Running head: More than a work of art

More Than a Work of Art

Kristin Herrick
University of Missouri

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More Than a Work of Art

The process of creating a piece of art shows a lot about a students way of thinking and
learning. The arts help students create meaning and beautiful messages that cannot always be
expressed in words. Many teachers may not understand the importance of art in the classroom,
but art has so much impact on a childs learning, no matter what the subject may be. The arts are
able to help children learn to say what cannot be said. (Eisner, 2002). This message has such a
powerful meaning that can be applied to all different areas of school and even life itself. For
example, the arts can provide students who cannot speak English a way to communicate in the
class without words. This can be true for any subject in school, from language arts, to science
and even math. The arts also teach us to have experience we can have from no other source
(Eisner, 2002). As children begin to use art in their different classrooms, they can connect to the
subject material in a way that textbooks and lessons are not able to provide.
It is important for all teachers to understand how their students develop and how they
develop as artists. Luehrman and Unrath stated in their article (2006) that It is important for art
teachers to understand how children develop artistically. This kind of knowledge is essential for
choosing age-appropriate teaching strategies and content for the units and lessons that the art
teacher develops (p. 6). This type of knowledge, however, is important for all teachers to know
so that they can plan different lessons around their students developmental level. Every teacher
has a different idea of where they should draw the line in terms of accepting scribbles or
teaching the child to move onto a more representational drawing. Some teachers claim that they
need to see more representational drawings at a young age while some have been convinced
that on no account should they interfere or intervene in early exploratory learning (Burton,
1980, p. 1). Research has shown that artists develop through six different stages, as shown by

More than a work of art

Britain and Lowenfield (1970). The first stage is the Scribbling Stage from ages 2-4, the
beginning of self-expression. The Preschematic Stage from ages 4-7 introduces their first
representational attempts and they begin to use shapes to have meaning. In the third stage, the
Schematic Stage ages 7-9, children begin to show concepts through their drawing by showing
an understanding of the environment in which they are drawing. The fourth stage, the Gang
Age ages 9-12, introduces the dawning of realism. The fifth stage, the Pseudo-Naturalistic
stage from ages 12-14 introduces the age of reasoning. The final stage, the Adolescent Art
stage from ages 14-17 is when they begin to make their own decisions. All of these stages can
help teachers figure out where their students lay developmentally and adjust based on these
individual needs. During my interview with a third grade student about her artwork, I was able to
connect to these stages of development based on her decisions and movements.
Method
For this study, I asked a third grade student, Molly (pseudonym), to draw me a picture of
anything she wanted on a blank sheet of paper. I had her draw me a picture so that I could
analyze which developmental stage she was in. I didnt want to limit her abilities or imagination,
so I chose to have her draw me anything she chose. I also had a few questions that I had prepared
ahead of time to ask her, such as Why did you choose to draw this picture? as well as Could
you tell me why youre drawing it that way and then these led to a conversation about her
feelings about art and drawing. The reason I selected Molly for this study was because I catch
her drawing a lot of pictures or letters to her friends after she has finished her class work. For
Mollys drawing, she had access to a set of 10 classic color markers and a notebook of blank
paper. Molly and I had fifteen minutes to ourselves at a table in the hallway where she could
choose to draw any scene or picture she wanted. As we were talking and she was drawing, I

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recorded her responses to my questions as well as her different drawing techniques to reflect on
later.
Findings

Molly chose a few different colored markers to start, and began to draw write away. As
Molly began to draw, I quickly noticed she was drawing an image of a mug-shaped object.
Catching myself before I eagerly asked, Is that a mug youre drawing? I instead asked Could
you tell me what you decided to draw? and What made you decide to draw that? As we were
talking, she told me she chose to draw a teapot because she was really good at drawing them.
Molly began to draw a line in the mug to represent tea which then lead to a conversation about
her love of hot tea when its cold outside. After her teapot was completed, she drew a table
underneath for the teapot to rest on. She then addressed the teapot using my name, and, as I

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asked her why she did that she said, because its for you! Her final step was drawing a house
around the outside of the table (Molly, M., personal communication, October 3, 2016).
Throughout our time together, I was able to discover some of Mollys thought processes
and her confidence level in her drawing skills. Molly jumped in right away after I asked her to
draw a picture. She knew exactly what she was going to draw and did not hesitate. Molly looked
very happy while drawing this image and did not go back and try and correct any part of the
image she drew. This helped me determine that Molly was probably in the schematic stage of
learning by her bold representations and the base line of the table on which she chose to rest the
teapot. One reason I placed her in the schematic stage was because of her development of a
form concept which is repeated again and again and her active knowledge of the environment
(Brittain and Lowenfield, 1970, p.476). One of the concepts she repeated over and over was one
that was not necessarily shown in this drawing, but in many others when she drew teapot after
teapot. She also showed she was aware of the environment when she chose to draw the table for
the teapot to sit on, as well as the house that this table was in. These results help me discover that
she is probably in the schematic stage.
Conclusion
After completing this research project, I am now able to recognize how different students
develop artistically through stages. This artistic development allows for students to play with
their imagination and explore their different thought processes through drawing, painting and
exploring. Art gives so many students a way to express themselves in a way that many other
subjects and experiences cannot provide. As a future teacher, my goal is to get to know each of
my students and let them explore themselves through play and creativity by providing them
many different art materials and allowing them to make their own interpretation.

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References

Brittain, W.L., & Lowenfield, V. (1970). Creative and Mental Growth. New York: MacMillan.
Burton, J. (1980). Beginnings of artistic language. School Arts, 1-12.
Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Leuhrman, M., & Unrath, K. (2006). Making Theories of Childrens Artistic Development
Meaningful for Preservice Teachers. Art Education. 6-12.