Drawing Observing Seeing and Learning

Natural Languages        
Verbal = talking, singing,  
Kinaesthetic = the body – movment, dance

Visual = mark making seeing/ drawing

These languages, or intelligences are essentially communicating tools or connecting tools. Consider mark making or in its early state; scribbling …. it becomes drawing/ writing and these grow in sophistication with practise. Similarly, fine motor skills, the ability to verbalise complex ideas etc develop. Without practise, these abilities do not grow.  If we practice writing, swimming, playing an instrument etc our skills grow – it is the same with art making.

We approach visual art as an education tool. In essence art is about seeing – the physical act of seeing and also in the sense of making sense of the world… when we make sense of something we fit it into our growing understanding of our world … we say ‘I see’ when we create those networks of understanding in our minds and when links are made in this way, our brain actually grows.

Art is most closely linked to Science – it is an investigation tool for learning. It involves the student in learning to see; making meaning from what is seen, making tangible images and objects that communicate ideas to herself and others. It is a feedback loop, and because we think in images and we think in words, in Art lessons teachers encourage students to make, talk about and present their work. As they move through the school, this is extended into keeping a Visual Diary where students reflect on the process of making Art. 

Art is a visual language. 
It has a vocabulary and a grammar. However, unlike the written word, it is about seeing the whole at once rather than creating a narrative.

Imagination is no mere ornament, nor is art.'  Eisner 

Elliot Eisner is a revered art educator – he is Professor of Education and Art Stanford University and Chair, Curriculum Studies & Teacher Education. His book: The Arts and the Creation of Mind, Yale University Press,2002  is an excellent resource for understanding how children learn through the arts. Eisner came up with 7 modes of thinking, in advance of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and he worked with Gardner in forming his theory.

www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_or_education.htm .

The following is from an essay by Marvin Bartel, Ed.D. © 2003

Visual observation is believed to be in the domain of the right side of the brain. Intuitive and creative thinking are also believed to be in the domain of the right brain.  The left brain deals with the rational, the alphabet, numerals, and so on.  Left brain thinking is linear - one thing after another. The right brain processes everything at once.

A sensitive man's lessons on how to draw influenced by Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/drawingskills.html#gesture

Lessons without limitations are not very effective.  Without limitations, students are prone to fall back on easy left brain habits and fail to practice new or difficult skills.  We naturally avoid the risk of doing the unknown unless a good teacher assures us that the new way can help us grow.  Well planned lesson limitations make it harder for the left brain to dominate while encouraging the right brian to practice.  On the other hand, children who are encouraged and limited to follow patterns, color in other people's lines, do copy work, or assemble pre designed projects are learning skills that would be desirable in a society that needs lots of slaves.  Teaching from "how to draw it"  books and by assigning copywork and patterns can be done by clerks.  Anybody can handout handwork.  In a society that needs self-motivated decision makers, their students will grow up to suffer "learned helplessness".  Good lesson limitations require individual learning of new skills, compositional and content choice making, challenging thinking tasks, and prohibition of stereotyping and prejudices.  See this link for more ideas on making it harder for the left brain to prevent the education of the right brain.