Running head: CHILDS ART ANALYSIS RESEARCH PAPER

Childs Art Analysis Research Paper

Megan R. Edmondson
University of Missouri

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When students engage in the creative process, they produce original work that
communicates their ideas, insights, points of view, and feelings (Layne & Silverstein, 2010, p.
5). These things are all important for the creative process and for better understanding about the
world around us. I think it is important to have knowledge where a childs thinking is coming
from, and where they might get their ideas while creating art. That is why interpreting a specific
childs artwork will help me comprehend the creative process better. Learning about students
ideas, feelings and viewpoints through this experience will help me grasp more ideas and
become a better educator. The purpose for the interpretation of the art piece is so I can better
understand the thinking processes the students make while they are creating art.
Method
For my experience, I was able to work with a wonderful student to get to know more
about how he views art and understands the things around him through drawing. The little boy I
observed is named, Nate. He is in third grade, and is very socially outgoing. He loves to play
sports and mess around with his friends and siblings. I actually get the opportunity to babysit
Nate on occasion and this was where I was able to work with him on his drawing. He normally
would never just sit down and color because he would rather be outside playing, but he was very
willing to draw a picture about anything he wanted. Thankfully he has a younger sister, so she
had a lot of colorful crayons and paper to use. We sat down at the kitchen table and Nate laid all
the colors out and decided what to first start out with. He picked a pencil to start drawing first. I
sat and watched to begin, and then while he starting drawing more details, I would ask specific
questions about why he was creating specific details of the picture. Margaret H. Johnson states in
her 25 Tips for Teachers that, art making is often a social activity for young children; talking
together, they develop language and socioemotional skills (p. 69). This was a great point

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because through talking about Nates drawing, it was giving him time to talk with me and
develop language that he might not use every day.

Findings
Nate first started off by drawing lines in pencil. The first lines he drew were random
horizontal lines with different heights. I asked what the lines were for and he said they were
going to be canyons. Then Nate drew curvy lines down from the horizontal lines to connect to
the ground. These started to create the canyons that he was discussing with me. I then asked Nate
why he was drawing canyons and he started to tell me a story about how his family and he went

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to the Grand Canyon. This is where Nates drawing was being originated from. I was very
impressed when Nate drew the lines in different areas to show that some of the canyons were in
front of one another and some were behind one another. Then he said that the sun was rising
from behind the canyon, so Nate drew the sun hiding somewhat behind the canyons, which was
very intelligent of him. After Nate drew the main parts of the drawing, he said he needed to add
some final touches to the picture before he colored it. So he continued telling the story about
going to Arizona, which Daniel H. Pink states in A Whole New Mind that, stories are easier to
remember---because in many ways, stories are how we remember (p. 101). This is how Nate
remembered the visual of the canyons because retelling the story of his family going to Arizona
to see the Grand Canyons made him remember an image to draw. The little touches that he added
before he colored his final art piece were some cacti, a big cloud in the sky, and finally some
tumbleweed. Nate then colored in his drawing to create the final product, which turned out
amazing.
Once I was able to really look over the picture, I sectioned it off into parts to really
understand Nates feelings of why he drew the certain parts. Elliot Eisner states in Ten Lessons
the Arts Teach that, the arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and
through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling (p.
3). I looked at the drawing and based off the whole pictures details I thought that the picture best
represented Brittain, W.L. & V. Lowenfelds (1970) stage of The Gang Age, Nine-Twelve Years:
The Dawning Realism. Some of the characteristics that are stated about drawing is there is a,
greater awareness of details and a greater awareness of physical environment (p. 49). I think
some of the characteristics match Nates drawing well because he was very aware of the detail
and where he was placing certain objects and lines to create his picture. He was also very aware

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of the physical environment in his picture because he was conscious of the different plants and
objects that would be in the physical environment of the canyon. This shows that he was aware
of the drawing aspects because he was very focused on the environment and the detail of how he
drew everything. Also, while I was interpreting the picture I noticed that Nate was very aware of
his space representation that is described in the same article by Brittain, W.L. & V. Lowenfeld
(1970). It says that for a picture to fit in this age range, the child should be able to create,
overlapping of objects and can show attempts at showing depth through size of objects (p.
49). I could see this aspect in Nates drawing because he shows the overlapping of the canyons
and how some are larger than others based on their overlapping of each other. The other reason
Nates drawing fits into this stage because Nate drew the different depths of the canyons based
on their size. He was really great at showing these different aspects of his drawing to match this
specific stage of Dawning Realism. I think the author Judith Burton would say that Nates
drawing was made from his trip to Arizona, and he was able to transfer that memory of seeing
that beautiful place and transfer that to an image. Visualizing that specific place creates
understanding of objects etc. Burton states in Beginnings of Artistic Language that, visual
concepts are constructed from acts of looking and seeing, acts which lead to the grasping of
outstanding features in the visual world of objects, events and materials (p.2). Nate made such a
wonderful and creative image of a memory he had with his family. I was grateful to get to talk
through Nates drawing and really understand his thinking behind it.
Based on these interpretations of Nates drawing, they show that he is thinking at a level
acceptable for him. He is capable of remembering stories and creating a piece of artwork so that
they correlate. This shows that he is capable of understanding and has a great imagination. Nates
drawing also shows that he is very talented, and is an intelligent student. He is able to show this

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through his drawings, his language and comprehension. As a classroom teacher, I would
encourage growth through continuous drawing and relating to stories to better students
knowledge. I would also encourage artwork as a form of learning because I think it is a valuable
tool that can be utilized in any subject that is being taught. Overall, child art development is very
important for classroom teachers because it gives students the opportunity to grow as a learner
using art, to help better their comprehension and understanding. Art is a great way for progress to
be made in the classroom.

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References
Burton, J. M. (1980 a). Beginnings of artistic language. Developing Minds: Beginnings
of Artistic Language, 1-12.
Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University.
Johnson, M. H. (2008). Developing verbal and visual literacy through experiences in the visual
arts. Young Children, 63 (1), 74-79
Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York:
Macmillan.
Pink, D. H. (2005). A whole new mind: Moving from the information age to the
conceptual age. New York: Riverhead Books.
Silverstein, L. B., & Layne, S. (2010). Defining Arts Integration. The John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts.