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Samantha Hughston
Professor Ward
Art 130: Aesthetics & Art Criticism
October 1, 2016
Artistic Development Analysis

Educational theorists have influenced the way in which both young leaners and students

are taught in school. Educators therefore, use those theories and apply them in their classrooms.

Often the way an educator teaches their students is through a combination of theories from

different theorists. I will be examining the artwork from two young learners of different ages

using the paradigms through the theories of Viktor Lowenfeld and Maria Montessori. The first

child is four years old and will be referenced as Child A, and the second child is three years old

and will be referred to as Child B. It is through the use of these theories that I feel I will be able

to make informed judgements on the artwork created by Child A and Child B.

Methodology

Site of Study

On September 19, 2016, I went to the ASI Childrens Center located on Sacramento States

University Campus, to observe two children of different ages engaged in an art activity. After I

arrived on campus, I went to the office and spoke with the Dr. Denise Wessels the Director of the

center. The two of us discussed the rules of the center. After I signed into the log book, Dr.

Wessels called a classroom to make sure that my arrival was welcomed. When she hung up the

phone, she handed me a badge that I attached to my shirt which stated, I was an observer. Then

she directed me to Casa 2 classroom and informed me that the teachers name was Sarrina Lewis.

When I arrived at the classroom I let myself in the door and immediately found a teachers aide

and explained to her why I was there. The aide pointed out the teacher to me and after

introducing myself to Ms. Lewis, I explained to her also, why I was there and asked her if it
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would be alright to observe two children of different ages spending thirty minutes with each. Ms.

Lewis agreed with the time, looked up the ages of two young girls, and informed me that I could

interact with the child while I did my observation. Ms. Lewis said to give her a few minutes

which I had no problem with because it gave me an opportunity to survey the childrens

environment. I felt it would give me a clearer understanding to how the environment might affect

the childrens artwork and possibly their behavior.

The classroom was L-shaped and I was going to be in the largest portion of the L. In this

larger section it was divided into three separate sections. Near the front door to the immediate

right was a childrens table in the shape of a kidney bean. There were 5 or 6 chairs for the

children to sit on and on the other side was a slightly larger chair for an adult. The center of the

room was partitioned by shelves that created a walkway in which housed various compartments

filled books, puzzles and other items for the children. In this walkway were two yoga type mats

with a small child sleeping on each. By the back door, the wall from the floor up to about the

halfway mark, gave the appearance of a wainscot, were more shelves with containers with more

toys and supplies for the children. On all three walls of this L-shaped classroom hung artwork

created by the children. Some were in crayon and some were painted. I learned from the

teachers aide I had spoken with earlier that the artwork is rotated so that all the children

eventually have their artwork displayed.

child a. The first young lady I observed was four years old and I will refer to her as Child

A. The teacher, Ms. Lewis asked her to make a drawing and handed the child a piece of paper

where the child without delay went to the table by the front door and sat down. I sat down quietly

directly opposite from where she was sitting. The little girl asked my name and I told her. I in
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turn asked her name then without hesitation she reached for a green crayon from one of the two

shallow bowls on the table that held roughly eight crayons in each and began drawing. I asked

her if she was having a good day and she responded with a simply yes never taking her eyes off

of her drawing. Child As hand moved very fast across the bottom of her paper. She did not

appear distracted at all by the other activities going on in the room by the other children. This

gave me the impression that the children were accustomed to working in small groups. I asked

her what she was creating and she replied, I am making a landscape. I did not know that a four-

year-old child knew what a landscape drawing was, so I remained quiet for a few minutes and

watched her in silence.

