Celebrating the Visual Arts Jennifer Earnest Jennifer Ravo Darby Fain Denise Shelby Corshell Williams Valerie Walcott

How are art and cognitive development related? Drawing helps children form mental representations and foster more freedom of thought Drawing is an avenue for conducting research, enabling children to consolidate learning from many different activities Drawing encourages flexibility Drawing is interrelated with writing Art explorations support higher-level thinking skills such as decision making

What links drawing and learning? The visual arts facilitate children’s ;earning by satisfying emotional needs, as well as social needs. Visual arts are used to represent ideas and thoughts When talking about their work, children: – Learn to clarify concepts – Develop problem solving skills – Enhance memory – Enhance observational skills – Practice language

Why do children draw? As a way of expressing their self using nonverbal communication Because they may lack words to communicate Allow them to feel, touch, hear, and see their world in ways that are a direct extension of them. – to express their views of the world To express their self, their feelings

Why is the artistic process important? Concerned with the process rather than the product. Allowing room for creative expression based on experiences. Allowing the child to make decisions as to what material to use, to freely associate their ideas and thoughts, flexibility, freedom of expression, encouraging originality and elaboration.

Using visual arts in relation to history and cultures Multicultural context – allows opportunity to delve more deeply into the importance of art and the artistic relationship among a variety of cultures. Standard – Children identify specific works of arts belonging to a specific culture, times, and places.

Using portfolio’s as a an assessment Document a child’s art, collected artifacts, provide a visual timeframe of a child’s developmental progress. It documents a child’s growth over time.

People to know….. Viktor Lowenfeld Rhonda Kellogg Henry David Thoreau Georgia O’Keeffe Jackson Pollock Norman Rockwell Jonathan Green

Lowenfeld/Kellogg Lowenfeld Scribbling Stage – Ages 2-4 – Early attempt at artistic expression are usually random scribbles or uncontrolled scribbling and begin during the first/second year. (material: crayons,, large markers, large chalk, tempera paint) Preschematic Stage – Ages 4-7 – First representational attempts, children are involved in the relationship between what they see/know and making recognizable art forms. (colored paper, collage, paste, scissors) Schematic Stage – Ages 7-9 – Now has a definite concept of human beings and the environment. (material: water colors, colored paper, collage material, paste, scissors) Kellogg Stage 1 – Scribbles – earliest and most important drawing – simple, random markings that are made for pleasure Stage 2 – Lines & Shapes – As children develop their fine motor skills – they grow confident and their scribbles develop into simple drawn shapes. Universal symbols take shape. Include the mandala (circular/rectangular divided into 4 parts by intersecting lines) sun (circles/radiating lines), ladders (parallel lines) spirals, wavy lines, rainbows, and other shapes. Considered early forms of symbolic communication. Sets the stage for important forms of communication for latter forms of reading and writing. Still find pleasure in doing, although this stage is more thoughtful and organized. Stage 3 – Semi representational - Children use their experiences during stage 2 and begin to make true representational drawings. Previous symbols begin to develop into other objects. Children move from the initial process of making lines and shapes on paper to making drawings. They describe their drawings, tell stories, elaborate, and expand meaning of their work.

What are some appropriate approaches for talking about art? AppropriateNot Appropriate o Please tell me about your picture o Use specific comments o Focus on the artistic elements (line, color, pattern, shape, form, space, and texture.) o To place judgment o Quizzing them on color choice o To focus on neatness o To ask “what is it” o To ask “what is it supposed to be” o Don’t compare work o To ask them to explain their reasoning for making a particular drawing.

Benefits of effective communication Provide authentic experiences, no right or wrong representational attempts; it is the process that is important – not the product. Encourage the creative process; remember creative expression comes from within the child. Offer a variety of material, provide opportunities for cutting, tearing, and pasting. Challenge them. Select material that is closely related to the children’s level of development.

Various Visual Art Mediums and how to use them Crayons – Texture rubbing – rubbing over surfaces or things (sandpaper, floor, sidewalk, block) Etching – Select light-colored and color the surface with the crayon, polish dark surface, scratch thought the dark to allow the light color to show through. Resist – Process of pressing down heavy leaving background uncovered, brush over with tempera. A heavily covered area will resist the tempera. Craypas – Oil based combination of crayons and pastels, usually flat on one side. Once the art work is completed you can apply a thin coat of paint thinner. The paint thinner is added it liquefies the Craypas, and transforms the colors into an oil-like substance giving the completed work the effect of an oil painting. (Not recommended for young children. Colored Chalk – Chalk/Sandpaper – Paint surface of sandpaper then use chalk on the moist surface to draw – once completed spray to preserve. Applying while moist brings out a richer color. – Chalk/liquid Starch – paint surface with liquid starch or dip chalk in starch before drawing. Once dry the chalk will adhere to the paper and will appear glossy. (Can color completely with chalk first then wash with liquid starch.)

Mediums Con’t. Paints – Tempera – Comes in liquid or dry form, spreads easily, thick – Dry tempera – Wet paper- sprinkle different colors of dry tempera on paper-then spray with hairspray to preserve. – Straw Painting – Use finger paint paper, put small amounts-different colors, and blow through the straw. (use finger-paint paper) – Spatter Painting – Use sturdy base, staple screen to frame, use old toothbrush rubbing back and forth. – Mural – excellent outdoor activity, outside wall, bucket water, real paint brushes – Finger painting – lends itself to motion and sensory explanation, use fingers, elbows, hands, fingernails to create designs Printing – – Sponge – Cut sponges into several sizes. Watercolor paper works best for this process because of its absorbency. – Object – Using different objects to transfer paint to paper. (ex. corks, lids, plastic cookie cutters, blocks). Overlap objects by twisting or rotating them when printing. – Transfer – leaves, ferns, ivy cover, or feathers with paint and press onto paper. Paste/Glue – – Collage – process by pasting different types of material onto a surface – Mosaic – surface decoration, picture, design made by inlaying small pieces of colored objects