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Allison McCarthy Art for Children Orange Block Research Paper Children love expressing their thoughts and

feelings and one way they can do that is through art. Every artist has a starting point. Give a young kid a crayon and typically they will produce a piece of art consisting of many lines and squiggles. There are many stages of a childs artistic development ranging from the scribbling stage all the way to an adolescent art stage. Educators can evaluate a piece of artwork to help them judge what stage of art development that person is in. I have a childs drawing, which I have observed and analyzed across the art stage spectrum. It is possible for an artist to be classified in multiple stages, which is where I identified this example. The beautifully created drawing I have been analyzing features a cat in what I believe is grass. The cat has the face of one, including pointed ears and whiskers. The body of the cat appears to consist of striped lines. It also has four legs; all straight lines located in the top half of the cats body, and a tail. This cat is pretty unique because it also looks like it has wings located above its lower back. In addition to the cat, this picture has a distinct skyline and some other floating features. Lastly, this artist already named an asking price for their wonderful masterpiece, $23.00. This particular artwork has a skyline and grass line both created by the scribbling method. According to Lowenfeld and Brittain, some of the characteristics of the scribbling stage include repeated motions and uses wrist motions, which is what the grass and sky appear to be created by (1970). Even though the skyline and grass line were

created by scribbling the fact that they have been distinguished at all shows that the child has spatial representation. Their spatial representation is consistent in what Lowenfeld and Brittain classify as the schematic stage (1970). It is clear that the two sets of scribbles are two base lines because the space in the middle is used in representation of air and space. They have also included a sun to represent the outdoor environment. Representing the sun is also classified under the schematic stages of space representation according to Lowenfeld and Brittain (1970). So far I have determined that the child who has created this piece of art has been in multiple stages across the spectrum. Parts of their drawing characteristics are consistent with that of the scribbling stage, whereas their space representation is best identified through the schematic stage. The other stage that I believe this particular child can identify with is the preschematic stage. In this stage Lowenfeld and Brittain address objects that float around the paper and this drawing does highlight some floating features (1970). The cat in this drawing accurately has four legs, but they are not drawn in appropriate places. In the preschematic stage, human figure representations such as feet typically grow out of scribbles. The child that drew the artwork I viewed is in many different stages of the spectrum. The Maryland Board of Education provides artwork, characteristics, and specialized instruction to educations. This allows educators to view a childs artwork and know some ways in supporting them and their growth. The characteristics from Maryland Board of Education that I see represented in the drawing I have are combining shapes, embellishing symbols, and using space (1974). They combined shapes through the creation of the sun and the cat. The sun is round with straight lines protruding out of it and the cat is oval with straight legs and straight whiskers. My artist embellished their

symbols when they gave their cat stripes, a tail, and wings. Lastly, they used the space on their page by adding the detail of the grass line, skyline, and the other mysterious floating objects. The instruction that my student would best benefit from, according to Maryland Board of Education, is encouraging the student to name the objects they have created, provide visual examples possibly through field trips, and introduce the idea of backgrounds and boarders (1974). Having the ability to recognize where a student is at in their art development stages allows for individualized support to enhance those skills. Understanding art development shouldnt be something that only art teachers are skilled in because art doesnt only take place in the art classroom. Art can be created anywhere. As a future elementary education teacher it is beneficial to have knowledge in the developmental art spectrum that young children go through because you are with them most of the day, so therefore you have to ability to help them grow and succeed in their ability. Art in school also provides children with much more insight into the world than what the color wheel is. Elliot Eisner says it best, the arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution, the arts celebrate multiple perspectives, the arts teach students that small differences can have large effects, and the arts help children learn to say what cannot be said (2002). The arts play a crucial role in young peoples lives; so all the teachers that are here to support the young people should have some background knowledge in the subject area. The drawing I spent time looking at portrayed components from the scribbling stage all the way through the schematic stage. The art development spectrum is a great place to start when analyzing a childs artwork. It is easy to see what areas they are highly skilled in and what areas they could use some extra

support in. Supporting children in their growth is the job of a teacher and that applies to all subject areas.

References Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University. Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan. 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.

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