When Child A was finished with her green crayon she placed it back into the bowl,

selected a red crayon and began humming. Once again she drew with speed but changed the

direction of her lines. The grass she drew in a west to east direction and the red was in a north

and south direction. When she was drawing the lines were as if she were doing a continuous line

drawing. When she was finished with the red crayon, once again systematically she placed it

back into one of the bowls and all of a sudden blurted out, I need the black crayon and I cannot

find it. I happened to look up just as she made her comment and saw the Director watching the

child and I and she gave me a nod. I interpreted it to mean that it was okay to help the little girl

find the black crayon. I found the crayon and handed it to the child and she responded with

thanks. I asked her why the black crayon was so important for her drawing and she told me,

Because I need it to draw the opening for the dog house I am making, how else will the dog get

out. I guess I was told. The dog house and dog she had positioned slightly off center. With the

opening drawn in place she sat for a moment and decided to draw the dog in black too. With that
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mission accomplished her returned the crayon and grabbed a yellow one. Yellow crayon in hand

she then drew in the sun in the upper left hand side of the paper, complete with the rays

surrounding her sun. When she was done she got up from the table and asked the teacher if she

could go play with other children and Ms. Lewis looked at me and I nodded and she told Child A

yes she could go play with a group of children that were heading outside.

child b. The teacher, Ms. Lewis looked on a chart and selected another young lady for me

to observe. Child B was a little girl that was 3 years old. As before Ms. Lewis asked for the little

girl to please make a drawing and we returned to the same table I had observed child A. This

young lady decided she wanted to use markers and asked the teacher if it was okay. When

approval was given she sat done and selected a black marker after we each exchanged our names

and complimented each other on our names. This little girl seemed fidgety to me because

sometimes she sat only on half of the chair and kept bouncing up and down a little. She drew a

black oval just off center and made some squiggly lines in it and promptly put the black marker

back in a box. I asked her what she was creating and she informed me that she was originally

going to draw a happy face but decided to draw a bird egg instead. She then grabbed an orange

marker and stared at her paper for a few minutes. So, I asked her what her favorite colors were

and received that expected answer from a little girl that age; My favorite colors are pink and

purple. I told her I like purple too. That appeared to break the ice a bit. She took the orange

marker and made a nest she informed me for the egg. Child B then put the marker where it

belonged and asked the teacher who happened to be standing behind her what she thought of her

drawing. Ms. Lewis politely asked her to draw some more.

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The young lady looked at me and asked me how to spell mom. I tried to explain it to her

however, she did not appear to understand so I turned her paper over and in the upper right hand

corner wrote the word mom out for her very small and turned the paper around so she could see

it. Child B pulled out the black, green and pink markers out of the box and began to write quite

largely the following words: momma in black, her name in pink, mom in green and a

combination green and black for momm. She then took the black marker and blacked out where I

had written mom in the upper right hand corner and scribbled with the first Momma she had

written in black. At which time she stood up and said what do you think? I responded by telling

her that I liked both sides and asked her the same question she had asked me. She responded by

saying that she liked the side she had written the words momma on because her mom is the

greatest. Child B told me good-bye, gave the aide her picture and went to go play with some

puzzles.

analysis: comparison. When I watched Child A begin her drawing, I observed that she

moved her hand very fast scribbling across the bottom of the paper with a green crayon as she

drew on her paper. The scribbling child is categorized as a child between 2-4 years of age

(Lowenfeld, 1954). According to Lowenfeld (1954), scribbling to [a] child means enjoyment,

happiness, release, and the gaining of the most important function, the coordination of motion

(p. 72). I agree with Lowenfeld with his statement because as Child A was drawing she also

began to hum and to me that expresses a sign of her being happy. Lowenfeld (1954) argued that

in the beginning a child scribbles uncontrollably at first, then as they gain confidence the child

will do controlled scribbling, as I witnessed in Child As drawing. I saw her draw with

confidence because she never hesitated on what crayon she was going to use or what she was
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going to draw, it was as she had it pictured in her mind. When she finished using the green

crayon and changed the color of the crayon to red, she continued to scribble, but in the opposite

direction to form her dog house. The dog house sits on top of the grass. Up until this point I can

relate to Lowenfelds category of classifying her in a 2-4 age group, but she has developed a

drawing skill used by older children. In her drawing she established a relationship between the

different objects that she drew. According to Lowenfeld (1957), establishment of a base line on

which objects are placed and often a skyline, with the space between representing air (p. 476).

