures-especially
the
Rybakoff
Test that
required
the
matching
of
images
in two dimensions-
showed
great
differences
among
students. There were some in
every age
group
who did all the tasks
correctly,
even on the
pretest;
and there were
quite
a few who failed with all
tasks,
even after the
training.
The estimates
of
length
and width and the three-dimensional mental
imagery
measure ex-
amined
by
the
McQuerry
test also showed
large
standard deviation.
Hardly
any
connections were found
among
the art tasks and the
space
tests either
during
the
pretest
or the
posttest period.
There was
only
one
program
that
managed
to
develop spatial
skills: the Visual Environment I
Design
curricu-
lum that involved
regular building
and construction tasks. Children who
were
engaged
in
creating
in real
space actually developed
their
spatial
abili-
ties much more
successfully
than those who learned about
appropriate
forms of the two-dimensional
representation
of
space.
As mentioned ear-
lier,
programs
based on
drawing
and
painting may
foster
general
intelli-
gence-but they
do not seem to contribute to the
development
of
spatial
abilities.
Another
important aspect
for art education is the correlation of visual
memory
with visual abilities. It
might appear
obvious that art education
will
develop
visual
memory-but
does it
really?
Will those children who
take
part
in an art education
program necessarily develop
better memories
than those who are
deprived
of
regular
art instruction? And if
not,
is the
program
content,
the school
facilities,
the
teaching strategies,
the students'
social
background,
or some other factor to blame? In the
pretest period
we
found that visual
memory
did not show
significant
correlation with
any
of
the educational tasks. Those
good
at
drawing
or art criticism did not excel
in their visual
memory.
At the
posttest,
however,
significant
correlation
was found
among
the Moede Test and all the creative and
perceptive
art
tasks-but
only
for the
experimental groups.
The five alternative curricula
were different in their
approach
to art
education,
but
they
had one
thing
in
common:
they
all
provided
a more intensive immersion in art. The level of
both artistic creation and criticism seems to be
closely
related to the
ability
to remember
spatial relationships. According
to our
investigations,
a mini-
mum
length
of time of
regular
involvement in art is
required
to
produce
a
beneficial effect on visual
memory.
All
experimental programs
had
ninety
minutes for art and
ninety
minutes for
design
and
technology per
week.
Whatever the content of the
program
and
regardless
of other characteristics
of the
school,
a
longer period
of
training appears
to
guarantee
a better
Detection
of
Visual Talent 87
visual
memory,
while
forty-five
minutes
per
week-the
regular length
of
time control
group
members
spent
on artistic creation and criticism-does
not.
Relationship
between
Creativity
and Visual Talent
Creativity
is still an
important concept
for reform movements in
Hungary,
especially
in aesthetic education which has
always
been
supposed
to be but
never
actually
was an
agent
in the
development
of the creative self. Clark
and Zimmerman
report
that however
important
the role of
creativity
in
talent
development may
be,
no direct
relationship
was found between cre-
ativity
test results and the level of the creative vision identified
by expert
jurors.15
Visual talent and
psychological
tests of
creativity
seem to be con-
tradictory
at first
sight.
Artists often criticize tasks that
psychologists
stan-
dardize as reliable measures of creative
potential,
and vice versa: those who
have a
proven
record of visual
creativity
often fail when tested. The
prob-
lem
may
be twofold: visual talent
requires
a different
concept
of creativ-
ity-and, consequently,
a different set of
measuring
instruments-than ver-
bal, kinetic, auditive,
and other modes of
giftedness
do. Or is it our model
of visual talent that
requires
reexamination? As the most ambitious aim of
all aesthetic education
programs
is the
development
of
creativity,
we found
it
intriguing
to measure their effects
through
standardized tests of
creativity
that
generally
have,
according
to both the data of the
professional
literature
and the common beliefs of art
educators,
no connection with the level of
creativity
assessed
through genuinely
"creative"
drawing
or
painting
tasks.
