using original paintings with young children : using original paintings with young children

M A R G A R E T J A C K & J A N E T S A N G Using Original Paintings with Young Children

The project The project was sparked off when Margaret overheard a conversa- tion between two of her class. Martin, aged 5, was engaged in painting in his classroom when he was challenged by Andrea: ‘What’s that?’. ‘Grass’, replied Martin, to which Andrea scathingly retorted ‘You can’t have purple grass!’

We later discussed this brief exchange, which Margaret felt was by no means unusual. It seemed to represent, for her, cultural and peer group pressure coming to bear too early on a developing imagination; wouldn’t it be better if Martin could continue for as long as possible using colour subjectively? Andrea’s use of an unspoken cultural norm in judging the painting would be described by some writers as an achievement [l]. Other educators, however, have stressed the importance of rich sensory experience in the early years for expressive development in adolescence. Would it be possible to broaden the visual cultural diet of young children to such a degree that their ideas of cultural norms in painting changed? Could they entertain a range of options for longer?

Recent years have seen an increasing emphasis here, as in the United States, on the use of original art works with children in schools. The Gulbenkian Report (1982) provided a rationale for the development of the trend, arguing for an arts curriculum with a balance of the practical and the critical [2]. The Critical Studies Project instigated, collated and evaluated an impressive array of work linking children, cultural products and artists, and Rod Taylor’s resulting book [3] has deepened our understanding of the significance of such work. The S C D C Arts in Schools Project has continued to develop those links, and a shift in the balance within the arts curriculum in secondary education has been con- solidated within G c s E syllabuses.

The impact on Primary education is less clear, however, and little information is available on sustained work in this field with young children. Probably many .teachers doubt that such work is appropriate for infants. Our task in the short term, then, became to explore the ways in which young children can engage with original paintings.

We pursued our task in Southbourne County Infants School, West Sussex, a school with a broad social mix of children and, fortunately for us, a philosophy which stresses a positive, explora- tory approach to children’s capabilities. We set up a small piece of research, using one half-day each week in the summer term of

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Journal of Art & Design Education

Vol 8, No 3, 1989

M A R G A R E T J A C K J A N E T S A N G Using Paintings with Young Children

1988, working with Margaret’s reception class. For some of this time, we observed children at different painting activities, gauging their preoccupations and the influence of materials on the nature of their activity. Janet gained permission to bring into school, on some occasions, paintings from the Bishop Otter College collection. In all, we showed the children seven paintings during the term. Usually we were only able to have a painting in the classroom for half a day a week; although this was a considerable constraint, we did accommodate the children’s need for a longer period of familiarisation by bringing paintings back for a second or third time.

We chose paintings in preference to works in any other medium; these children all had had experience of painting, and would, we anticipated, be able to relate to the works through some knowledge of the process. We noted, during initial observation sessions, their developing interest and skill in the management of paint materials, and felt that this interest would both support and be extended by an introduction to paintings from the collection. We therefore delibe- rately identified paintings which we thought would invite comment about size, materials, the support surface, and the method of paint application. We chose as well to include paintings which might challenge some of the emerging cultural norms affecting these children about what representational means are acceptable.

The children in Margaret’s class loved stories. They made stories of their own experiences and in some cases they told stories while they were painting. Previous experience suggested to us that this tendency was a very valuable one to use when introducing children to paintings. We included in our selection paintings which contained characters which children might identify with, and settings they could imagine themselves in. We chose, for example, Chaplin, about which we could ask the question “How do you think that person is feeling?”; and we chose Tiger, Tiger partly so that we could ask “What would it feel like to be in the painting?” The choice of an Aborigine bark painting, very much part of an oral tradition, was also influenced by our appreciation of the value of narrative.

Janet introduced each painting to the children using a range of approaches. These introductions lasted between five and thirty minutes, and some talking, looking or drama always preceded the painting being revealed to the children, the purpose being to help them to find a way of seeing the painting in a way which was significant to them. We recorded their responses when first faced with the painting, and later. We set up practical activities con- nected with each painting, and observed the children’s involvement. This kind of format-of introduction, of looking at an original painting, followed by practical activity-became an established pattern, and one with which the children came to feel secure. The variety of approach, of originals, and of materials, helped create an air of purposeful excitement; soon the children would greet Janet, on her arrival in the classroom, with “I wonder what painting you’ve brought today?’’

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Introducing the paintings A range of approaches were used to introduce the paintings. A description of three approaches in action will illustrate some of our conclusions.

