The Cat’s Meow of Theorists

            The author Dissanayake (1974) alludes to the fact that art evolved from play and that artistic behavior in all actuality is a form of social behavior. She says that from an evolutionary standpoint that play, which is evident in all higher mammals, evolved in man as artistic behavior. Dissanayake (1974) says in the evolutionary past artists created social behaviors that brought about awareness to their place in the environment and their ability to transform and control their world. Ultimately artistic expression became paramount to man’s survival and is necessary to his sociality membership.

 

            Burton (2001) and Wilson and Wilson (1981) look again at Lowenfeld’s stage theory as inadequate to our current visual culture that children are apart of. Our technology based visual culture is much more expansive in content than a stage theory implemented fifty years in the past. Lowenfeld held a belief “that experience is formed as a consequence of a dialogic relationship between self and world” (Burton, 2001, p. 34). This belief isn’t any different than Ivashkevich (2006), Dissanayake (1974) or Wilson and Wilson (1981) who believed children were influenced by each other and culture. While the stages are not necessarily adequate in defining the development of youth art Lowenfeld’s concept of how children form artistic ability is. My Pinterest board would fall into the stages of Dawning Realism for the ages of seven through nine. The majority of student artists would be categorized as Pseudo-Naturalistic, ages ten to thirteen, where achieving realistic drawings or paintings is the goal of their artwork.

 

            Eisner (1978) lists nine consequences in his article, “What do children learn when they paint?” The first on this list is that “actions can have consequences and I am not at the mercy of my environment” (Eisner, 1978, p. 6). The second thing that children learn is how to convert an image to a symbol. The third is symbols can be used in symbolic play. Fourth, is how to assess there art works and form judgments, while being malleable to new opportunities. Fifth on the list is how to relate one image to another. Sixth is how to paint and create illusions. Seventh is conveying ideas and emotions through images and symbolization. Eighth (the hardest concept) is that only in visual form can certain ideas and feelings be portrayed. The last of Eisner’s list “is that the world itself can be regarded as a source of aesthetic experience and as a pool of expressive form” (Eisner, 1978, p. 9). It is also interesting that Eisner pointed out that there isn’t a culture (past or present) that doesn’t have a language or creates visual images. Just as Dissanayake (1974) pointed out the development of artistic behavior seems to be essential to our development and well being.

 

            Feldman (1985) also says having an appreciation for art should be considered a necessary tool for living in our society and therefore art education would be necessary. However, he goes on to say that we know very little about art education and artistic development and more research is needed. He closes in saying that Lowenfeld’s vision was that through art education anyone had the ability to be creative thereby proving that art education “as a cultural developmental domain” (Feldman, 1985, p. 88). The importance in art education is under valued when it is crucial to the well being of all.

 

The Cat’s Meow

           Regardless of the abounding theories we have developed tentative frameworks on approaching artistic development. We should embrace all while judiciously doling out those theories that fit into our teachings. It is a balancing act until we have more theories that fulfill what should entail artistic development. I like the closing by Ivashkevich (2006) in which she says

 

           Whether a drawing is made at home or at school, created alone or together

           with friends, it always bears the distinct mark of the particular child’s

           intentions and ideas in negotiation with others. It is an artifact of lived

           experience. (p. 57)

 

            The painting of the “Cat Tree” engaged my cats Arietta, Mae, and Eevee whom watched each paint stroke as I painted, threatening at times to participate in my artistic process making it their own. I guess you could say it ended up being the cat’s meow.

             

 

References

Burton, J. M. (2001). Lowenfeld, another look. Art Education, 54(6), 33-42.

 

Cat’s Meow. [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, Retrieved May 17th, 2015 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

            /cat%27s%20meow

 

Dissanayake, E. (1974). A hypothesis of the evolution of art from play. Leonardo,7(3), 211-217.

 

Eisner, E. (1978). What do children learn when they paint? Art Education, 31(3), 6-10.

 

Feldman, D. H. (1985). The concept of non-universal developmental domains: Implications for artistic development. Visual Arts Research, 11(1),

           82-89.

 

Fussell, M. (June 20, 2011). The Stages of Artistic Development. Retrieved from http://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/the-stages-of-artistic-

           development

 

Ivashkevich, O. (2006).  Drawing in children’s lives. In J. Fineberg (Ed.), When we were young: Perspectives on the art of the child (pp. 45-59).

           Los Angeles: University of California Press.

 

Wilson, B., & Wilson, M. (1981). The use and uselessness of developmental stages. Art Education, 34(5), 4-5.