We have selected two items from the Guilford
Creativity
Test16 and a set of
items from the Torrence
Creativity
Test.17
In order to do
justice
to the views of those art educators who think that
creativity
tests are not
"art-fair,"
we tried to find a test that seems to be bet-
ter suited to the needs of art education: a test that allows for a wide
variety
of solutions different in
style
and
mood,
a test that rewards humor and
credits both abstract and realistic solutions. We are
currently working
on
the standardization of the Test for Creative
Thinking-Drawing
Production
(TCT-DP)
for
Hungary
and were able to use
preliminary
results for the
study
described here. This test also involves a task
completion,
but the vari-
ety
and unusual
arrangement
of elements to be
incorporated
in a
picture
enable a
variety
of different but
visually satisfying
solutions. The directions
for the test also refer to its aesthetic
potential,
for it
speaks
about "an artist
who had to leave her work unfinished" and makes it the task for the testee
to
"complete
the
drawing."
Children who take this test alone
hardly
ever
notice that
they
are
completing
a
psychological assignment; they
are
puzzled by
the visual cues
supplied
and
try
to
compose
the most
exciting,
or else the most
traditional,
image
from them.
88 Andrea
Kdrpdti
We found that two tasks of our
creativity
test-creative
usage
of words
and
pictures-showed significant
correlation with the art criticism tasks.
Moreover,
the Test for Creative
Thinking by
K. K. Urban and H. G.
Jellen
turned out to be a
good
indicator of visual talent as it showed correlations
with some items of the creative tasks.18 These tests seem to be utilizable for
the
diagnosis
of and
follow-up
studies on creative individuals.
Other correlations were
weaker;
but this does not
nullify
the
possibility
of our
developing
a measure that is both "art-fair" and
"psychology-fair."
We are convinced that it could be
done,
and we also assume that it is the
project
or
portfolio
task that
may
have a
high creativity-
and talent-detection
value.19
Detection of Talent: A
Project-Based
Alternative
The Leonardo
Program
was intended to offer a
variety
of art
programs
for
the child with
average
abilities in the visual arts. The assessment of this
project
has
yielded
results
important
for talent
development,
but it also
called attention to the difficulties of the detection of visual talent
through
reliable and at the same time sensitive means. In the
Hungarian
school
sys-
tem,
the most
important
occasion for
judging
artistic talent is the final ex-
amination. In what
follows,
results from a
Dutch-Hungarian project
on the
modernization of this examination will be discussed.
Art educators have mixed
feelings
about educational assessment:
they
need the
recognition
of excellence and
possible
fame it
may provide
but
fear the inevitable loss of freedom. When it comes to art
education,
teachers
around the world
appear
to make efforts to
bring
examinations in the arts
closer to the academic tradition of
judging
the aesthetic merits of works of
art.
Production,
perception,
and reflection are the three
key ability compo-
nents assessed at the same time with the same
tool,
whereas most standard-
ized tests and correction
sessions-judging
a
single
work done in one or
two art classes-focus on one
ability
area
only, usually
creation. The
major
advantage
of
portfolio
assessment is that it resembles an
activity
done
by
artists and is close to the
requirements
of
higher
education in visual arts:
showing
a
representative
collection of works.
Disadvantages
include the
necessity
of
using
verbal cues to describe the creative
process
and the re-
sultant translation of visual into verbal
language; doing
research on the
topic
instead of
just acting
on
inspiration;
and
working
in a
disciplined,
orderly way, including "keeping
track" instead of
merely following
an
impulse.
Dutch
secondary
school leavers
may
choose art as one of their elective
examination
subjects.
In
preuniversity
education
(VWO,
six
years,
the
equivalent
of the
Hungarian "gimnasium"),
national examinations include
a set of elective themes or
topics
for a
practical
examination,
to be com-
pleted
within
twenty-eight
lesson hours under the
supervision
of but without
Detection
of
Visual Talent 89
interference
by
the art
teacher,
from
January
until
April;
a
centrally
devel-
oped
written test in art
history
taken in
May
each
year;
and two
tasks,
pre-
pared locally
and
judged by
the art
teacher,
that
may
be
given
and scored
any
time
during
the last
secondary
school
year.
Students are
required
to com-
plete questionnaires
and
keep
a
scrapbook during
the
completion
of the
creative
task,
which
provides ample opportunity
for self-reflection. All
works done
during
the
process-an
extended
portfolio including
three-di-
mensional
works,
objects,
and installations-are scored and
exhibited,
at
which time the
teacher,
guided by centrally developed judging
criteria,
may
not
only assign
a
grade
but also offer
sophisticated
remarks to the student
about his or her
development
and
accomplishment.