M A R G A R E T J A C K

J A N E T S A N G

Using Paintings with Young Children

1 A narrative approach

The first painting was an Aborigine Bark Painting, by Bridgidi (Fig. 1). Janet told the class a story, which she had adapted from information accompanying the painting. She used language and a structure with a mythical feel. This, and the telling rather than reading, imbued the narrative with significance. The children became captivated in listening, with Janet helping them to picture the scenes and the movement by using gesture. In the story she included images which she hoped might help the children to make sense of the bark painting when they eventually looked at it.

The story describes the course of a river, and how it collects fallen debris, logs and stones on its way. Then:

After a while, the river slowed down, and stopped splashing and crashing. Instead, it flowed slowly and quietly through the land. The sunlight made the surface of the water twinkle, and the ripples looked like patterns of diamonds.

I t was evening, Barama was standing by the edge of the river, blinking at the twinkling diamond patterns on the water. She could see something floating in the river. At first

F I G BRIL,GID,, Bark Painting.; pigment on bark, 42 x 93 cm.

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she thought it was her people swimming. Then she thought the shapes were fish. They were long, dark shapes, and more and more appeared. They were logs and tree trunks. She watched them, expecting them to flow past her, but instead they came closer, and climbed out onto the riverbank and stood beside her. They spoke: ‘Take us to your people, so that we may see their special dancing.’

So Barama took the logs to where her people were painting their bodies with special decorations. Then they joined hands with the people in a circle and the people showed them the steps to their dancing.

When the dancing ended, the logs promised that they would protect the people forever, and keep their secrets safe. The people thanked them, and the logs returned to the river, where they stay, keeping the people from danger.

The children were absorbed by the story-the dramatic and descriptive elements, the idea of the logs coming to life, and the element of secrecy. The central figure of Barama, a young girl, gave them a person to identify with. The painting was produced in an air of hushed anticipation, and at our invitation, children began excitedly to identify elements in the story: logs which could be people, branches and twigs which could be arms and hands, the river with its curved patterns, and diamonds twinkling. Although much of their spoken response was descriptive, their statements were charged with the imaginative involvement afforded by the story. The narrative had served to provide a conceptual framework within which the children could interpret, and we were careful to accept all contributions.

After a class discussion, some children spent some time mixing colours to match those in the painting and then applying them onto wood and stones. One group made pictures with objects in trays of sand, and another made patterns using conte crayons in a similar range of colours.

2 Two portraits: finding a consensus

In a later session, Janet introduced two portraits, Chuplin by Larry Smith, and Speranza Regards her Son by Vivian Stanshall (Fig. 2). This time we wanted to see what kind of responses we would get with only a brief introduction, used only to establish some idea of portraiture. With both paintings, the children were impressed by their large size, gasping with amazement when they were revealed -one of the many indications we had that the use of originals is significant. The children were invited to describe the content of Chaplin, a study with large areas of red and green and a single figure with a featureless face. Janet used the strategy of first asking descriptive questions, then following up each response by asking for justification, particularly by further observation of the painting.

There’s a man. He’s sitting on his bed . . . there’s patterns on the cover.

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F I G u R E 2. VIVIAN STANSHALL, Speranza Regards her Son; oil on board, 87 x 74 crn (detail).

(Others suggested a table, or a settee.) I think he’s asleep, because you can’t see his eyes. I think he’s putting his coat on. He’s going out. I think he’s cold. I think he’s looking downwards. (Janet) How do you think this man is feeling? Tired. He hasn’t got any friends. (Other children suggest loneliness, sadness etc.)

At first the children made shorter statements than when they talked about the Aborigine painting, having no framework within which to speculate, and their involvement seemed more superfi- cial. However, it was interesting that some of these young children were able to make deductions from information in the painting. It was also significant that some were prepared to make different deductions from each other, and to listen to what each other was saying-a skill only beginning to emerge at this stage. The question about the man’s feelings did allow for a degree of consensus; their answers suggested this was built on the basis of their observations in the real world, but there is also the possibility that

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the large empty areas of the paintings and flat colour provoked an emotional response. When Janet returned with the same painting the following week, the children expressed similar feelings, and it was one of the paintings recalled several weeks later by children in tape-recorded interviews.

Speranza Regards her Son impressed the children immediately with its vivid colours and large size. The ambiguity in the sexual identity of the subject and the simplification of the second figure provoked many remarks, and again children tried to justify their ‘reading’ of the composition. The sequence of questioning we used with these paintings followed broadly the pattern of asking for description-‘What c ln you see in the painting?’-then inviting more formal comments-‘What colours, shapes, patterns, etc. can you see?’-then encouraging interpretation-‘Why do you think the man is painted that shape?’ This is part of the system of art talk recommended by Tom Anderson [4], the fourth stage being one of informed evaluation. Its purpose is to slow down the process of valuing, so that children do not make immediate judgements. In fact, we did not find this a problem with our young age-group. These children never dismissed a painting quickly; however, their emotional responses often came first, and needed to be acknowledged as a way of giving the painting further considera- tion and scrutiny. One problem with this sequence of questioning is that with young children it is difficult to establish a consensus and therefore a framework in which they can make interpretations. For example, one child gave as her individual description of Speranza Regards her Son:

I think it’s Princess Diana, because it’s a pretty dress. It’s my mum with a pretty rose on her dress. That white is his [Princess Diana’s] cloak, and that green thing is the grass. That yellow and red thing is part of his cloak. They’re going for a picnic. Princess Diana is sad because all the leaves on that tree have blown down.

