Arts and Culture

A) Introduction

1) Discuss the role of Art Education and the outcome of a quality art program. 1.1) The role of Art Education
1.2) Outcomes of a Quality Art Programme
2) Name and discuss the development of perceptual development in the Intermediate and Senior learners through:
* Experience
* Visual Stimuli
2.1) Experience
2.2) visual Stimuli
3) Define the concept creativity and discuss the characteristics of a creative/artistic person
3.1) Define the concept creativity
3.2) the characteristics of a creative/artistic person

4) Explain the importance of artistic excursion for the motivation of learners and their awareness

5) It is important that an art educator has a general idea of the different development phases of children. The characteristic phases are universal and have to be identified and understood by the educator so that, when teaching art, it can be recognised and each child can be helped to develop his/her creative abilities.

6) Conclusion

7) Bibliography

What is art?

A lot of people believe that art comes within. It is the way we “see” the world differently to those around us. You might think that art is just drawing, but it is more than that.

I believe that teaching art is one of the most satisfying and fulfilling careers you can embark on. It can change people and children’s lives, by allowing them to explore, to see and to look deeper into the world and to develop the necessary skills to cope in everyday life situations.

Art is not just drawing, or colouring in, it is a way of live, and I will help teach children discover their true potential, with the help of art.

ASSIGNMENT:

1) Discuss the role of Art education and the outcome of a quality programme:

1.1) The role of Art education

What is Art education? Is it educating one to learn how to draw, to paint or even help one learn how to sculpt something?

Art education is all of the above; however, art education is one of the fundamental phases where life-skills are nurtured and developed at a young age.
“According to Victor Lowenfeld there is a clear distinction between art and Art Education. He believes that Art Education is the main concern of the process on how a child works, while art is more concerned with the end product, which is made as a result of the process”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

It is vitally important that a teacher understands that a well-balanced Art programme will help a child develop as a whole. The way children think, feel or even see the world needs to be equally developed in order for children to learn how to think creatively and express themselves individually, as well as to gain important life-skills in order to cope with everyday life situations.

“Art education provides a fundamental lens of understanding through which we can view and interpret the world in which we live. Children who do not receive a sound Art Education are denied a balanced well-rounded general education and are excluded from educated discourse”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Art education empowers and equips learners with creative, psychological, intellectual and problem-solving skills which helps and encourage learners to think and reason independently. If these fundamental skills are not developed properly, children will feel discouraged, lack in self-confidence will show and eventually lack in school work will be the end result of the process.

One needs to understand the importance of art in school, as well as the critical outcome which forms the basis of our educational system. These outcomes will ensure that learners gain skills, knowledge and values that will allow learners to contribute to their own success.

“The key ideas that illustrate the importance of these outcomes include:

* Identifying and solving problems
* Working effectively with others
* Organising and managing oneself
* Collecting, analysing, and critically evaluating information
* Communicating effectively
* Reflecting, exploring and participating
* Being culturally and aesthetically sensitive
* Developing entrepreneurial skills”.
(J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

All of the above points represent the outcome of what learners should be able to do at the end of a learning experience. These specific outcomes enable learners to cope with everyday life. If these outcomes are obtained by learners, they have an opportunity to release their potential through various learning strategies.

During the intermediate and senior phase, teachers must provide learners with a wider and more advance programme in order for the learners to gain more opportunities and skill developments. It is particularly important for teachers to ensure that the breadth, depth, access and entailment skills are developed by the learners to make critical choices during the FET phase.(J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Art Education in school equips and helps learners discover their full potential and talents. This is not only important during choices that need to be made during school, but also during critical choices in the “real world”. During the intermediate and senior phase, it is important for teachers to develop essential thinking skills in learners, attitude developments, as well as helping them understand their role in society.

