Analysis of a Kindergartners Artwork 1

Analysis of a Kindergartners artwork

Hannah McMahon

LTC 4240 Art for Children; Section 1 Lamme

University of Missouri
 Analysis of a Kindergartners Artwork 2

Analysis of a Kindergartners Artwork

Art is a great skill for students to utilize because it is an amazing way for them to express

themselves. With art students are able to show visually the thoughts they are having in their

head. For students who dont like writing, art is a more creative way for them to express what

theyre learning about. I believe it is true that, education can learn from the arts that the limits of

language are not the limits of cognition. We know more than we can tell (Eisner, 2009, p. 6).

When you give students the opportunity to express themselves with art they can express more

than they would be able to in other ways, which is why it is so important.

Observation

I chose to work with a girl in kindergarten from my work named Lucy (pseudonym).

One day I saw her doing artwork at her table so I asked if I could join her. As she finished up her

drawing I asked her if she could draw me a picture of an outside scene. She agreed and as she

began drawing I asked her what she was making and she said she was drawing a cat. As she was

drawing the cat on the paper she exclaimed, I want to make a cat mask so I can be a cat! After

this realization she ran to get scissors and more paper. Although this is not exactly the direction I

had hoped she would take the prompt I was glad she was excited about the art and encouraged

her to make the mask. She asked me to cut the paper into a circle because she couldnt do that, I

cut out the eye holes as well but she cut out the ears. Then she began drawing on the cat and

talking about how it needed to have a nose, whiskers and a tongue. She used a teal marker to

draw all the details on the cat and when I asked her why she said, because I love this color and I

wish cats were blue! After gluing the ear on the mask and drawing the details she wrote the

word cat on the top then ran around with the cat mask on the rest of the afternoon.
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Throughout watching Lucy create her artwork I learned a lot about how young students

make art. I thought it was interesting how when she changed her mind to make a mask she had

no hesitation and immediately went in a completely different direction. I found it interesting that

she chose to make a mask and when I asked her if she had ever made a mask before she replied,

yes, in art we learned about Africa masks. The thing I loved most about watching her do art

was seeing how passionate and excited she was about it. She was so excited to make the mask so

she could become a cat and to use her favorite color because in her imagination all cats would be

blue.

Findings
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Based on this Lucys drawing I would believe she is at the preschematic stage. I think

this because her shapes for things are geometric and lose their meaning when removed from the

whole (Brittian & Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 475), for example the triangles in the ears or the shape

for the tongue. If you took these shapes or any shapes off this mask you would not be able to

identify them as cat ears or a tongue. I also think she would be in the preschematic stage because

while I watched her draw the cat face on the mask she continually turned the paper to draw

different parts. I also concluded that she was at this stage based on the human figure

representation aspects because although she did not draw a human some of these characteristics

fit because she drew an animal. I think based on the face she did not draw the characteristics to

scale, they are a bit distorted such as the size of the tongue compared to the ears and the eyes.

After reading all the stages it was clear to me that this student was at the preschematic stage

based on all the examples I listed above.

Conclusion

From watching this student I have realized how much you can learn from watching how a

child draws. You can learn more about a student by watching them create art then you may be

able to with having them do any other school subjects. The different stages of art explain

childrens abilities to create art, and to understand art development in a parallel fashion to

changes in their cognitive, emotional, social and physical growth (Erickson & Young, p. 37).

That being said art can tell so much about a student including their knowledge in school, their

previous experience and what stage of growth they are at mentally. Art should be incorporated in

the classroom every day because there is so much the teacher can learn about a student from their

art work.
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After watching Lucy complete her artwork I have a greater understanding of how

beneficial art can be in the classroom. In my future classroom I want to be able to, Give

children firsthand experiences to develop concepts to stimulate art expression (naeyc, p. 76).

This is so important because as a teacher you can learn about your students thought process,

imagination interests and so much more based on their artwork. I want to be able to incorporate

art in my classroom because it, enables us to have experiences we can have from no other

resource (Eisner, p. 3). I realized this while watching Lucy draw because in what other subject

would she be allowed to transform herself into a cat than art? Art is important because it allows

students to be creative, create what they want and share their perspective. This is important to a

teacher because without art I may never have known how much Lucy loved cats or how she

wished they were blue, she was able to create what she wanted in a way she would not be able to

in any other subject. Observing this student making art made me realize how important art is in

the classroom and how it can teach students so many different ways to look at school work and

the world in general.

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References

Eisner, E. (n.d.) The lessons the arts teach. National art education association. 3.

Eisner, E. (2009) What education can learn from the arts. Arts Education, 6-9.

Erickson, M., & Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesn't)

know. School arts , 40-42.

Lowenfeld, V. & Brittain, W. L., (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillian