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Visual Literacy and Art Education: Review of the Literature

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Visual Literacy and Art Education: A Review of the Literature

By

Scott McMaster

Concordia University, Montreal

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 2

Table of Contents

 Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…3

 Introduction and Rationale………………………………………………………………….…….4

 The Rise in Visual Information and Consumption of Images………………….….....5

 The Inseparability of Visual Literacy and Popular Visual Culture………………...7

 The Importance of Learning to Deconstruct our Visual World…………………....13

 The Role of Technologies and New Media……………………………...............................19

 The Benefits of Visual Literacy…………………………………………………………..……..24

 Implications for Future Study ………………………………………………………………….28

 References …………………………………………………………………………………………….30
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 3

Preface

Art is a language of visual images that everyone must learn to read. In art classes we

make visual images and we study visual images. Increasingly these images affect our

needs, our daily behaviour, our hopes, our opinions and our ultimate ideals. This is

why the individual who cannot understand or read images is incompletely educated.

Complete literacy includes the ability to understand, respond to and talk about

visual images (Feldman, 1982, p.5).

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 4

Introduction and Rationale

Visual literacy is under researched, often overlooked and underestimated in its value

to our education and in society in general. Although the concept of Visual Literacy (VL) is

still regarded as controversial and problematic for lack of an agreed upon definition and

explicit focus, it remains actively pursued as many disciplines strive to understand and

integrate it (Avgerinou and Ericson, 1997; Boughton, 1986). Visual Literacy can be defined

as an understanding of imagery which encompasses all forms of visual media and,

"distinguishes between semantic and syntactic conventions and focuses on those

characteristics that most sharply differentiate visual language from other modes of

communication" (Messaris, 1998, p.70). Hortin(1980) defined VL more simply as “the

ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn, and express

oneself in terms of images” (p. 169).

In response to the prevalence and influence of visual imagery, what efforts have

been undertaken to analyze and interpret visual language? What impact is or could visual

literacy be having on education today? In particular, how are those in the Visual Arts and

Art Education, whose primary concern is imagery, educating students in visual literacy and

visually based communication? What do current methods of exploration hold for the future
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 5

of educational design? The purpose of this literature review is to explore some major issues

and themes surrounding visual literacy’s impact, or lack thereof, on current paradigms and

the fundamental strategies of how we teach and learn. We are constantly exposed to, and

targeted by media on a scale which may have been unfathomable over a decade ago.

Considering the importance and rapidly expanding influence technology and visual

imagery have, now more than ever, on society, what efforts are being made to educate

students in the production and consumption of our vast, diagrammatic and increasingly

technological world?

Major Issues and Themes

The literature, which has been constrained to mainly Art and Art Education related

publications show several prominent themes under the banner of ‘Visual Literacy’ which

are discussed in detail; The Rise in Visual Information and Consumption, The Inseparability

of Visual Literacy and Popular Visual Culture, The Importance of Learning to Deconstruct

our Visual World and The Role of Technologies and New Media. The major themes are then

followed by further discussion on The Benefits of Visual literacy as well as implication for

future study.

The Rise in Visual Information and Consumption of Images

So what makes visual images so important or worthy of our attention? Our world is

increasingly image based and penetrates almost all aspects of contemporary life; brought

to us by a myriad of media and technological devices which are not bound by

the constraints of physical space and do not meld easily within the ideals of traditional
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 6

literacy paradigms. Images permeate our homes, our cars, our streets, our workplaces even

our pockets; for most people images are both inseparable from and essential for our

everyday lives.

Hudson (1987) points out that as far back as 1936 it was assumed that over 65% of

all our information was attained visually. Hudson then makes the case that with all the

advances made in technology and the supremacy of visual processes he estimates that over

85% of all knowledge is attained visually (1987). “In spite of this, visual training, visual

language and literacy, have not as yet achieved an equal position beside the other

fundamental literacies-verbal, oral, and numeral” (p. 277). This is more recently supported

by others, such as Chung (2005), who describes the environment we live in as drenched in

imagery.

Even through written 25 years ago Boughton (1986) notes the decline in the textual

compared with the visual which has become even more prominent today with new media

and increasingly visual gadgets and the web, things which Boughton recognized before

they had come to fruition. He makes the claim that VL has the potential to significantly

impact art education’s content and methodologies. He makes the point, later reiterated by

Avgerinou and Ericson (1997), that there is no clear meaning of VL but instead purposes

three loosely tied but fundamentally different concepts. Boughton (1986) argues that in an

education context that values ‘getting back to basics’ visual education is one of those basic

values.
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 7

Twenty years later Harris (2006) observed that in our homes, in the streets, on

screens, across the web, the visual is primary. Icons erase words from desktops and menus,

textbooks have become drenched in images, information seekers use computers,

televisions, and cell phones, simultaneously, in what seems to be an almost constant swirl

of search-find-post and search again activity; images are both higher in demand and in

circulation than text (p. 213). We turn to our TVs and LCD screens first to get our

information, and while a good deal of this information is still textual it almost never goes

unaccompanied by images.

Harris (2006) remarks that since most students come in contact with millions of

images a year(one might easily estimate that number to be even higher today), which

means lifelong continuous learning is enhanced with a consideration of the multi-textual

and highly visual character of information production, presentation and consumption (p.

214). Despite these realities he points out that few students would actually be asked to

produce an image based essay or to deconstruct imagery in most programs of study. He

also makes the obvious point that words are merely images that symbolize sounds and that

teachers must make way for the increasing influence of visuals in their classrooms.

The Inseparability of Visual Literacy and Popular Visual Culture

Throughout the literature it becomes increasingly apparent that it is very difficult to

separate the need for visual literacy from the call for the study of visual culture. At the very

center of popular visual culture is, rather obviously, visual imagery. The media that deliver

our films, TV shows, news, commercials, ads, magazines and websites are now structured
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 8

around the images which compose the bulk of what we see and convey a great deal of

information; altering the perspective with which we interpret the accompanying text or

dialogue.

Duncum (1993) through his five functions of the visual arts in society demonstrates

the importance of the visual in both our everyday lives and as intrinsically connected with

popular culture. Duncum claims that it is crucial to understand the motives which engage

children and adults in the production of imagery and in doing so it will better inform the

place of the visual art’s role in society. Duncum pointed out that in 1993 children are

exposed to many more visual narratives than in the past via TV; this has even more

significance to educators today because of the ubiquity of the internet and access students

have to these narratives. Still Duncum claims there is little focus given to visual narrative

in schools, citing a preoccupation with words.

Allen (1994) suggests that visual narratives and the use of camerawork portray characters

and people in certain ways which can affect our interpretation and opinions of them. He

also includes all forms of mass media communication (including new media) stating, “the

deregulation of broadcasting and the development of increasingly cheap and sophisticated

multi-media technologies for work and leisure make it increasingly important that we can

handle visual information as part of a complex package of ideas and ideologies” (p.134).

Allen (1994) further strengthens his argument by pointing out, as does Aguirre (2004), that

although we would like fine art media to play a more important role in interpreting these

narratives, they cannot compete with the presence of popular mass media as potent visual
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 9

artifacts of people’s daily lives, further questioning whether painting, drawing and

printmaking etc. can provide an inclusive education in VL. Allen (1994) makes a direct link

between a critical eye and VL, suggesting that attaining literacy means knowing and

understanding the source.

Avgerinou and Ericson (1997) point out, giving strength to Eisner’s (1986) claims,

that if it is established that the visual sense is the most dominant and therefore the most

central (they see no evidence not to believe that to be true) rationality dictates that as

teachers we should focus and develop the visual sense through the fostering and expansion

of visual literacy. Adding to this Avgerinou and Ericson (1997) also note the ubiquity of

visual mass media and the messages contained within them, reiterating the significance for

generations growing up within this context not be just passive consumers absorbing these

messages.

Addison (1999) proposes, similarly to Knight (2010), that VL has wrongfully been

slotted into a textual perspective of interpretation of imagery which cannot account for the

multiplicity of meanings contained within creatively produced signs/symbols used in our

everyday lives. It is then not too much of a leap to link this idea with popular visual culture

as the dominant force driving and creating these everyday sign and symbols.The types of

things that we read visually on a daily basis include, body gestures, clothes, posture, facial

expressions and reactions are all visual forms that, Addison suggests, should be built upon

in the curriculum. Just as students interact and create meaning with each other so do they

interact and create meaning with images and works of art. Addison also cites the rise of
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 10

multimedia as challenging verbal dominance, gradually displacing it from its privileged

perch.

Addison (1999) contends that semiotics are a more logical starting point for critical

approach to interpreting visual culture and much more closely related to students own

meaning making processes than other privileged studies such as science or math.

“Semiotics provides ways of examining the relationship between word, image, sound and

the other sensory modes used simultaneously in multi-media and installation (p.37). This

touches on Eisner’s (1986) plea for inclusion of the senses.

Stankiewicz (2003, 2004) posits that being visually literate means that people are

able to interpret the constructs of visual culture within the context of their lives (Aguirre,

2004) this includes a better understanding of multimedia technologies surrounding them

which are intrinsically visual. Teaching students to understanding and critically examine

these constructs, she suggests, is the task of future art educators. Aguirre (2004) discusses

art as a cultural system emphasizing links between art and our social structures.

Stankiewicz (2003) argues that this social relevance calls for more social constructivist

methods to be used in art education, to draw upon the mammoth power of visual culture,

merging creation, understanding and critique within contemporary life. Ultimately her

position examines how aesthetic experience or interpretation of an art work, whether it is

fine or pop art, positioned within our lived experience? Cultural, social and political aspects

construct our everyday lives and aesthetic comprehension should position us directly

within these influences without a concern with titles of fine or popular art.
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 11

Chung (2005) states that in contemporary society people, particularly children, are

heavily influenced by various types of popular media and in turn the things people talk

about, lifestyles they live and products they consume are directly related to what they see

portrayed or advertised in these media. Through the combination of visual and textual ads

and slogans companies not only convince people to buy certain products but also construct

false or misleading ideals and realities surrounding the use of these products. Chung points

out that activist art, like that of Barbra Kruger and the Guerrilla Girls use the same methods

as advertisers capitalizing, “the power of mass media in contemporary society and the

ways in which images and language from television, films, the Internet, newspapers, and

magazines serve as key conduits through which modern citizens learn about the world”

(2005, p.21). This emphasizes the importance of being visually literate and being able to

thoughtfully process the sometimes overwhelming sources of visual media.

Herne (2005) highlights how visual and media literacy can be developed through

hands on image production and group activities which draw on lived experience and

popular culture. A literacy project similar to that of Chung’s (2005) in that images

(postcards) were deconstructed and then narratives for these images constructed by

groups of young students relating to Duncum’s 3rd and 5th functions of visual art. The

activities described in this study demonstrate children’s ability to adapt to the use of

technology and their willingness to take on the conceptual role of assigning meaning to

images though the use of captions which according to some of the investigators reflected a

development of student’s visual vocabulary and enhanced their interpretation of imagery.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 12

Herne’s (2005) results support more careful consideration of visual literacy learning

beginning at a very young age.

Children and students in school increasingly present a tacit understanding of media

literacy drawing on their regular media consumption, albeit as consumers rather than

producers. All this has a pressing influence on the school curriculum and educators are

posed the challenge of reflecting these changes (Herne, 2005, p. 7).

Almost everyone sees, immersed in imagery , signs and symbols most of their

waking life (even in dreams) , but, “may rarely encounter an eight-page essay written in

MS Word with an APA bibliography” (Harris, 2006, p.214) and most people do not do
√
algebra or physics or encounter equations as they walk down the street.

Despite this reality Harris (2006) insists out that few students would actually be asked to

produce an image based essay or to deconstruct imagery in most programs of study.

Yet even though the average student may not be asked to produce imagery during

their studies Spalter and van Dam (2008) contend that the ease at which images can be

produced, spread, altered and accessed worldwide, almost instantaneously, makes the

interpretation, production and consumption of our visual world all the more critical.

Spalter and van Dam (2008) state the tremendous rise in visual communication is

due to computer graphics being able to not only represent our world but allow us to

interact and manipulate it. Spalter and van Dam (2008) note that unlike previous visual

innovations in technology like the printing press, telescope or microscope, computer

graphics and new technologies can be used, manipulated and altered (as well as
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 13

disseminated)by just about anyone who can dedicate the time. They claim that visual

perception, contrary to popular belief, is a complex intertwining of moving, static and

contrasting stimuli. Factor in all these technologies and new media and merge them with

the motives, agendas, placement of everyday images, objects, even architecture and the

distinct principles which we may consciously or unconsciously associate with them, makes

visual literacy all the more interesting and imperative.

Knight (2010) argues that, “it is a common acceptance that contemporary

schoolchildren live in a world that is intensely visual and commercially motivated, where

what is imagined and what is experienced intermingle” (p.236). Rogoff (as cited by Knight

2010) suggests that a failure to acknowledge mass-media’s visual influence may leave

students unable to make connections to their lived experiences (Aguirre, 2004) when

confronted with European masters so far removed from their own reality. Knight, like Allen

(2004), also calls for a more interdisciplinary approach to visual culture and a pluralistic

examination of popular and postmodern culture.

Ultimately it is important not to wear blinders when consuming the images all

around us; we need to critically examine the source of visual information which penetrates

our everyday lives and the intentions of its creators. In order to do this we need a

structured and well devised arena to deconstruct and learn the basics of visual literacy.

The Importance of Learning to Deconstruct our Visual World

The fundamental nature in which we interpret the world around us, first and

foremost is through our eyes, this has both socio-cultural relevance as well as educational
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 14

value. How we see, rather than what we see, determines the views of our surroundings, our

social interactions with other people and how we respond and react to a world of signs and

symbols woven into all aspects of our culture. The imagery within our environment

saturates our neighbourhoods, institutions and communities; deconstructed, analyzed,

reconstructed and stored in our minds as representations of our reality but is it a conscious

process or are we just passively absorbing this information?

Boughton (1986) advances three concepts (or categories) of VL and although

underdeveloped they do provide some guidance:

 Visual literacy via Communication: The broadest of the three it encompasses

all ‘human made visual signs other than written language’ (p.128), with an

emphasis on image making technology.

 Visual literacy via the Artistic: To encode and decode meaning in various art

forms with an emphasis on unlocking the meaning contained within.

 Visual literacy via the Aesthetic: A focus on how we view, respond and assign

meaning and value to aesthetic works, which are discipline specific.

He concludes that Artistic VL is the most appropriate concept to help develop

literacy and within its boundaries multiple VL needs to be enacted to span the styles and

codes contained across our multicultural visual world. To be visually illiterate is to

potentially be more exposed to and fall victim of the persuasion and rhetoric of popular

media.
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 15

Further methods of deconstructing the visual arts are proposed by Duncum (1993).

Duncum lists five functions (categories) of the visual arts which are helpful both in

analyzing specific use of visual art as well methods of pinpointing the importance of the

visual within each context.

1) Substitution: a need for pleasurable looking and recreating the world through

representation to better understand it. This dates back to cave paintings (Read, 1954) and

ancient Egypt, images provided concrete examples of reality at the time as well as records

of progress and change, which could be considered the most primitive form of visual

literacy.

2) Narration: also provides pleasure, it instructs and informs, creates identity, and

helps to construct what is socially acceptable and dealing with both humorous and serious

issues. Both educational and commercial purposes use this method.

3) Embellishment: “Embellishment provides visual pleasure and thus enhances the

quality of life, but it can also obscure ideas” (1993, p. 219). Other forms of embellishment

include design and decoration as well as adorning funerals and weapons with pleasing

characteristics in order to disguise their purpose. An example of this would be fighter jets,

sometimes beautifully sculpted aerodynamic flying machines which children might equate

more closely with racing cars than instruments of destruction. This design makes the

unacceptable purpose palatable and attaches meaning or special significance to certain

events according to Duncum.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 16

4) Commitment/persuasion: “Totalitarian regimes are notorious for using visual

images to suppress dissent, while the history of visual artists acting as social critics is long

and laudatory” (1993, p.221). This example is especially poignant with the recent events in

North Africa and the Middle East, as the world looks on it is the broadcasting of images (or

in some cases the lack thereof) which have the highest impact on our consciousness and

consciences. Duncum discusses how images are used to persuade and reinforce certain

ideas and ideological commitment in societies so that they become the status quo, the

messages within these images becoming second nature or common sense to us. He states

that “Providing students with the critical skills required to resist attempts at visual

persuasion which are not in the students’ best interests are perhaps the most important

skills formal education can deliver” (1993, p.222). VL in the art curriculum is a good place

to start providing such skills.

