Betty Edwards Drawing on the artist within Creative Arts for Young Children VISUAL ARTS Ms Shaireen Selamat In my work with groups of artistically untrained people, I have discovered that any person of a sound mind can learn to draw; the probability is the same for learning to read. It is simply a matter of learning basic perceptual skills-the special ways of seeing required for drawing Almost everyone can use perceptual skills to enhance thinking skills Learning to see and draw is a very efficient way to train the visual system WHAT IS CREATIVITY? When trained as equal partners, the two modes can release human creativity What is creativity? Play with the items given and describe how it contributes or limits creativity. The ability to see things in new ways Boundary breaking and going beyond the information given Thinking unconventionally Making something unique Combining unrelated things into something new 1
Torrance (1963) Gardner (1993) Creativity is the process of sensing problems or gaps in information, forming ideas or hypotheses and communicating the results. A creative person is one who regularly solves problems, fashions products, or defines new questions in a way that is initially considered novel but ultimately becomes accepted in a natural setting. A person can be creative in a particular domain rather than all domains. Creative individuals regularly exhibit their creativity as opposed to a once in a lifetime burst. Creativity can involve fashioning of products, devising new questions as well as the solution of problems. Creative activities are only known as such when they have been accepted in a particular culture. Creativity is inherently a cultural judgement. Is creativity a product or a process? Reflect How are you creative? Creativity is an attitude a process a product skill set of personality traits set of environmental conditions 2
Stages of the creative process (Wallas model) Preparation: gathering of info, review data, identify problem Incubation: letting things develop without consciously working on them Illumination: moment of enlightenment Verification: when excitement passes and we test the concept and analyze the solution One more.stage..what do you think? Children and Art Common images of children and art How do we apply this to our teaching? 3
Have you ever thought art could also be 4
Divide a sheet into 8 sections. Number and label each box. 1: Anger 2. Joy 3. Peacefulness 4. Depression 5. Power 6. Femininity 7.Illness 8.Wonder Use only a pencil to draw Each drawing will be made of marks(lines) Make a drawing that represents what the word means to you BUT You cannot draw any pictures or symbols.. No hearts, question marks, no rainbows etc. You must only use the language of lines ( fast, slow, short, long, hard, soft, light, heavy, flowing etc) to express. Think of the emotion or an event related to it and draw! Let s look at some art! Find a partner. Choose two art postcards. As we go through the concepts, we will review your chosen pieces. 5
Let s have some fun with visuals! Theories of Artistic development Answers the question what, why and how children create. The theories can be grouped into 6 categories: physical, emotional, perceptual, cognitive, general developmental, cognitive developmental (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009) Physical The development of child art reflects their limited physical development(eye hand coordination,fine motor,dexterity and visual acuity) Hence they scribble and draw unrecognisable shapes because they can t do anything else. Emotional Content and style of child art is indicative of their emotional make up, personality, temperament and affective state Eg a superman picture of a father reflects admiration not distortion Perceptual The content and style of children s art reflects their perceptual development Child draws what she perceives rather than what she sees Think.. what does this picture shows about mummy s job 6
The day after a child created this picture, her mother sent the following letter to the teacher Dear Mrs Jones, I wish to clarify that I am not an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard.we sold out of shovels, then I found one at the back and several people were fighting over it.her picture doesn t show me dancing around a pole. It s supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel.from now on I ll check her work before she turns it in. Mrs Smith Cognitive One only draws what one knows or has an understanding of Goodenough(1975) Draw a man/person test as a nonverbal measure of intelligence Indices of conceptual maturity is reflected in the well defined concept of a human figure Issues? Some children omit body parts out of whim rather than knowledge Knowledge can improve one s ability to observe details. In turn careful observation can lead to an increased knowledge of the object. 7
General developmental Children all over the world go through a sequence of drawing development We can observe the sequence as follows (Kelloggs, 1969) scribbles 20 basic 8
Kellog s stages of drawing human figure 9
Cognitive developmental Piaget : cognitive development theory should explain development of child art? Not so easy. Artistic development is not regular as mental development Mental development : reflects progression Artistic development : reflects retrogression Why : artwork of young child appears more creative than of older child Piaget holds drawing to be a symbolic or representational activity Through drawing child satisfies need for assimilation and adapt himself to objects through accomodation. (First form of drawing is pure play) Soon they recognise the forms and repeats them, this is when it becomes image and imitation WHAT IS ART? In your groups Think of some possible characteristics of what is art as we go through the slides 10
Think of a word that is related to art. To adorn To beautify To illustrate To express To redefine reality To mediate To persuade To record And to redefine art 11
So how do we relate to children s art then? Which of these would be considered art? by William de Kooning Artist from Netherlands A tree in Naples 12
by Kasimir Malevich Artist from Ukraine Black Circle Ellsworth Kelly American painter Blue over orange By Marla Olmstead 5 year old child art prodigy Lollipop House 13
Cy Twombly American artist untitled Activity Let s play some art games about elements of art! Elements of design The language of visual arts LINE the path of the point. The softness or heaviness relays the emotion SHAPE : The perceivable area Defined lines indicate order, blurred indicate chaos VALUE : Relative lightness and darkness Can create dramatic effect or harmony 14
COLOUR :warm and cool colours relay emotion SPACE : height and width TEXTURE: surface quality Principles of design SCALE : Overall size 15
Proportion : relative size of objects within the work of art Unity : Variety and harmony Balance : equalizing the weight of the elements Direction and emphasis : Visual path and focal point Game! Each person chooses an art card. Find another art piece that reflects a common idea. HOMEWORK Make playdough for Thursday Reference Youtube, Go to channel Mydynamiceducator How to make cooked playdough No sharing, do your own. 16
Cooked Playdough recipe 1 measuring cup water 1 measuring cup flour ½ measuring cup salt 2 tbsp cream of tartar 1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil Food colouring (mix into water) Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Cook over medium heat. To bring for painting session Get into groups of 5 Sponge Toothbrush Small comb Rag Thick/thin Paintbrushes (for each person) Salt Hairdryer Scissors 17