Creativity and the Visual Arts Diane M. Wilcox, Ph.D.

Children and Artistic Ability The arts are essential to a child’s intellectual development Drawing and painting can be taught to any child

Visual/Spatial Intelligence All children have the ability to express themselves visually, but there is great variability in this ability Howard Gardner says that all people have some degree of “visual/spatial intelligence”

Multiple Intelligence Theory (MI) Linguistic Logical - Mathematical Visual-spatial Kinesthetic Musical Naturalist Interpersonal Intrapersonal According to Howard Gardner, humans possess eight intelligences:

MI Theory, cont. There is no “artistic” intelligence The Visual Arts use visual/spatial, kinesthetic, and intrapersonal intelligences

MI Theory, cont. Visual/Spatial Intelligence – the ability to perceive the visual world accurately and to use mental imagery to perform transformations.

MI Theory, cont. Kinesthetic Intelligence – the ability to use one's body in differentiated ways for both expressive and goal-directed activities.

MI Theory, cont. Intrapersonal Intelligence – the ability to self-appraise, self monitor, self correct, set goals, and manage one’s emotions.

Children and Artistic Development Children go through different developmental stages in visual expression Although all children go through these stages, there is some variability as to when they go through them

Scribbling Stage Disorganized scribbles 2 years old

Pre-schematic/Symbols Children try to draw a person 3 years old 4 years old

Schematic/Landscape The child uses a “schema” to portray what he/she understands about the world 6 years old

The Gang Stage: Complexity/Realism Children are concerned with trying to draw how things really look They compare their work to others 8 years old 10 years old

Pseudo-Naturalistic/Crisis Period Children strive to create “adult-like” images 12 years old

Artists that Inspire Children

Diego Rivera Famous Mexican Muralist Was a child (12 years old) when he painted this

Rivera – painted at Age 18

Jacob Lawrence A famous African American painter known for his narrative paintings

Georgia O’Keefe Famous female artist Known for her sumptuous flower paintings

Pablo Picasso Born in Spain Displayed exceptional talent as a child Started the cubist movement with Georges Braque

Color Theory Primary Colors

Activity: Make a Color Wheel After this activity, you will be able to: Make a color wheel containing 3 primary and 3 secondary colors

Activity: Make a Color Wheel Blue, Red, and Yellow are the primary colors

Activity: Make a Color Wheel Blue and red make purple

Activity: Make a Color Wheel Yellow and red make orange

Activity: Make a Color Wheel Blue and yellow make green

Primary and Secondary Colors Activity: Make a Color Wheel

Add white to make tints Activity: Make a Color Wheel

Add black to make shades

Activity: Make a Color Wheel Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel – Blue – Orange – Red – Green – Yellow – Purple When complementary colors are mixed, they make gray

Activity: Crayon Resist After this activity, you will be able to: Use paint and crayon resist to create a self portrait

Activity: Stencils After this activity, you will be able to: Use stencils and paint to create a landscape

Questions?

References: Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21 st Century by Howard Gardner