5) Personal expression: Although it is often seen as a means of differentiating an

individual from others and promoting ones uniqueness, Duncum claims that even within

these individual forms of self-expression and personal achievement people are

“constrained by media, available techniques, prevailing ideas, and the pressures and

process of a stratified society. Even the basic notions of individualism, of personal

expression and response, should be seen as social constructions serving dominant interests”

(1993, p.223). This again relates to the importance of the visual in socially constructing

our realities and making sense of the realities of others. Only by recognizing what these

interests are can we begin to understand how they influence us.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 17

Although Duncum does not campaign specifically for VL his examples of the

important roles that visual arts and imagery play in society and our everyday lives, cross

culturally and throughout history certainly support an increased focus and concentration

on students awareness of embodied meaning disseminated by visual media and ultimately

a literacy of images and the media through which they reach us.

One of the reasons for the perceived lack of support for VL, according to Avgerinou

and Ericson (1997), is because many educators believe that VL is self-evident and that the

process is learned through direct experience, which they concede as true but only for the

most basic skills meaning the more complex ideas and subtle underlying concepts need to

be taught in order to be identified. Avgerinou and Ericson (1997) state that students need

to be taught the basic skills of visual interpretation that will allow them to discern between

real and superfluous, necessary or gratuitous, ultimately being able to better determine the

validity of information that they are seeing and assess its value. Whether or not a

traditional visual art course teaches this is questionable.

Aguirre (2004) advocates a ‘trans-disciplinary’ approach noting that many in the art

ed. field are trying to situate their work in a more interdisciplinary academic context

including visual studies and visual culture including popular culture. Due to this shift she

suggests a dismissal of art education that deals only with the traditional skills of production

and technical ability and a focus more on the interpretation and decoding of art works

leading to the development of visual literacy. Chung (2005) also urges that art education

play a central role in giving children the critical tools necessary to properly understand
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 18

what is being visually conveyed and thereby aid them in making informed decisions in an

“image saturated environment” (2005, p.19).

Chung (2005) conducted a small scale study with junior high school students and

had them analyze, deconstruct and refurbish cigarette ads. She found that the students

were aware that the ads contained positive and encouraging messages despite not

immediately recognizing the ads were for cigarettes. Later by refurbishing the ads with

Photoshop the students injected what they thought the actual use of cigarettes entailed,

relating them to death, aging, depression etc. instead of the original intentions of the ads to

deliver light, happy, warm feelings and a sense of belonging. This type of activity shows

how including popular visual culture, particularly ads, in art education can bring about a

more heightened awareness of what is being said and how they are being targeted as

consumers. This is in essence what one of the key benefits of studying VL would be, being

able to look at one’s visual environment critically instead of indiscriminatingly.

Harris (2006) also remarks on the placement of photos or images in newspapers,

magazines, novels etc. and how these affect our opinions and interpretations of the

accompanying texts. He contends that teaching students how to evaluate the various design

elements that shape a text and attribute different perceptions, is not as labour intensive as

it may seem. Abrahmov (2008) describes some fairly simple methods of deconstructing

images to gain a better understanding of them. He supports the notion that there are three

levels of meaning; Factual, Interpretive and Conceptual. The Factual levels are the literal

objects which are immediately recognized: people, appliances, building products, foods etc.,
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 19

basically regular everyday objects. Next is the Interpretive Level, composed of common

associations we have with the objects pictured: meanings of colours, domesticity,

urban/rural, hot /cold, spicy/bland. The final Conceptual Level is the hidden or underlying

connotations of the pictured images/objects which; convey values, cultural and ethnic,

positive or negative emotions etc. Here we have a straight forward methodology for

analyzing images and a good foundation for a VL curriculum.

Despite the seemingly common sense approach for art education to handle VL

Knight (2010) views VL, in its present state, to be more of a passive form of informing

students of the contextualization of visual materials. She notes that VL is often placed

outside the art curriculum in courses such as English, noting that those outside visual arts

may not possess the same ability to properly decode or deconstruct the understated and

hidden meanings rooted in contemporary works.

The Role of Technologies and New Media

Viewing visual literacy in a contemporary context it becomes self-evident that

consideration must be made as to the placement and integration of new media and

technologies. As Kurzweil (2005) predicts we are moving exponentially towards a

technologically dependant society where technology is not only essential to our daily lives

but where we might begin to merge with these technologies. If we take this rather

overwhelming predication into consideration, even if at less than face value, technology’s

influence on visual media needs to be examined under VL.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 20

Boughton (1986) clearly describes the importance of the use and understanding of

what he calls visual technologies, citing that technology and the media have a tremendous

influence on children and that the proper use of these tools can be motivational for

students. Boughton (1986) claims that VL is learning to use these technologies skilfully to

communicate information and ideas, thereby expanding other literacies.

