Qualitative Research Report The analysis of this young students artwork provides another topic for future teachers to explore-child art development. This study was created to show the importance of that topic. The readings established by expert authors provided me with guidelines about the ages and development stages of child artists. The analysis required careful reading of these specific authors to determine the development stage of the child whose drawing I was examining. Investigating this artwork will deepen my understanding of the importance of art in a general education classroom. I believe that after this investigation I will have a greater understanding of the significance of child art development, and how I can encourage my students to grow. Method During this study I analyzed a young childs piece of artwork and took into consideration many fundamental art topics. I began by reading many different articles located in the MizzouPublishing Packet for the course Art for Children LTC 4240. The articles I read included those by; Brittain & Lowenfeld (1970), Kellogg (1970), Wilson & Wilson (1982), and Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County (1974). I then explored the students artwork by relating it to the information that was found in the readings. I read these thoroughly and highlighted key points that I saw within the students art. I also marked the important themes onto the students piece of art where they happened to appear. Once I completed this routine for all three of the readings, it was time to examine what I had noticed. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 3
Findings
Through the research of reading the articles, I found that this child used multiple principles, and was placed between stages. Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) made me aware of the capabilities of this child in his/her developmental stages. This child artist seems to be placed mainly in the Schematic Stage with a miniscule amount in the Gang Age (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The piece of artwork contains a two dimensional person placed on a baseline, to show the separation of the sky and ground. According to the Schematic Stage QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 4
in Brittain & Lowenfeld (1970), creating this baseline clearly distinguishes the sky from the ground. The person and bat figure show no overlapping, which incorporates the Schematic Stage as well (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The figure includes many geometric shapes as well as texture within the arms and legs. This provides the picture with some volume, backing up another key point from the Schematic Stage (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The hat on the figure is made of multiple rectangles stacked on top of one another and the face is a round circle. The young artist incorporates more details in his/her piece of art, and by doing so it placed this student partly in the Gang Age (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). A stern expression was placed on the figures face, along with eyes, nose, and a mouth on the bats face. This displayed the artists capabilities to add further details to give the piece more depth. The picture showed the man significantly larger than the bat, which demonstrated this young artists ability to show the depth through size of objects (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). Kellogg (1970) presented all the different types of scribbles that are considered to be the start of childrens art at a very young age. Reading through this I noticed that one of the scribbles is the single diagonal line, (Kellogg, R, 1970) which was discovered in the drawing that I adopted. The eyes on the human figure were two of these single diagonal lines. The diagonal lines communicated to the viewers that the artist was portraying the figure to have stern eyes. Kellogg (1970) also pointed out that young artists will make scribbles that go from one edge to the opposite edge. This young artist made scribbles underneath the baseline that he/she created at the bottom of the page. The scribbles went from the left side of the page to the right, which is exactly what Kellogg (1970) explained. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 5
Wilson & Wilson (1982) focused on why childrens drawings look a certain way and characterized principles according to main concepts they had found. This young artist incorporated multiple principles within the one drawing. The figure in this artwork was placed on the baseline, therefor forming a 90-degree angle to the baseline (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). The young artist used the perpendicular principle by creating this 90-degree angle with the figure and the baseline. The same principle was also present in the bend of the leg, creating a 90-degree angle between the thigh and the calf. The territorial imperative principle articulates the need for the objects to have their own space declaring no overlap (Wilson & Wilson 1982). The young artist applied this principle because the figure and the bat have their allotted space and are not touching. The fill-the-format principle is present because of the lack of the amount of fingers and toes in the figure. The drawing only displays four fingers and three toes, therefor having too few of fingers and toes (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). The young artist may not have determined the size of the hands and feet in order to fit the correct amount of phalanges before drawing. This resulted in the inaccurate amount of fingers and toes in the drawing. Conclusion Overall, I found that the young artist displayed multiple principles and stages throughout my research. The artist was discovered to be largely in the Schematic Stage along with some characteristics from the Gang Age. According to Brittain & Lowenfeld (1970), this child would be around the age of seven to nine years old. As a general education classroom teacher, it is important to be aware of the broad spectrum of where your students will be at in their artistic levels. The certain characteristics used as guidelines from this research helped me become aware of what students should QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 6
demonstrate at certain ages. Some students will be more artistically developed than others, but all students are capable of producing art. If a child in your class is not demonstrating the basic artistic concepts that his/her age calls for, as a teacher you can continue to encourage that particular student. I believe that encouragement goes a long way for any age and is a fundamental key to growth. As a supportive teachers role it is important to continue to push your students in their artistic ability by inspiring them to think outside the box. The Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County (1974) offers many examples of instruction for teachers. The article acts as a great resource for all different artistic levels of students in a general education classroom. The instruction encourages teachers to never try a push a child to the next stage, and to always promote free expression (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974). From reading all the different instruction suggestions, I will be using this resource throughout my years as a teacher. In conclusion, this investigation allowed me to analyze the certain guidelines that a specific age should be following artistically, opened my eyes to the wide range of artistic abilities, and revealed how my role as a teacher can benefit a child artistically.
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References Kellogg, R. (1970). Analyzing childrens art. Palo Alto, CA: National. 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. Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.