When children are exposed to art, children can learn how to search for answers, instead of waiting for instructions. Children are taught through their senses; art will give the learners the opportunity to develop sensitivity and awareness. If children become more aware, more learning opportunities will be developed. One of the most important skills that are developed through exposing of art is the ability of learners to make personal choices, crossing the bridge from childhood to adulthood. Art give learners the freedom to think, reason and to take responsibility for their own actions. This is a positive manner in which children are taught to be responsible in the “big world”.

It is only in an art class where learners are praised for their individuality and the uniqueness of their work.

“Therefore, the prime value of arts in education lies in the unique contributions it makes to the individual’s experience and understanding of the world”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

1.2) Outcomes of a Quality Art Programme

A good Quality Art Programme is more than just a programme that is put together in order for learners to excel. It is a programme that entitles a learner to learn critical skills in order for him or her to excel to their highest potential.

Such a programme includes the following:

* Creativity- creativity should be gained through imagination, observation and memory in artwork * Progress- A student will gain progress through different stages of artwork. When a student is exposed to more opportunities as well a broader way of thinking and different art skills, he or she will develop a great sense of progress. * Develop- An understanding of art will be developed, as the learner learns to express and think individually through artwork * Gain- A learner will gain a basic understanding of art through the history of art.

* Learn- Learning will take place once the learners are taught about different cultures through artwork. This will entitle the learner to appreciate their own cultures as well as to have respect for other learner’s culture back grounds. * Styles- Learners will learn different art styles, and will have a style that suits them individually best. * Source- Learners will learn how to source for different information in connection with a specific art topic. Whether it is the history or how the artist drew a specific picture. * Entrepreneurial skills- Learners will learn what it means to buy, use as well as to sell art products.

These are basic outcomes which every art teacher should strive for. These specific outcomes can enrich and change a child’s life forever.

A good, quality Art programme, is one that allows the child to grow as an individual and to understand that is more than just drawing a picture, it’s
a way of life!

2) Name and discuss the development of perceptual development in Intermediate and Senior learners through:
* Experiences
* Visual stimuli

2.1) Experience:

When you walk through a beautiful forest, what do you see? Do you only see the trees or leaves around you? Or do you experience the forest as a whole? In order to do this, one must experience the forest. One must make use of the sensory system; to touch, feel, smell, hear and eventually see the forest.

I believe the same principle applies to young and older learners. In order for them to create art, they need different experiences to guide them through the creation process.

These experiences can be develop through:
* Experiencing detail
* Personal experiences
* Empathy

As soon as intermediate and senior learners develop the habit to look for the finer details, they will automatically gain more experiences. When a Gr. 4 pupil is taught to draw a flower, development will take place throughout his or her school years. The flower that was once drawn in Gr4, will have so much more detail in Gr10, due to the fact that the learner was experiencing the development of art throughout the years.

Art teachers must emphasise the importance of looking for finer details. This will strengthen the learners to make use of their sensory systems when drawing or painting a picture. Learners will remember how the flower felt, smelled and looked like.

In the intermediate phase, teachers can start to develop these experiences by means of a checklist. Learners must complete the checklist before they start creating their artwork. The checklist can be fairly simply, asking questions like: “What does the flower feel like? What is the colour of the flower, how many veins do you see on the leaf? Does it have a fragrance?” These types of questions will force the learners to look for the finer details as well as to help them remember what was experienced through these activities. If this is implemented at a younger age, art learners will continue this throughout high school. This will allow them to really express themselves and to gain the necessary experiences to create master pieces.

Personal experiences are also a great way to help learners express themselves individually. Art is one of the only subjects that allow learners to express themselves. Whether it is in a form of dance, drama or even to be creative, students can let go and have the freedom to really express their personal experiences.

At an intermediate phase, teachers can teach the learners to express themselves by means art. A lot of the times, teachers allow learners to draw what they have done over the weekends. This allows learners the opportunity to really draw what they have experienced. These experiences can be environmental experiences, or personal experiences. This will help learners to think, remember what they felt and to dot it down onto a piece of paper. As learners move into the senior phase, more emotions will be experienced. These emotions and personal experiences will help and guide learners to paint or draw a picture with a lot more detail, making them more aware and sensitive to the world around them.