Hudson (1987) takes this idea even further by asserting that the interpenetration of

art and technology within communicative systems is carrying on briskly and regrettably

the results, as witnessed in the media, are often appalling, because practitioners and

patrons are equally aesthetically underdeveloped and functionally visually illiterate.

Hudson maintains, “We now have new needs stemming from a wealth of ideas, languages,

systems, information-communication disciplines and technologies, new concepts, the

information explosion, and technical change may leave traditional education in disarray

unless we recharge and redirect it” (p. 272). Duncum (1993) under his fifth function of the

visual arts remarks that society is driven by utilitarian, economic as well as what he calls a

‘technological omnipresence’ (p.222). Allen (1994), supporting Boughton’s (1986) aims,

views VL as being able to use these new image making technologies to express ideas, citing

the ubiquity of new media technologies as comprising an important part of how we

conceive and convey complex information.

Prensky (2001), although not an art educator puts forth a good deal of reflective

information and illustrates the potential visual technologies have for learning over more

traditional textual models. Prensky suggests that today’s educators may not only be
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 21

‘visually illiterate’ but also ‘digitally illiterate’ unable to cope and understand the visually

based technologies in which their students are fluent. Students are now part of a born

digital generation, arriving at school already adept in navigating all the latest technologies

and devices. Delacruz (2009) also notes that recent studies show youth use a magnitude of

multimedia technologies for numerous goals, in widely creative ways and with ease but

what do they actually ‘see’?

The average college grad has read less than 5000hrs but spent 10,000hrs playing

video games and 20,000hrs watching TV. Add to that another 10,000 hours (probably

much more at present) on computer and the net (Prensky, 2001); now the importance and

potential influence of the visual [over the textual] is compounded. People in all sorts of

professions have come to rely on visual interactions and communication. This is probably

one of the reasons motivating Prensky’s involvement with the development of game based

(visual) learning such as the ones found at Social Impact Games. Students can learn a

variety of subjects from algebra to science, history and geography all through game based

platforms. It is worthy of noting that the only discipline, whose voice is curiously absent (at

least on this platform), is that of art education.

This potential for digital technologies to foster creativity particularly in the visual

arts is also noted by Loveless (2003). Although not speaking of visual literacy per se she

does advocate digital literacies and the nature of her project with secondary students and

artists created a space for deeper conceptual and creative understanding as well as

collaboration and pedagogical dialogue through the use of technology. Loveless (2003)
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 22

noted student’s frustration with not have enough opportunity to develop a deeper

understanding of ICT in their curriculum and put it to more creative use.

Herne (2005) has also affirmed that technology is under used in the art curriculum.

Through the use of scanners and photo-software Herne helped his students not only learn

the use of new technologies but claims the process also allowed them to construct identity

and understand the identities of others. His article reveals that while contemporary art has

embraced new technologies and mass media the art classroom has not been as welcoming

a site for exploration. Through Herne’s (2005) postcard construction project he concluded

that the use of technology fosters both visual and media literacy as well as aiding the

construction of meaning through student’s own lived experience.

Harris (2006) affirms that practical reading literacy, print literacy, media literacy,

visual literacy, and the new “multimodal” literacies tackled in some disciplines all interact

along with information literacy strategies. While what he calls ‘information literacy’

training is restricted to certain faculties and an understanding about how information

works, it must remain open and adaptable as technologies and their users change and

advance (p. 214). As Stankiewicz (2003) observes Art education has a more intricate

affiliation with technology than many other disciplines. Not only has art education been

shaped by the managerial technologies that have contributed to the formation of “graded

classrooms and articulated school systems, but the visual arts also contribute to the

generation of new technologies and the replenishment of existing ones. Both art and

technology are grounded in the same kind of nonverbal thinking.” (p.320)

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 23

Stankiewicz (2004) makes an important argument for the inseparability of VL and

technology dating back to our ancient ancestors technologies of cave paintings. She even

goes so far as to remark that art education can be a component of power becoming a

‘virtual technology for social control’ (p.88), this is why it is crucial to understand its

capabilities. She also argues that technology for mass media reproduction would have had

little impact without the development of tech. for the dissemination of images (magazines,

postal service, and advertising). “The visual arts were, and continue to be, means to the end

of technological development” (2003, p.320).