A co-assessor
(a
fellow
art teacher sent
by
the school
authorities)
offers the teacher
professional
insights concerning
the attainment
of,
or failure to
attain,
different
objec-
tives in art education as evident in the series of final examination works.
Comparisons
of written test results with those of other schools
may
serve as
an
important
indicator of the achieved level of
teaching
in art
history/art
criticism.20
The benefits of this
system
are numerous.
First,
it
represents
a balanced
combination of central and local tasks. It allows for considerable freedom in
assessing
skills and for contents
important
to the
region
and the individual
school. Since
fifty percent
of the final
grade depends
on
performance
in lo-
cally developed
tasks,
art teachers do not feel as
manipulated
and restricted
as
they
would if the entire final exam were
centrally prescribed,
as is the
case in
Hungary.
Moreover,
teachers are
given
a chance to
keep up
with the
current
professional
literature and learn about valuable reference
books,
be-
cause at the end of the school
year
and
preceding
the exam
they
receive
background
materials
(a
booklet with basic information and a
bibliography
on the selected
periods
and themes as well as a series of
slides)
for the cen-
trally developed
art
history/art
criticism tests and thus have time to
pre-
pare
themselves. As most of the
questions
on the test refer to nineteenth-
and
twentieth-century
art,
the
examination,
functioning
as a hidden cur-
riculum,
motivates the teacher to
stay
informed about the art of our
age
and
orient his
teaching
toward
contemporary
issues and masters. A
very impor-
tant
advantage
of this examination
system
is an
opportunity
for
profes-
sional
growth.
For both student and
teacher,
the
end-of-year
exhibition of
works means
exposure
to the school
community,
while discussions with the
co-assessor offer
professional
feedback.
As for
disadvantages,
the Dutch
system-like
all
centrally designed
ex-
amination
systems
in the
world-largely
defines the contents and even the
methods of art education. When the
practical assignment
is a
project-a
se-
ries of works around a central
theme,
done with the
help
of individual re-
search and
experimentation-teachers
will be forced to reduce
representa-
tional tasks like still
life,
the human
figure,
or
geometric drawing
in order to
make time for
teaching
the
project design
and execution. Students do not
90 Andrea
Kdrpdti
regret
their
loss,
realizing
that these drills
may
be
necessary
for the devel-
opment
of certain technical skills
they might
otherwise find
lacking
in the
course of individual
projects
or later in their
professional
lives. As written
tests are focused on
contemporary
art,
classic
periods
will be
merely
sketched
in,
while the last one hundred
years
are
taught
in
great
detail.
Again,
students
may
even
prefer
this
arrangement
as
contemporary
art
problems
are
apparently
more relevant and
exciting
for them than those of
the classical
period;
still,
over the course of their studies
they may
miss out
on historical
knowledge.
In 1993 a
three-year project
was started
by
the Dutch and
Hungarian
Ministries of Education with a view to
developing
a new standardized
examination
system
for
mathematics,
biology, English,
the mother
tongue,
and the visual arts. In
Hungary,
a
country
with a
strong
academic tradition
in the fine arts and a hundred and
fifty years
of
public
art education de-
voted
mostly
to the
acquisition
of
exquisite drawing
skills and a
high
de-
gree
of art-historical
knowledge,
the Dutch examination
system
was a real
shock.
Based on
projects
to be
developed
over three months without interfer-
ence from
teachers,
the Dutch art exams
developed by
the CIO
(the
Dutch
examination
center)
require, beyond craftsmanship, independent thinking,
a wide
array
of
planning
and
design
skills, and,
above
all,
originality.
Art
teachers who volunteered to
try
out the tests were anxious about
quality
and
discipline,
but their students were
enthusiastic,
and the
project
was
launched in
February
1994. After
twenty-eight
lesson hours-about three
months-alone in the art
room,
a new
generation
of
Hungarian
adolescents
took the
Dutch-style
exam.
The essence of the Dutch final examination
is,
according
to our
present
estimation,
the idea of the documented
project
as a
measuring
tool for the
development
of visual
thinking, planning,
and
creating.
The
project
resembles
the
portfolio
as it also
requires
the collection of
sketches,
background
infor-
mation
leading
to a visual
solution,
and the
production
of a series of works
centering
on a certain theme.