“Developing an awareness of the object through empathy with the object refers to the learner’s ability to identify with the object; empathy can sometimes be such that the learner feels he or she “is” the object”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

“Empathy must be experienced through the different emotions that one is feeling. A lot of students create art work that represents the situation that they found themselves in. The expressive content of work is the feeling or emotion that an image generates in those who come into contact with it”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Before learners begin to create, they experience different emotions in form of nonverbal communication. This attempts the visual language of artwork. One cannot create any form of art, if one does not experience a sense of empathy or emotion. If no emotion is felt or even seen in an art project, the project is “dead”.

Therefore, teachers need to teach learners from a young age to express themselves, by means of what they are feeling.

“Perceptual awareness means the ability to perceive, and also the ability to remember in detail, the thought, perceptions, and feelings associated with an experience”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

2.2) Visual stimuli

“Developing perceptual awareness is a way of increasing one’s ability to handle visual information through senses” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Once a learner is able to identify the object he or she wishes to create, their senses will guide them to explore and experience the object as a whole. This will give them the confidence to solve the art with more flexibility.

Teachers need to guide and implements visual stimuli in order for learners to make use of their senses. This can be achieved through developing different senses throughout the art class. Different objects can be made use of in order for learners to feel, touch, smell and see, helping them develop their senses. By allowing the learners to experience with their senses, the learners’ attention is drawn to the elements of art, as seen in nature and human-made arts.

Once this is achieved, art vocabulary will also improve allowing younger learners understand what is meant by: identify the shape, what is the proportion of the object, give a variety of different colours, and colour this picture. Teaching the art vocabulary at the intermediate phase, the young learners will develop a sense and understanding of art, which will guide and give them more confidence in the senior phase of their school career.

“Experiences will enrich the learners’ life as he or she realises the harmony and beauty and order of the natural world.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

3) Define the concept creativity and discuss the characteristics of a creative or artistic person.

3.1) define the concept of creativity

What is creativity?

“Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of subjective value. It is also the motivational force behind any given act of creation, and it is generally perceived as being associated with intelligence and cognition”. (www. wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity)

Creativity can also be explained as a special way of learning, whether is learning through means of experiencing the challenge, or by means of creating solutions for the problem.

I can hear my mother’s voice in the back of my mind already: “Jeandri don’t tell me about your problem, tell me about the solution you have for the problem.” Immediately, creativity has to be formed in my head in order for the problem to be resolved. The creative solution to a problem is always a unique and personal solution.

A lot of people are under the impression that creativity is only an object that you create, but it so much more than that. We as humans make use of creativity every single day, without even realising it.

“Henry and Luckenbach- Sawyers define creativity as follows: The creative encounter is a state of being wholly caught-up, wholly involved and absorbed.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Creativity can be described as a quality of uniqueness, originality and fresh ideas that people develop individually in order to create a new concept or idea. Creativity must be affected by aesthetics; the reason behind this might be, because the two main ingredients to create art are: creativity and aesthetics.

One can’t proceed and develop as a whole with creativity.

3.2) the characteristics of a creative/artistic person

Creative or artistic people have specific abilities and skills that they use to create projects or artwork.

“This type of person applies and combines perceptual knowledge and sensory experience to form a visual statement.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)  Artists and creative people tend to share certain characteristics that differentiate them from other people.

These characteristics are as follows:

1) Extremely aware people:

They take in to account the world around them. What we see every day and what they see every day might differ greatly. To non artistic people a flower
might just be an ordinary object, but to an artistic person, a flower might be the most beautiful and detailed object that they have ever laid their eyes upon.

Their sensory systems are way more advance. Thus allows them to be very aware of the things and objects around them, which they can touch, smell, hear or see. You might just find an artistic person sitting for long periods of time, listening and taking in the sounds around them. Many people who are not so artistic will even think that these types of people live in a fantasy world.