Abromov (2008) also notes the important relationship between art and technology

yet that despite the phenomena of the digital age making the transmission of visual objects

via technologies and the web instant and proliferative he observes that visual disciplines

seem to be late in adapting and taking advantage of these new opportunities (p.281).

Abromov (2008) asserts a shift in the ontology of the photographic image in the digital age

that will noticeably influence all contemporary images both in production and the

effortlessness (and instantaneous) manner with which they can be used to globally

communicate. He further claims that traditional boundaries between different art media

are dissipating which makes the teaching of and the creation and reading of these images in

all areas of art, design and visual communication valuable in both traditional and new

media (p.288).

Spalter and van Dam (2008) take further notice of the oncoming digital age and

state that the lower cost and super-saturation of technologies and computer graphics
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 24

present in everyday life are promoting educational institutions to finally begin to assess the

crucial role of visual literacy in society. This is because images can add to deep and complex

cognitive understandings of our world from the vastness of space (Hubble) to endoscopic

journey through the body, to virtually walking down a street on the other side of the world

in Google Earth.

Delacruz (2009) claims that in response to these new technologies there has been

an important shift in art education technology pedagogy; a concern with cultural

citizenship relevant to an age of global media and if taken into the art room it can forge

connections between art, technology, common good and justice (p.263-264). However

Delacruz (2009) is pessimistic about the present state of the majority of ‘veteran’ art

teachers, at all levels of education, in integrating the necessary changes to allow art

education to embrace the innovations and creative possibilities provided by new media.

However she does acknowledge the potential for change in the near future, from the next

generation of art educators. Still she does believe that technology will transform art and

education but only after a born digital generation of teachers have taken over bringing

their plethora of technological tools and bridging connections to everyday lifestyles.

As evidenced by much of the literature technology and visual imagery have an

intimate and intricate relationship which one might call symbiotic. It seems that in order to

fully understand one you cannot discount the other, instead it may be the best course of

action to explore the two simultaneously.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 25

The Benefits of Visual Literacy

Besides the numerous rationale mentioned already some may still ask why visual

images or visual literacy deserves such attention, what are the more palatable benefits

outside of understanding pictures better? Well some of the literature, in addition to

supporting the crucial role visual images play in our daily lives also stress that visual

language and communication play an essential part in our cognitive development and can

increase our capacity to learn in all subject areas.

Eisner (1986) makes a case for the role of the senses in the interpretation of our

environments and our ability to build versatile concepts and translate them from abstract

perception to concrete experience; arguing that words such as justice, category, nation or

infinity are “meaningless noise or marks on paper unless their referents can be imagined”

(p. 59). The visual arts are in a prime position for the handling of these abstract concepts as

they have been our chief form of representation since the dawn of civilization and

intuitively linked with our senses. Among these senses and forms of representation the

visual clearly dominates “In the beginning there was the image, not the word” (p.60),

however Eisner also notes the importance of transferring ideas between the senses for

which, he claims, we invented analogies.

Duncum (1993) suggests, evidenced in his five functions, that the visual arts are

rooted in the very nature of human cognition and societies. Although this idea is not

absolute he contends it is a certainty that in our society children, even the very young, are

motivated instinctively to create images for motives which closely correlate with the role of
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 26

images in our society. This supports closer study of the links between images and literacy

as well as the effects images have on human cognition, development and perception.

Sinker (1996) realized the value of visual methodologies, in her teachings, for aiding

new citizens (immigrants) in adjusting and assimilating into new cultures; photographs can

become tools of expression and communication, they personalize students’ everyday lives

in visual representation. She mentions that current systems of evaluation do not accurately

consider the implications of these visual studies; therefore they are often dismissed. She

asserts, “A combined application of media education in art and English and ideally other

subjects too, allows for deeper explorations of … fundamental communication issues and

presents a cross fertilization in the curriculum which more accurately represents

contemporary culture” (p.64-65).