So, because she drew a dog house and a dog on top of the grass and also, drew a sun in the upper

left hand corner of the paper this tells me that possibly she has learned that skill from observing

older children. I believe that using Lowenfelds stages of artistic development are useful but that

it is important to look at Child As drawing as a whole before determining her level of

knowledge. In comparing Child Bs artwork to Child As artwork there are several distinctive

differences. For example, when Child B began her drawing it appeared that she was restless and

not quite sure what she was going to draw. She drew a black oval with a marker and then put a

scribbled black line in the center after a few moments. According to Lowenfeld (1954), It is

usually a sign of lack of confidence and concentration if children frequently interrupt their

scribbling (p.72). I agree with this because Child B openly admitted that she was not quite sure

if she was going to draw a happy face (her first thought) but, then she decided to draw a bird egg.

Another difference between Child A and Child Bs artworks is that Child Bs artwork

demonstrates only scribbling without any signs of control. This lack of control can be seen in the

orange nest she drew by the black egg and also, on the reverse side of the paper where she wrote

the words momma. On the words she scribbled over parts of some of the words.
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discussion. Since, I observed both children at the accredited by the NAEYC (National

Academy of Early Childhood Programs) Childrens Center on campus, I feel their setting of the

classroom was important to describe in as much detail so the reader could visual the environment

in which the children created their artwork. I felt that the setting was much like a Montessori

classroom in the way it was composed. All of the children in the room were young preschoolers

and observers are welcome. According to Aubrey, K. & Riley (2016), Maria Montessori had a

clear vision for the education of young children which was based around her view that

educational environment should attend to the holistic needs of each individual child (p.28). This

was precisely the way the room looked to me. Everything in the room had been put there with

the young children in mind. There was no large teachers desk, it was all about creating a healthy

environment for the children where they could work independently by themselves playing

puzzles or work in small groups drawing at a table. For me the success in thinking about the

Montessori theory, is that Maria Montessori emphasized how important the classroom setting is

for children after observing many children. The success for Lowenfeld came from his careful

observation of children, where he could document in an outline the different ages groups of

children and describe the characteristics of each stage of development. The challenges I believe

would be to read between the lines of both theorists and continue to observe and document ones

findings because I do not believe that any one theorist has all the answers.

conclusion. As a future educator, I believe if I provide opportunities for students

to connect with the material I am teaching in a variety of ways by using engaging

assignments such as: exploring visual arts by interpreting denotations and connotations of

a favorite magazine cover. The learner will end up learning more because the student will

have prior knowledge about the magazine and will be able to interpret the new
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information more easily. I intend to use the white board to draw mind maps suggesting a

big idea to help the students with their critical thinking process. Depending on the age

group I teach this will help the student to see how a mind map could be used as a

beginning for outlining a paper. I like the idea of using a PowerPoint presentation after a

big idea has be given to the class as a means of giving the student more background

information to use. Through the PowerPoint presentation I could introduce key concepts

and ask essential questions for the students to ponder on. Then I would have the

PowerPoint in Word format so that the students could more easily download it in various

styles when they want to print it out. This would allow the student to put them in their

binders so they can put more notes on them. I also, intend in having students work in

small groups because I believe that through shared stories and experiences they will learn

more. I would similarly incorporate VTS into my classroom. All the assignments would

have deadlines with the criteria outlined so the students would know exactly what I want

from them. Hopefully, I will have a good mix of hands-on experiences, interactive

lectures and other active learning approaches.

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References

Aubrey, K. & Riley, A. (2016). Understanding and using educational theories. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.

Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1957). Creative and mental growth (8th ed.). Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Lowenfeld, V. (1954). Your child and his art; a guide for parents. New York: Macmillan.