2) Creative people build think of their own ideas:

Creative people like to construct and make things out of raw materials. They like to take old ideas and concepts and rearrange it in order to make it even better for themselves. These types of people can take raw material and turn and craft it into a master piece.

A lot of the times, creative people like to experiment with different concepts and ideas before they are stratified with the end result.

Creative people tend to solve problems they set for themselves as challenges, and are not satisfied until the matter is resolved.

3) Creative people like to explore new ideas:

Creative or artistic people are very original and unique in their thoughts and ideas about things. They usually invent new ways to inform and say things to other people.

Creative or artistic people love to dream about new possibilities and ideas. They like to dot ideas down in a journal or seek new information about a specific topic. These types of people like to imagine endless results and pretend that a situation has already been successful. 4) Creative people have confidence in their inner resources:

Creative people tend to be more flexible in the way they approaching different situations, which also leads to artistic people being more confident and laid back people.

Creative people are very independent people, and like to be on their own. However, this does not mean they have an introvert type of personality; they like to express their own opinion and say what they want to say quite loudly.

One of the most profound characteristics of creative and artistic people are, they are not afraid to show and express emotions and eagerly shows it.

5) Creative people like to investigate the nature of things:

Creative people are always trying to figure out the meaning of things, whether it’s is based on spiritual meaning or philosophy. They question and analyse information until they are satisfied with the outcome.

Creative people love to discover new relationships and are easily approachable.

6) Creative people are sensitive to aesthetic stimuli:

You will find that creative people are quite sensitive to the beauty of human beings and nature. Creative people looks past the cliché beauty the magazines have to offer, they look for the beauty within each and every single human being. They believe there is something beautiful in each one of us.

Creative and artistic people appreciate the beauty made by humans. Whether it is made by a child or grownup, they look for the true beauty in the artwork.

Creative people have feelings for harmony or rhythm and understand the true art in it. They like to sing or dance to specific composed music. Some creative people love to compose their own music or dance moves.

Creative people have qualities inside of them that people who aren’t as creative can learn from. We need to look past the ordinary and start to look towards the extraordinary.

Each and every one of us has the ability to become creative in our own personal interest. We must just discover what it is that makes us truly happy and start looking deeper into it in order for us to excel in it.

4) Explain the importance of artistic trips for the motivation of learners and their aesthetic awareness.

“It is through early contact with art and artist that learner’s attitudes and concepts are formed. The young learner is ready to find and enjoy art is his or her community”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Looking at the above sentence, it is very clear that younger learners find more joy and excitement in art trips. Allowing younger learners to explore art in different ways will be a gateway for them in the near future to understand art better.

A big advance of living in a city like Johannesburg is that there are a lot of small art galleries and museums that can be visited during the course of the year. Most of these galleries and art museums often have special rooms for learners to engage in, and often have tour guides that can explain the art to younger learners, intriguing learners to take part in the program.

The benefit for learners, young or old, to visit museums or art galleries are that the learners have the opportunity to interact with other artists work. They can see art from a different perspective, gaining a different form of respect and appreciation for art.

Learners now have the opportunity to participate in art through means of a studio or museum. One of the best forms of teaching is allowing learners to take part in what they have learned, not just studying what has been taught. Smaller learners have the opportunity to feel different methods used to create the work that is in front of them. Learners will understand the different concepts of art better, and they will remember it for longer periods of time.

“Studios worth visiting include a pottery studio, to see a potter constructing three-dimensional pots and ceramic objects”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Allowing learners to see art being created and formed right in front of their eyes, will open up an entire new world for them. They will start to appreciate the beauty around them, awakening their senses as well as to help them understand how art works.

There is a lot of ways that teachers can help and develop learner’s perceptual awareness’s. Many schools do not have the financial capital to take learners on field trips; however, teachers can take learners through different constructed sites, allowing the learners to observe the different materials that are use in order to create the buildings. Teachers can even take learners to local parks, making them aware of plantation and the detail on flower petals and leaves.