Avgerinou and Ericson (1997) point out that Ausburn and Ausburn’s (1978) list of

potential benefits of developing Visual Literacy are just as pertinent in the 1990s:

1. Increase in all kinds of verbal skills

2. Improved self-expression and ordering of ideas

3. Increase in student motivation and interest in subjects of all types and at all levels,

4. ‘Reaching’ students not being reached in traditional ways. Students such as the

educationally disadvantaged, the truant, the socially underprivileged, the

emotionally disturbed, the intellectually handicapped, the ethnic and bilinguals, the

dyslexic, the deaf, those with speech pathology problems—all respond and have

been helped in terms of both interest and achievement,

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 27

5. Improved image of self and relationship to the world

6. Improved self-reliance, independence, and confidence

Last but not least, the authors emphasized that the development of VL will also

result in increasing the ability to better comprehend today’s world (p. 295).

This list continues to have relevance thirty years after it was written maybe even

more so today with ever advancing technologies and as noted above not only does VL help

the average student in cognitive and perceptual ways it can also improve the learning of

those who have difficult learning in traditional (textual) ways. This idea is further

supported by Gardner’s (1982) Multiple Intelligences Theory, in particular Visual-Spatial

learners. A prime example of this is the life of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who

learned in a primarily visual way and was able to overcome many of the hurdles autistic

people face by embracing her visual way of learning and using it creativity (Grandin, 2010).

Harris (2006) is also aware that visual information can benefit those whose primary mode

of communication may not be verbal or written, stating that it can aid people learning with

dyslexia, hearing impairments and functionally illiterate adults.

Hsiao’s(2010) research with children’s picture book creation also supports the idea

that visual awareness can come from art appreciation and image production and can

increase creative thinking, as well as allowing children being able to link visual similarities

between different cultures, this is also in line with Eisner’s (1986) ideas.

Consequently VL and the study of visual communicative processes seem to have a

wide range of benefits from childhood development, cross cultural understanding, cultural
 Visual Literacy and Art Education 28

integration, aiding those with learning disabilities improving ones cognitive ability and

self-confidence and above all can lead us to better understand the world in which we live

and our place in it.

Implications for Future Study

In the pursuit of VL it has been revealed that visual learning, unfortunately, often

takes a backseat to the privileged and dominant stature of textual learning and literacy. VL

learning even when it is present, too frequently must conform to the standards and

methodologies of text (Hudson, 1987; Addison, 1999; Aguirre, 2004). Allen (1994) and

Sinker (2006) advocate for a multi-disciplinary approach to undertake the issues of VL and

extend visual education to embrace other disciplines, creating a cross curricular concept of

VL which can accommodate multiple interpretations according to culture. Allen states that,

“new studies of literacy emerge ‘at the interface of anthropology, cultural studies, social

linguistics and literary theory” (1994, p.141).

Much of the literature tends to be in agreement with that statement. Visual literacy

should not be isolated within Art; we need to draw from other disciplines to develop a

more comprehensive paradigm for learning visual imagery. VL is not ours to claim as our

own, although we do have a much higher stake in visual imagery visual arts and art

education do not have a monopoly on its use, imagery is and should be an integral part

across the disciplines (Eisner, 1986; Duncum, 1993; Allen, 1994; Prensky, 2001; Aguirre,

2004) and partnerships need to be formed to exploit a variance of perspectives and

creatively explore VL.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 29

Throughout this literature, the majority of which is art based, there is an almost

alarming absence of visual imagery. How are we as art educators to thoughtfully

investigate topics like VL without a thorough look at images? Goin (2001), a geographer,

has also noticed the exclusion of images (photos) in social science journals. His appeal for

the inclusion of photographs is also a plea for the understanding of fact and fiction in

imagery by implementing VL.

It has also become apparent that there appear to be significant gaps in the ‘hands-on’

study of images and how students create and deconstruct them. More effort needs to be put

into the teaching and classroom application of VL to draw on student’s lived experience,

framed within popular visual culture, to observe how they handle and react to the

production and interpretation of imagery as Chung (2005) and Harris (2006) have done.

We need a unified front to undertake the interpretation and creative production of

imagery as it is an ostensibly crucial yet underdeveloped and underemployed component

of learning. This means cross-curricular collaboration and an expansion of VL, rather than a

narrowing down, to include all visual imagery; moving, still or otherwise and an additional

focus on sub-structures like media literacy (Duncum, 1993; Prensky, 2001; Herne, 2005;

Harris, 2006; Spalter and van Dam, 2008) to include the examination of popular visual

culture. By doing so I believe that educators and students will eventually be able to

properly define, implement and garner the benefits of visual literacy.

 Visual Literacy and Art Education 30

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