Running head: Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research of a Students Artwork Joshua T Higgins University of Missouri

ART STUDENTS ANIMALS Qualitative Research of a Students Artwork While observing in my 5th grade art class early this year I observed how the teacher kept her students focused on the activity of creating art out of scraps from leftover papers and magazines. One of the great things that art teaches students is to

look at things in multiple perspectives (Eisner). This activity was doing just that. When I was looking though the students pieces of art I couldnt really make out what they were drawing, but if I asked them to talk to me about their piece, it had a story behind it and they could tell me anything and everything about their piece. To me, art, music or anything that allows a person to express himself allows people to see into the identity of what that person was trying to reveal though art. However, not all students, teachers, or people in general see the same piece of art or hear a piece of music and see or hear the same emotion. We can interpret art in many different ways. The purpose of this research paper is to examine and discover what the chosen student was creating and find artifacts that exemplify his artist style and how we can interpret his art as the viewer. My young artist has a variety of perspectives that permit the interpretation of the piece; my goal was to see what stage this young artist as demonstrating and provide evidence to help support my assumptions. Method My young artist has a very creative mind and his art shows it. His picture shows a huge creature with a number of bombs or smaller creatures below him, as well as a building or possibly a height scale beside them, to show the viewer just how big the creature is compared to everything else in the drawing. To better understand the drawing I looked at Eisners Ten Lessons the Art Teach article and examined each lesson to

ART STUDENTS ANIMALS determine any relationships I could match up with my young artist. After looking at all

ten I found that, art helps children learn to say what cannot be said (Eisner, 1996, p.3). An example would be a student so excited about a game or movie, but they cant explain without showing you something to help them explain it. Art becomes a communication with self. I think my artist is presenting something that is really exciting and unique to himself. The drawing below is what the young artist created.

Findings I found that his art work belong in the Schematic Stage according to What Every Educator Should article by Mary Erickson and Bernard Young (1996). The stage includes picture repetition of symbols for familiar objects, and the use of the base line, habitually repeated symbol for an object. The character is a two dimensional figure with no over

ART STUDENTS ANIMALS lapping. The drawing also is presented with a building or line to the side of piece that reflects the knowledge of the surroundings. This artist would be at the age range of 6-11 years old. A few reasons I would place this child's drawing in The Schematic Stage includes, knowledge of the environment, no over lapping, and the piece has twodimensional objects. When looking at the piece, the viewer can see the building next to the creature, which brings out the creatures height and ability to rule over all the other objects in the piece. This seems to be a dominant trait on my students piece. After observing this child's drawing, I think that Wilson & Wilson (1982) would

say that the child is using the territorial imperative "the child allots enough space between each figure to give the piece clarity," (p.43) because each of the figures or items in the piece are not overlapping allowing him to present his piece clearly. Another principle my artist uses is the simplicity principal, this is when the child portrays an object in as simple and standardized way to show the picture in its simplest form present the piece in a clear representation. The viewer however, could view this piece from a number of perspectives, although by observations and findings of the piece along with the articles given we can assume that this young artist has a very creative mind and can show the relationship between himself and his piece. Conclusion By placing my artist in the Schematic Stage, the artist would be at the age range of 6-11 years old. A few characteristics that would place this child's drawing in the schematic stage of artistic development is the shapes created are easily identified and there is a demonstration of depth show. Furthermore, the figures or items in the piece are

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not overlapping allowing, the two- dimensional to have space between each figure with a clear territorial-imperative principle Wilson & Wilson (1982)(43). I would encourage this young artist to keep creating and using art or his writings to share ideas that could be hard for them to communicate though words, but otherwise by his art and writings. When it comes to the regular classroom, its great to have students have a number of ways of learning and communicating, and it helps the teacher assess the students ability to learn. Drawing, writing, and movements can be huge tools in the general education classroom to help students learn through those integration activities. The arts can allow students to learn in a number of ways and allow students to show their understand of use the information given, whether that be math, reading, science, or social.

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References Eisner, E.(1996) Ten Lessons the Arts Teach. Art Education, 62(2), 22-25 Erickson, M. & Young, B. (1999) What every Educator Should: Art Advocacy, 37-52 Wilson, M. & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Chapter title Learning to Draw: Nurturing the Natural)