Art is all around us, and teachers must understand the value of field trips. Even if it is time consuming, learners learn best when they actually participate in what is being taught. Learners will engage a lot more in art as a whole, having a completely new form of respect for art and Art Education.

5) It is important that an art teacher has a general idea of the different development phases of children. The characteristic phases are universal and have to be identified and understood by the educator so that, when teaching art, it can be recognised and each child can be helped to develop his/her creative abilities.

“In essence the function of the Art teacher is to select, organise and present certain learning contents so that the learner will come to grasp with the content through practical art activity. The Art teacher should motivate learners to become involved in art activities and be able to assess the success of the experiences”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

There is no greater joy for any teacher, than to see a learner who once struggled, now excel in the specific subject. However, this is much easier said than done. There are so many different factors that a teacher must keep in mind before they can actually teach any leaner.

“It is important that all Art teachers gain an overview of the different development stages in the production of children’s art, so that they can better understand the way in which children’s art develops”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

All learners need to go through different development stages in art. Art teachers can’t simply expect each and every learner from all ages to be on the same level. Art teachers need to understand that different age levels, requires different forms of education. One can’t teach the same form of art to a four year old child and a sixteen year old learner. Each learner will go through different art characteristics in order for them to succeed to their own personal best.

There are different developing characteristics among children from different ages. If one has to look at the ages two to four years, children tend to “scribble” in this specific age group.

“The child derives kinaesthetic and visual enjoyment when he or she notices the mark he or she makes.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

This specific age group does not require a lot of different teaching methods, however, you as parent is responsible to expose the child to as much colour and scribbling in order to help develop the child’s different senses. Once this is achieved, the child will start to recognize different forms and shapes that he or she has made before. As the scribbles become more organized and better controlled, the child will start to make circular motions. This will help the child with his or her kinaesthetic responses as well as help them become aware of shapes and forms.

The next age group is the age group four to seven year olds; this is also known as the preschematic phase of the symbol-making stage.

“This stage grows directly out of the last stages of scribbling. The child will discover that he or she has the motor coordination to repeat a shape at will” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

This is an important level for the child to develop as he or she will start to visualise how the shapes can be used to make different art work that will in the end have meaning to him or her. This is also known as the beginning of representational attempts in art.

Children at this age seem to be very confident, and seldom seek for any help. Teachers must keep in mind that at this specific age, when a child does ask for help, the child wants to keep their visual image that they want to draw, rather than perfecting the picture itself. Teachers need to encourage and direct children to pay attention to visual, tactile and kinaesthetic experiences in order for children to gain greater insight into his or her drawing which will allow them to develop a greater passion for their creative artwork.

The specific subject outcome for this age group will usually be to draw family and pets as children from this age has a very smaller idea of the world. Their expressions and passions lie within their current and secured surroundings. Children will be very comfortable and confident to draw these types of pictures.

Specific art activities need to be practised in order for children develop the necessary skills to excel in art at an older age.

Activities that will help children develop to the next phases in art include: * Drawing, which will assist them to gain motor control
* Painting, as this will help children to express emotions in a pleasurable form * Activities that allow them experience with three-dimensional models

The next age group is known as the schematic phase, this include children of the age group seven to nine.

By this age, children have formed definite concepts of the environment as a result of experience. “These concepts will be represented in the form of a schema, which will be used repeatedly, to be deviated from only when there is an urge to express something different”. (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

This plan will differ in richness and uniqueness according to the differences in children’s characteristics and personalities in their emotional and environmental experiences. Each child will draw or paint a different picture on how she or he experienced the specific situation. The objects drawn may often be as the child knows them to be, rather than how he or she visually sees them. A flower may only have three petals, even though there are finer details to a flower than what he or she may appear it to have.

Children of this age do not distinguish between different tones of one colour, and still colour in a tree with two basic universal colours, namely brown for the trunk and green for the leaves.