Projects
are
"domain-specific"
as
they
address
problems
related to a
given
domain of human
experience.
In
many respects,
however,
a
project's
examination task is more than a
portfolio.
First,
it en-
ables students to
present
their ideas in three dimensions as
well,
thus con-
taining
more varied and reliable data on the
development
of
spatial ability,
basic
design
skills,
and the
knowledge
of a wide
range
of materials and
tools
necessary
for
sculpture
and construction. In terms of the idea of
using
project
themes to assess a
large variety
of creative skills in the visual
realm,
the soil is
prepared
in
Hungary
for the introduction of the
project
both as a
teaching
method and an examination tool. In the
pretest,
two hundred and
twenty
students
enthusiastically helped
us
prove
that such tasks are not
only stimulating
but also
require
a
good
deal of
thinking, planning, experi-
menting-and drawing.
The
major
fear of those who
opposed
the idea of
Detection
of
Visual Talent 91
the Dutch exam-that it will result in
"cheap"
solutions and an avoidance
of
demanding
visual
problems-was proved unjustified. Challenge
re-
sulted in
motivation,
and motivation fueled endless sessions of
"looking
for
the
right
solution." Students
unanimously
declared that
they
learned a lot
during project
work
and,
regardless
of the extent to which
they
are satisfied
with their final
product, they
wish
they
could have
similar,
more
sophisti-
cated and more
demanding
tasks for their final examination instead of the
three-hour
drawing
session
they
have
today.21
There were of course some
students who welcomed the
project
as an
opportunity
to
"get
around
per-
spective drawing,"
but even these students were able to find alternative
means of visual creation to realize their ideas. Instead of a
pen-and-pencil
drawing
in linear
perspective, they
used
photography, computer
anima-
tion,
collage
and
montage techniques,
and installation-media and
genres
typical
of our
age,
and methods
fully justifiable
in the last
years
of the twen-
tieth
century,
even if
they
are not used in
Hungarian
schools.
The "documented
project"
is a reliable and versatile means for the detec-
tion of the different facets of visual talent
that,
according
to
empirical
research
referred to
above,
seems to have a
multiple
nature.
Contrary
to teacher ex-
pectations,
students worked harder and
produced plans,
sketches,
paint-
ings, sculptures, objects,
and installations well
beyond
their
average
draw-
ing
level. In
fact,
several students who had
previously
been considered
average,
if
only
because
they
had had no
opportunity
to reveal their
special
gifts,
were identified as talented and were
encouraged
to
pursue
careers in
professions requiring
visual skills.
In conclusion: visual talent is manifest in several human
capacities;
there
seems to be no central skill or
ability
that
guarantees giftedness
in the visual
arts. We encountered talented critics who were
extremely poor painters,
proving
that visual
perception
and creation are two
separate
domains with
different educational
requirements.
We found
magnificent young
crafts-
men whose technical
drawing
abilities were above
average.
We even had to
accept
that the successful two-dimensional
representation
of
space
does not
necessarily
result in better
spatial perception.
We in
Hungary
had to realize
that our
secondary
school
leaving
examination as well as the art
college
en-
trance examination
system
are
unsatisfactory
for the detection of excellence.
However
problematic
it is to
identify
visual
talent,
it needs to be done. This
article intended to
prove
that not
only
case studies of talented individuals
but also national assessment
projects may
offer new
ways
toward a more
successful identification of
giftedness.
NOTES
1. A.
Karpati
and E.
Gaul,
"Umweltgestaltung
in
Kunsterziehung
und Werkunterricht
in
Ungarn,"
in Wohnkultur und Plattenbau aus Berlin und
Budapest,
ed. K. Dorhofer
(Berlin:
Dietrich Reimer
Verlag,
1994),
pp.
139-54.
92 Andrea
Kdrpdti
2. A.
Karpati, "Learning
about Art," in Art as a Tool and
Conveyor of Knowledge,
ed.
Thorulf Lovstedt
(Stockholm:
INSEA
Sweden, 1988), pp.
125-35;
"Testing
the
Skills of Art Criticism of
Hungarian
10-to-14-Year-Olds,"
Visual Arts Research
17,
no. 2
(1991)): 11-27;
and "Skills in Art Criticism of
Hungarian Elementary
School
Leavers in the
1980s," Journal of
Educational Evaluation 18
(1992):
111-22.