She is struggling to make sense of a number of observations, but without her expectations being ready-structured, she cannot be consistent.

Later, while some children painted and made clay portraits of each other, Margaret attempted to develop a consensus with a group about this painting, and to write a joint poem. The responses became more fanciful and complex, but she was able to bring the group to a general agreement that the smaller figure was a rabbit, and then a white rabbit-queen, the cause of the main figure’s fear and sadness. The sun, which was just appearing behind the main figure’s head, was part of an evil spell, for the white rabbit-queen was changing the princess in her beautiful dress into the sun.

Woman beautiful as crystal In a field green as lettuce Frightened of The white rabbit-queen Changing her into the sun Hot as fire.

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This approach, introducing imagery into language by asking, for example, ‘What can you think of that is as green as this?,’ helps children to make a response which both develops their observations and gives form to their excitement and pleasure. Margaret thus helped the group to express some of their responses which ranged from awe and delight in the colours to unease at the images, through use of poetic imagery.

F I G u R E 3. WILLIAM REDGRAVE, Tiger, Tiger 1957; oil on paper, 45 69 cm.

3 Sharing an experience

We were not sure if children would make anything of the painting entitled Tiger, Tiger by William Redgrave (Fig. 3 ) , but thought it might support the children’s interest in colour, and our concerns about colour-mixing. The painting consists of a sea of vertical brushstrokes and blobs which, once you know the title, suggest a grassland and a well-camouflaged animal. We hid the title, and decided to approach the painting through the common experience of playing hide and seek, later introducing some idea of camouflage.

The class had just come in from their morning break, and Janet began by asking what games they had been playing, and getting some children to set out examples. She then turned to hide and seek, dramatically describing a particular episode she could re- member; the class listened with great intensity to elements of their own experience being put into words. Then she asked how they

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Facing page, above F I G U R E 4. Painting in response to the hiding painting: Tiger, Tiger. Children were asked to paint the animal they thought was hiding in the painting.

Facing page, below F I G u R E 5. Painting in response to Tiger, Tiger. Children were encouraged to observe the shapes and colours of the original preciseely.

would hide in the garden, what colours they would wear so that they were hidden best. She revealed the painting asking for descriptions of the colours and then for ideas about what was hidden in the painting. Their ideas came thick and fast, some ready with explanations, for example

a fox, because of the orange (and) a leopard, because there’s a few brown spots on it.

Other suggestions revealed limited knowledge of what many ani- mals look like, but some children were able to carry the idea of camouflage over into their practical work. The discussion of the colours and their significance made an impact. When Janet returned the following week, many children could describe its colours in detail and its content:

it looked like corn (and) Dry grass with a leopard in it.

Oh, the hiding one. . . it was yellow and brown and black. On the two occasions when the original was in the class,

children were asked to paint what they thought was hiding in the painting, and encouraged to return to the original to observe the shapes and colours precisely (Figs. 4 and 5).

Even four weeks later, some children recalled it:

Kinds of engagement

1 Entering into the story

Our observation of the children painting during the term revealed, as one would expect, a range of kinds of involvement and preoccupations. However, we did note some particular features which influenced us both in our choice of original painting to show the children, and in the kinds of practical activities we arranged for them.

The use of narrative, for example to introduce the Bark Paint- ing by Bridgidi, captured the children’s imaginations. This engagement through the story at an imaginative level served to sustain the children’s involvement and provide a focus of their more descriptive observations; seven weeks after they had seen the painting, some children were able to recall its colours in detail.

Our decision to use narrative, was partly based on observations of children such as John, who talked to himself as he completed his painting:

Nearly finished. That man’s stuck, He’s going down in the water. He’s going to d ie . . . plug hole.. . coming down to the bottom.. . (He brushes paint around on the paper). There’s a boat. (He paints a boat). And he falls in the boat. He’s going near to the sharks, he’s hiding up in the. . . and that’s the end.

For such children, the process of painting involved them in a continuous changing narrative, only the last stages of which were represented in the finished product.

