Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

An Analysis of a First Grade Artist

Lindsey Harris
University of Missouri

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

An Analysis of a First Grade Artist

Today we live in a world where qualities like innovation, empathy, and creativity
outweigh the skills of logic and obedience. While reading the book, A Whole New Mind, we
learned from Pink (2005) that, The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a
very different kind of mind- creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning
makers (p. 1). These people- artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers,
big picture thinkers- will now reap societys richest rewards and share its greatest joys. So
how as educators do we move from an education system built for spitting out factory workers
to a system that is fostering childrens creativity and big picture thinking? If we want to help
the next generation of students reap societys richest rewards and joys, we need to start with
how we teach and learn how a students artistic development plays a role in a childs
education.
Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) explain that children go through stages of artistic
development. From two years old to seventeen years old, children go through six distinct
stages that helps you determine a childs ability to view and process the world. The first stage
is The Scribbling Stage. Typically children ages two to four years old fall into this category.
They are beginning to express themselves through drawings and art. In this stage children,
explores any material that will smear or mark (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p.52). The
second stage is The Preschematic Stage. Typically children ranging from age four to seven
years old fall into this stage of artistic development. This is when children first attempt to
represent people, places, and things. In this stage, shapes for things are geometric and lose
their meaning when removed from the whole (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 48). The third
stage of artistic development is The Schematic Stage. Here, students have their first

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

achievements of showing concepts through art. This stage is often occupied by seven to nine
year olds. In this stage, drawings show how students think about what they are drawing and
not necessarily what they are actually seeing. The fourth stage mostly includes nine to twelve
year olds and is called The Gang Age. In this stage, students start adding details to drawings.
It is the beginning of interrelationships between objects (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p.
50) and when children show less exaggeration, distortion, and omission of body parts to
show emphasis (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 50). The fifth stage is called The PseudoNaturalistic Stage. Typically children ages twelve to fourteen fall into this stage of artistic
development. This is the age of reasoning. Most children at this age stop doing art for fun
and start criticizing their work. They show, greater awareness of environment, but only
important elements are drawn in detail (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p.478). The last stage
is the stage of Adolescent Art. Children between the ages of fourteen to seventeen fall into
this stage. These drawings show the students understand proportion and visual details.
Although these stages usually occur during certain ages and have specific benchmarks, it is
important to understand that this might not be the case for every child. Judith Burton reminds
us that while we assume a natural unfolding of artistic learning, the truth is that the quality
of prior learning has influences on childrens growth patterns (Burton, 1980, p.10). Children
are all learning and experiencing the world differently and this will cause differences in
artistic development.
Method
For my research, I worked with a first grade student named Jen (pseudonym) to draw a
picture of whatever she wanted on a piece of construction paper. I chose to work with Jen
because she is often quieter in class and doesnt share her thoughts and opinions. I wanted to

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

take some time to get to know her better and understand her as a learner. The materials I gave
Jen included construction paper, crayons, pencils, and an eraser. I told Jen she would have
fifteen minutes to draw a picture of whatever she wanted but after that time was up she had to
be done. As Jen started on picking out her piece of paper and coloring, I watched her closely
and asked questions to learn about what was going on in her head during this time. Some of
the questions I asked Jen during this time included, when was the last time you drew
something for fun? and why did you draw the nose the way you did? She responded by
saying, I dont draw for fun and because that is easier than drawing a real nose.
Findings
Jen started off by choosing a piece of orange construction paper to draw on. She did not
know what she wanted to draw so I started giving her ideas such as her family, herself, or her
favorite thing to do. She chose to draw herself after a few minutes of indecision. She first
started off with her head as a circle. She wasnt happy with the circle she drew but continued
anyway drawing her neck and shirt. She then added brown hair to herself and facial features.
She added two black eyes, a half triangle nose, and a smile that she ended up coloring pink.
Lastly, she added yellow to her hair since she said she is also sort of blonde. She did not use
all of the time given and stopped a little before twelve minutes.
While Jen drew herself, we talked back and forth and I learned a lot about her and what
she was thinking during this experience. For example, she seemed to need approval from me
for everything she drew. She would ask me, does this look okay and say this is bad to get
validation from me. As a teacher, this is an important fact to know about Jen to give her the
attention she needs. She wants to be affirmed in everything she does but as a teacher you can
work on her confidence in her own work when someone isnt giving her that affirmation.

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

Using this knowledge, I will make sure that Jen gets the encouragement she needs but also
start teaching her skills to be confident in her own work and accomplishments.
Applying what I learned from Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) Jen is currently in
beginning of The Gang Age of artistic development. While she does not have every criteria
mastered, she is working towards all aspects of this stage. The two main criteria that Jen falls
under in this stage include self-conscious of own drawings and no understanding of shade
and shadow. Jen really did not enjoy this activity because she did not think she was an
adequate enough artist. She didnt like anything she did and constantly needed me telling her
that she could do it. Jen also didnt understand shade and shadow. The shirt she was wearing
was grey and yellow and there was not a grey crayon. I told her she could fix this problem by
using a black crayon and coloring lightly. She did not understand this and colored the black
just as dark as she had done in previous sections of the artwork. She did not understand that
coloring black lighter would make grey. These are they two main reasons Jen falls into the
artistic development category of The Gang Age: The Dawning Realism.

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

Conclusion
To encourage Jen to continue in her artistic development I would start pointing out to her
details such as wrinkles, dimples, and freckles in other peoples artwork. While she has the
clothing details down, she hasnt mastered facial details that are important. I would also
challenge her to draw facial features as what they actually look like and what she sees rather
than her concept of that they are. For example, what a nose looks like vs a half triangle. I
would also challenge Jen to be confident in herself and what she can accomplish. Doing these
things will help Jen grow not just in artistic development but also as a learner. This learning
would carry over into other subjects as well and this might even help Jen be more confident
speaking her thoughts and opinion in class.
After completing this paper, I understand the importance of art in the classroom and what
both a student and a teacher can learn through artistic development. I understand that it can
help in all content areas and even in social aspects too. Research on this topic is also widely
available The general recommendation that teachers integrate the arts into everyday
instructionrepresents a useful heuristic that any teacher can keep in mind when planning
lessons (Gregory, Hardiman, Rinne, & Yarmolinskaya, 2011, p. 94). Incorporating what I
learned here into everyday instruction is going to help me prepare my students for their
future. The world we live in is changing and we need to as teachers be encouraging
creativity, big idea thinking, and meaning makers and we can start to do this through learning
about artistic development and applying it in our classrooms.

Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF A FIRST GRADE ARTIST

References
Burton, J. (1980). Beginnings of artistic language. School Arts, 1-12.
Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan.
Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind: why right-brainers will rule the future. New York: Riverhead
Books.
Gregory, E., Hardiman, M., Rinne, L., & Yarmolinskaya, J. (2001). Why arts integration improves
long-term retention of content. Blackwell publishing.