3. A.
Karpati,
"The Leonardo
Program,"
in Trends in Art Education in Diverse
Cultures,
ed. H.
Kauppinen
and M. Dicket
(Reston,
Va.: National Art Education
Association, 1994), pp.
95-102.
4. The
project
method to be described later in this article was used for the first time
in a national
competition
in art for
eighteen-year-olds,
the
prizes
of which in-
cluded credits for art
college
entrance.
5. H.
Gardner,
Frames
of
Mind: The
Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New
York: Basic
Books, 1983), p.
173.
6. G. Clark and E.
Zimmerman,
Issues and Practices Related to
Identification of Gifted
and Talented Students in the Visual Arts
(Storrs,
Conn.: The National Research
Center for the Gifted and Talented and The
University
of
Connecticut, 1992).
7. A.
Karpati,
"Art, Arts,
or Culture? An Educational Dilemma from a
Hungarian
Perspective,"
Studies in Art Education
26,
no. 1
(1984):
14-19.
8. M.
Freeman,
Finding
the Muse: A Social
Psychological Inquiry
into the Conditions
of
Artistic
Creativity (Cambridge,
U.K.:
Cambridge University
Press, 1994), p.
258.
9. Two recent
meta-analyses
of such studies are F.
Haanstra,
"Effects of Art
Education on
Visual-Spatial Ability
and Aesthetic
Perception"
(Ph.D. diss.,
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,
The
Netherlands,1994);
and G. Clark and E.
Zimmerman,
Programming Opportunitiesfor
Students
Gifted
and Talented in the Vi-
sual Arts
(Atlanta:
The
University
of
Georgia
and The National Research Center
on the Gifted and
Talented, 1994).
10.
Karpati,
"The Leonardo
Program."
11. In
Hungary, compulsory
education is 8
years
and,
until recent reforms and the
appearance
of the 6- and
8-year secondary
school,
it used to take
place
in com-
prehensive elementary
schools. This
type
of educational institution had an inte-
rior
dividing
line: the lower
grades- grades
1-4-where a classroom teacher is
responsible
for
teaching
most of the
subjects, including
art;
and the
higher
grades-grades
5-8-where
subject specialists
teach. Both art and music educa-
tion are
compulsory
in all
grades.
There are two
periods (90
minutes a
week)
in
grades
2-7 and one
period (45 minutes)
in
grades
1 and 8.
Moreover,
optional
art
classes and studio classes are offered in about 70
percent
of the schools. The
subject "technology,"
with an
equal
amount of curriculum
time,
is
gradually
be-
ing
transformed into a
subsidiary
of art education:
crafts,
design,
and architec-
ture as well as creative work with modem media are
part
of most of the new
alternative
technology
curricula.
12.
Pedagogical
Tasks used in the Leonardo
Program.
Art criticism task: oral or written criticism of a classic
painting,
a modern
paint-
ing,
and a modem
sculpture presented
in slide form.
Clark Visual
Concept
Formation and Generalization Test: nonverbal
matching
task of
concepts
and
images (G. Clark,
"Establishing Reliability
of a
Newly
De-
signed
Visual
Concept
Generalization Test in the Visual
Arts,"
Visual Arts
Research
10,
no. 2
[1984]: 73-78).
Harvard Aesthetic
Sensitivity
Test: three aesthetic
concepts (repleteness,
com-
position,
and
expressivitiy)
are to be detected in works of
literature, art,
and
music.
Visual Aesthetic
Sensitivity
Test
(VAST):
aethetic
preference
test
using
authen-
tic
graphic
art
produced
for this test
(K. O. Gotz,
A. R.
Borysky,
R.
Lynn,
and H.
J.
Eysenck,
"A New Visual Aesthetic
Sensitivity
Test I: Construction and
Psy-
chometric
Properties," Perceptual
and Motor Skills 49
[1979]:795-802;
S.
Iwawaki,
H.
J. Eysenck,
and K.
O. Gotz,
Sensitivity
Test II:
Cross-Cultural
Comparison
between
England
and
Japan," Perceptual
and Motor
Skills 49
[1979]: 859-62;
L.
Chan,
H.
J.
Eysenck,
and K.
