Viktor Lowenfeld

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Viktor Lowenfeld

• In our present educational system most of the
  emphasis has been put upon the learning of
  factual information...the ability to learn
  differs from age to age and from individual to
  individual this ability to learn involves not
  only intellectual capacity but also
• Social
• Emotional
• Perceptual
• Physical
• Psychological

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Consider Gardners Multiple Intelligence

• Linguistic intelligence ("word smart")
• Logical-mathematical intelligence
  ("number/reasoning smart")
• Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
• Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
• Musical intelligence ("music smart")
• Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
• Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
• Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

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• It is the interaction between the symbols, the
  self, and the environment that provides material
  for abstract intellectual processes.
• Mental growth depends upon a rich and varied
  relationship between a child and her/his
  environmentthis relationship is a basic
  ingredient of a creative art experience.

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Schematic Stage

• The art
• product is an
• indication of
• the way the
• child
• interprets and
• comprehends
• information.

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• Schema
• vs.
• Stereotype

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• Schema is altered
• only when special
• meaning is
• conveyed.
• Growth cannot be
• measured by the
• tastes or standards
• of beauty that may
• be important to an adult.

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• No art
• expression is
• possible without
• self-identification
• with the
• experience
• expressed as
• well as the
• material by
• which it is
• expressed.
• Consider Traffic Jam.

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• There is now
• a definite order
• in space
• relationships. A
• child now thinks, I
• am on the ground,
• the car is on the
• ground, the grass
• grows on the
• ground. This is
• expressed by symbol
• which is called the
• base lineactual and implied.

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• A counterpoint to
• the base line
• appears in
• drawings as a
• sky line.
• Note the
• accommodation
• in the schema.

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• The showing
• of two base
• lines usually
• is a later
• development,
• and a step
• toward
• perspective in
• drawings.

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• Folding over
• expresses a
• space
• concept by
• drawing
• objects that
• appear to be
• upside down.

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• It is important in any
• motivation to be sure
• that each child is
• personally involved.
• However, there
• should be a wide
• range of topic so that
• the child has the
• opportunity to
• identify
• with her own
• particular interests.

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• Subjective space
• experiences can
• result
• in plan and
• elevation.

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• The active
• knowledge of the
• child reveals her
• understanding of
• and interest in
• the world about
• her, and this is
• what is
• expressed in her
• art work.

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• X-ray pictures
• occur when a
• child mixes up
• the inside and
• the outside in
• her drawings.
• Sometimes the
• child will become
• so involved with the
• inside that she
• will treat the outside
• as if it were
• transparent.

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• Space and Time
• Representations
• Include,
• in one drawing, different
• time sequences or
• spatially distinct
• impressions. Just as a
• child invents a way of
• showing two and three-
• dimensional objects,
• sometimes by using
• plan and elevation at
• the same time, so he
• also invents a way of
• showing events that
• occur in sequence.

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• Rarely does the basic
• schema itself change,
• but rather variations
• can
• often be noticed in
• sections or parts.
• Three
• principle forms of
• deviation are
• Exaggeration of important parts
• Neglect or omission of unimportant parts
• Change of symbols for significant parts

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• Pulling the clay
• out from the
• whole means to
• have a concept of the
• total, however vague,
• from which details will be
• developed this method is
• called the analytic
• method.
• The other method of expression described as
  putting single representative symbols together
  into a whole means that the child is building up
  a synthesis out of a partial impression this is
  the synthetic method.

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• Pulled out or putting together is not merely a
  superficial means of achieving form, but grows
  out of the childs thinking.

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• Wilson, Wilson Hurwitz
• Tendencies in Childrens Initial Image Drawings
• Avoidance of overlapping
• Most common view
• Repetition of successful configurations

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• Tendency towards balance
• Embellishment
• Size
• Transparency
• Mixed viewpoints

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Dawning Realism/Gang Age

• Children at this
• age are
• becoming
• increasingly
• aware of their
• real world, a
• world that is
• filled with
• emotions, but
• emotions that
• are hidden from adults.
• Increasingly problems face
• the teacher students are
• less motivated to study and
• they show greater
• disrespect for authority.

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• Disappearance of base line and emergence of the
  plane
• Overlapping of objects
• Beginning of interrelationship between objects
• Attempts at showing depth through size of objects

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• Rigid Schema no longer prevails
• Greater awareness of clothing details

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• Less exaggeration, distortion, and omission of
  body parts to show emphasis
• Greater stiffness of figures

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• X-ray drawings, and drawings using fold-over, are
  now criticized by the children themselves as
  being unnatural.
• The ability to arrange several images on a piece
  of paper so that they have a relationship to one
  another means that the child is able to deal with
  these objects simultaneously, rather than merely
  to arrange them in a line, as in the previous
  stage of development.

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• The ten year old
• girl who made this
• drawing used
• multiple base
• lines. The limbs of
• the elaborate tree
• overlap the
• foliage, and the
• sun is peeking out
• from behind a
• cloud.

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• The inspiration for
• working with
• Materials should come directly from the structure
  and nature of the material itself. In the worlds
  greatest cultures, workmanship and skill have
  been inseparable from design.

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• The girl who
• drew this
• struggled with
• the
• perspective
• but was able
• to represent
• the scene
• from a single
• point of view.

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• Fences may seem
• to be flat on the
• ground, folding in
• or out of the field.
• Solving the
• problem of
• negotiating the
• corners seems
• especially difficult.

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• Children are becoming increasing critical of each
  other and themselves, and some will hide their
  art work or make some disparaging remark about
  their efforts.
• Much of the information that has been drilled
  into students in the classroom tends to be
  meaningless. The fact that the pilgrams lands in
  1620 is readily repeated in a test, but whether
  1620 was before the last Ice Age is not clear.
  Therefore..

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Consider...

• When you create art experiences for your
  students...

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• Did the idea originate with the child or with the
  teacher?
• If the source was the child, did the idea evolve
  from his/her life experiences or previous
  artwork?
• Who made most of the decisions about the work?
  The person making the choices is the person
  learning.

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• Did the process supply most of the form or did
  the child?
• Was the uniqueness of each childs art expression
  encouraged?
• Has novelty of materials become a defense from
  meaningful expression?

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• What types of subject matter would be appropriate
  and of interest to elementary students?
• What types of media and techniques would be
  appropriate and of interest to elementary
  students?
• Should art history be taught at the elementary
  level? Why or why not?
• Should art criticism and aesthetics be taught at
  the elementary level? Why or why not?
• Look through Arts and Activities, School Arts and
  Scholastic Art and find lessons you feel are good
  as is, lessons that could be good with
  modification (describe your modifications) and
  those lessons that are poorly constructed.