Art activities at this age must allow learners to experiment with new materials like paint or pasting of pictures in order for them to develop new skills.

From about the ages nine to twelve children become more realistic. This is also known as the pre-adolescent stage.

One of the most profound characteristics of this age is that learners discover that they are members of the society. It is at this age that the foundations are laid for learners to learn how to respond and work in groups so that they will learn how to work in groups in corporate companies in adulthood. “This is an essential part of the developmental process and an important step in social interaction. This will also increase the child’s skill and strength which will provide opportunities for him or her to become more independent.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

When children draw or paint at this age, more emphasis is placed on detail. There is a greater awareness of the world around them, which will lead them to express more detail with their drawings or paintings.

When teaching this specific age group, teacher must distinguish between three categories that learners can fall into. These different categories are as follows:

* Visual type. Children respond strongly to visual stimulation. Children are more tend to draw pictures that appear visually to them. * Haptic/Emotional type. Children like to draw what they are currently feeling, and find it easier to express themselves in forms of art. Children that are emotional drawers, tend to choose colours that are linked with their current emotion. * Constructive type. These children approach their art with logical thought and are interested in doing design work. These type of children are more interested in the decorative aspect of art, and they therefore enjoy doing design work using a wide variety of materials and processes.

The subject matter of this age must be develop through the interests of learners. Drawing may be very stereotyped based, as boys will tend to draw objects which are typically related to boys and vice versa. Teachers must be aware that children are interested in life at this age, and it must be represented in the subject matter of their art. It should be stressed that all the subject matter should be meaningful and relate to the child’s own experiences.

Children can learn the skills to analyse their work with the help of the teacher. Learners can learn how to look at their work objectively. As children need a lot of support when struggling with a skill, the teacher must be prepared to discuss and demonstrate certain skills. If a teacher fails to do this, the child will become lost, which can be a result of a child lacking confidence in the subject.

The age group of learners between the ages of twelve and fourteen is also known as the pseudo-naturalistic stage. At this specific age group there is a job from the “gang” age into the age group where children start to develop intellectually.

“Art may be the only field within the framework of the school system where the development of feelings and emotions is given proper recognition.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

The general characteristics of this stage are that learners develop spontaneous feeling towards art and this is the beginning period of reasoning. It is the period where most individual differences occur through physical and emotional changes. This age group tend to be more independent and intellectually the learner is generally more capable of abstract reasoning. “The attitude and skills developed during this stage of life will influence his or her responses and attitudes later in life.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Learners tend to become a lot more critical with their individual art work, and tend to focus increasingly more on the end product. If learners do not succeed the outcome that they desired, they become very negative towards their work. It is now where the teacher can assist and encourage the learner by means of the History of Art. This can help and encourage the learner to make use of different materials, and allowing them to explore and learn different skills in order to create the artwork that is desired. At this age group, it is important for teachers to discuss the design of everyday objects. This is the stage during which learners develop the aesthetic taste that is likely to stay with them for a number of years. This is also the stage where learners are taught to accept responsibility for their own actions.

“The prime role of the teachers is one of guidance and encouragement so that expression can take a meaningful form and subject matter can be selected that extends the learner’s frame of reference.” (J Nel & Dr RM Odendaal, 2003. Professional studies, Art and Culture)

Good Art teaching depends most on the abilities of those who teach it.

Art is not just a subject that one teaches learners to draw. Art is a subject that teaches learners from a young age the necessary skills in order to become independent young adults. It is vitally important for children to discover and develop these skills in order to make the necessary choices in life. In the world that we live in today, with so much peer pressure, art is one of the only subjects allowing learners to express themselves individually.

Art is not a drawing subject, it the gateway for a better life one day.

1) Professional Studies: Intermediate and Senior Phase – Arts and Culture: Art 2003 J Nel and Dr RM Odendaal.

2) www.wikipedia.co.za

3) www.askmyschool.co.za