O. Gotz,
"A New Visual
Detection
of
Visual Talent 93
Aesthetic
Sensitivity
Test III: Cross-Cultural
Comparison
between
Hong Kong
Children and Adults and
English
and
Japanese Samples," Perceptual
and Motor
Skills 50
[1980]: 1325-26;
and H.
J.
Eysenck,
K.
O. Gotz,
H. Y.
Long,
D. K. B.
Nias,
and M.
Ross,
Sensitivity
Test IV: Cross-Cultural Com-
parison
between Chinese
Sample
from
Singapore
and
English Sample," Percep-
tual and Motor Skills 54
[1984]:
599-600.
Visual Narrative
Drawing
Task
(B. Wilson,
"The
Superheroes
of
J.
C.
Holz,"
Art
Education
[November 1974]: 2-9;
and B. Wilson and M.
Wilson,
"Children's
Story
Drawings: Reinventing
Worlds,"
School Arts
[April
1979]:
5-13).
Technical
drawing
task for
11-to-14-year-olds: cityscape design, using
a set of
geometrical shapes given
in model form.
Technical
drawing
task for
6-to-10-year-olds:
male and female
figures
and faces
(happy
and
sad).
Psychological
Tests used in the Leonardo
Program:
Raven Standard
Progressive
Matrices
Test;
RIFA Attention
Span
Test;
Moede Test for Visual
Memory.
13. A.
Karpati
and V.
Gyebnar,
"Assessment of
Learning
in the Visual Arts-A Cur-
riculum-Based
Approach" (forthcoming
in the
European Journal of Learning
and
Instruction).
14. Two recent
meta-analyses
of such studies are
Haanstra,
"Effects of Art Educa-
tion,"
and Clark and
Zimmerman,
Programming Opportunities.
15. Clark and
Zimmerman,
Issues and Practices.
16.
"Consequences,"
a verbal task that
required
testees to follow
up
on an unusual
situation or
event,
and "Three Lines" which involved the
composition
of a
pic-
ture
by utilizing
three more or less
suggestive
lines. Both tasks
required
three
minutes to take.
17. Two
Hungarian psychologists,
Ilona
Barkoczy
and Csaba
Pleh,
compiled
and
standardized the Torrence Test for
Hungary.
We took a verbal
task,
"Unusual
Usage,"
that
required
the
listing
of the most
plausible
"unusual" uses of
every-
day objects, (e.g.,
a
brick),
and a
drawing
task,
"Circles." As these tests have
Hungarian
standards for all the
age groups
that we
experimented
with,
we
could
compute
relative
flexibility
and mean
originality
as well.
18. It was the Harvard Test for Aesthetic
Sensitivity
that showed the closest correla-
tions with almost all items
(with
the
flexibility
item of the Torrence
Test, r=0,
620,
with the
originality
item of the
same, r=0,405,
and with the second task of
TCT, TCT/B, r=0,362).
19. A
longitudinal experiment
is now
underway
with 400
13-to-15-year-old
stu-
dents
participating
that utilizes both Torrence and TCT as
creativity
measures
and asks students to do two color
tasks,
two
spatial
tasks
(one
three- and one
two-dimensional),
and a
project assignment including keeping
a
scrapbook,
do-
ing
and
documenting background
research,
and
dating
and
saving
sketches and
variants of the final work. Results of this
experiment
will show whether and
how
complex
art tasks reveal
creativity.
20. Diederik W.
Sch6nau,
"Final Examinations in the Visual Arts in the Nether-
lands,"
Art Education
(March 1994):
34-39.
21. At
present
the
Hungarian
final examination for visual arts
comprises
a
drawing
task and an oral examination from art
history.
Students have three hours to
complete
one of three
representational
tasks selected
by
a committee and sent to
the school in a letter to be
opened
on the
day
of the examination. There are four
task
types
for the committee to choose from:
(1) study drawing
of
geometric
shapes, (2)
reconstruction of a
given projection, (3)
still life
(using
natural or arti-
ficial
shapes),
and
(4)
interior with
figure-a
model
drawing.
The examination
committee decides the size and
type
of models to be
used,
the source and direc-
tion of
lighting,
and the use of
drapery.
Grades are
given by
the art teachers
based on
guidelines provided by
the examination committee.

Detection If Visual Talent

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Detection If Visual Talent

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Detection and Development of Visual Talent

Author(s): Andrea Krpti

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