Visual arts, such as drawings, are attractive to most young children. Marks left on paper by young children contain meaning. Although it is known that children's oral language could be enhanced through communication with adults, rarely is there a series of dialogues between adults and young children about their drawings. Often heard instead…

Foil can be shaped into almost anything--it is the all-purpose material for children's art. Foil is a unique drawing surface. It reflects, distorts and plays with light and imagery as young artists draw over it. Foil permits quick impressions of a model or object to be sketched. Foil allows artists to track their drawing moves, seeing the action…

This fascinating collection of international research offers fresh perspectives on children's creative processes and the expression of their creative imagination through dramatic play, stories, artwork, dance, music and conversation. Drawing on a range of research evidence from innovative educational initiatives in a wide variety of countries,…

This paper deals with the main theses of Gombrich's theory of pictorial representation as they pertain to the understanding of representational artworks and children's drawing. It is argued that the current linguistic-cognitive model of representation adopted from Goodman's theory provides an understanding of images and children's drawing in art…

Describes the drawings of an autistic 8-year-old boy and investigates the role of art in his life considering art's relationship, by style and content, to his emotional and daily experiences. Indicates his four distinct drawing styles along with what these styles suggest about art's narrative qualities and its meaning-making possibilities. (CMK)

Studies how Singaporean children differentiate in drawing between a sphere and an elongated, straight-sided ovoid. Tests Piaget's and Inhelder's beliefs that very young children are unable to differentiate in their drawings between differently contoured shapes. Finds that children are able to show the difference in drawings between the two shapes.…

During a visit to Williamsburg Elementary School (Williamsburg, Iowa), this author was introduced to J. C. Holz, a 10-year-old boy who had already exhibited the characteristics of a prolific artist. During one of the interviews with J. C., the author encouraged him to have a solo exhibition of his work at the University of Iowa. The exhibition was…

Focusing on appropriate methods and criteria for identifying giftedness in elementary visual arts students, the study consists primarily of an annotated bibliography divided into three sections: childhood visual art development (9 entries); selected identification procedures and instruments (25 entries); and identification techniques in the…

Describes a unit on lighthouses, originally a social studies unit, in which students participate in two art projects: (1) a lighthouse printmaking activity and (2) a scratch-etch activity using lighthouses. Describes the steps for printmaking and the process of creating scratch-etch drawings. (CMK)

Describes an art activity for first-grade students in which the students draw their own still-life pictures, using teddy bears and balls as the subject matter. Explains that the students must include three objects, a line for the table, and overlap the shapes. (CMK)

Reviews past studies of children's drawings and their relationship to academic ability. Discusses the use of Clark's Drawing Abilities Test with gifted and talented secondary students. Finds that the test can be used successfully to identify various ability levels among students. (CFR)

Divided into two parts, this world directory features collections and archives of childrens' art. The first part of the volume provides information about the collections before October 1989. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order according to the French spelling of the various countries and include the following information for each entry:…

This fourth and final article in a series about children's story drawings describes a school art program based entirely on the visual narrative in which all art classroom activities and projects are based upon either visual storytelling or upon developing graphic vocabulary and grammar skills needed for visual narration. (Author/KC)

Reports on a study of seven preschool children engaged in drawing activities with traditional media (crayons, felt-tip pens, etc.) and a mouse-driven computer paintbox program. Finds that the same basic media-independent strategies are used when children try to establish a relationship between their mark-making actions and the resultant effects.…

The case study of Nadia, an autistic child, documents the phenomenally accurate drawings she made. Nadia's precocious drawing capacity raises questions about the drawing hypothesis adhered to by F. Goodenough and D. B. Harris and Gestalt theories of perception and representation. The argument is made that Nadia drew realistically because she…