In a similar mode, the dramatic story of hide and seek which

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introduced Tiger, Tiger was developed by some children when they were invited to paint the creature they thought was hiding in the painting. Thus Duncan referred to the process of painting as hiding his creature, and in fact achieved a similar level of sugges- tion and ambiguity as in the original.

Other observations of children painting revealed that often the business of the management of materials became the main focus of the activity. We therefore tried to include some activities which allowed children easier access to giving form to their ideas, and the possibility of making stories. After looking at the Bark Painting by Bridgidi, one group were able to use sticks, stones, shells and nuts to arrange in sand trays. At first, they made patterns, then Janet set them thinking about what the objects could stand for, and several children made pictures, then ‘read’ them in the same way as we had interpreted the Aborigine painting. Two others made an image from the Aborigine story of Barama, of the logs floating down the river (Figs. 6 and 7). Two children working together found some driftwood which they named a wolf, and retold orally and in their picture, the story of the Three Little Pigs. Another child narrated his picture in this way:

F I G U R E 6 . We included activities which allowed children easy access This is a hedgehog going into the tree. He’s collecting nuts to giving form to their ideas. and one has fallen on his head.

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2 The appearance of things

The children were very interested in colour, in ways of mixing it, and in finding words to describe their developing perception of it. This interest should also be seen in the context of the school’s policy on the importance of using first-hand experience, which encouraged the children to observe carefully and comment on the world around them. This class were already trained to mix their own palette of colours, from powder paint, and we found that much of children’s talk and interaction, while painting, was con- cerned with commenting on colour. Here is a typical sample:

Graham: (starts mixing red, then adding a touch of blue) I’m making it a little bit darker. . . (adds yellow) now I’m making it a little bit goldier . . . (adds white) now I’m making it green, no purple!

Susan: How did you make that lovely peachy yellow and gold?

F I G U R E 7. After looking at the Bark Painting by Bridgidi, one group made pictures using sticks, stones, shells and nuts in sand trays.

Although these children had only the haziest notions of who or what an artist might be, the fact that the original paintings we brought in were made of mixed colours in the same way as their own were, provided a focus for them, and helped to prolong their engagement with the work. This was an important function of the practical

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activities that followed observation. These activities sometimes required children to look again at the original, and with their own paints to match colours. In the case of Tiger, Tiger the suggested task was closely linked with the original, since to paint the hiding creature required the children to observe and mix similar colours.

Another benefit of practical activities associated with the original painting is that children are able to express far more complex responses than they could in words. The paintings of creatures hiding indicated levels of observation of the original which the children had not been able to express orally. Tracy covered her bird, an owl, with yellowish stripes, in the manner of the original; Keith’s creature itself was stripey, in different orange hues; Susan made an arrangement of dots and dashes within the colour-range of the original, and painted snake-like forms weaving in and out of the pattern.

In most cases, when children were asked to recall paintings we had used earlier in the term, they could describe the colours in some detail. Although neither the Aborigine Bark Painting nor the two portraits used colour in a conventional naturalistic way, this did not seem to perplex the children. But although they were clearly responding subjectively to colour, for example when they first saw Speranza and when they made appraisals of particular paintings later, we saw no evidence that they were more likely to use colour subjectively themselves. What did happen, however, was that they used their observation of the originals to extend and refine their own repertoire of colours, both in practice and orally.

3 Unravelling the secret

All the paintings we used challenged narrow conventions about representation. This selection invited the children to make alterna- tive interpretations. At first, our expectation that they would do so was met by the few most confident children, but as the weeks passed, many more children became confident at voicing their opinions about the paintings, and giving reasons for their observations. Even children who had been in school only a few weeks began to treat the business of interpretation in a serious way, bringing all their knowledge of the world to bear on the images before them. Where the introduction provided a framework for their response, as with Tiger, Tiger and the Bark Painting, they were able to achieve some consistency in their interpretations, and to accommodate each other’s. Where the introduction was more open-ended, some skilful teaching with small groups was neces- sary to achieve a consensus view. Nevertheless, later in the project, some children were able to discuss the meaning of images independently of a teacher; looking at a small square painting of a figure composed of geometric shapes, entitled Geofiey by Paul Jenkins (Fig. S), one child said:

I can see there’s a triangle as his eye and a rectangle as his mouth and a little bit of his nose.. . and he looks cross. His eye goes down and his mouth goes like this.. . (demonstrates).

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F I G U R E 8. PAUL JENKINS, Geofjiy; oil on board, 31 x 31 cm.

The meaning of paintings became a challenge to some of the children. When two children were left to interview each other about a painting not introduced to the class as a whole, its obscure imagery intrigued them:

Stuart: I like this one. It’s got nice colours . . . I don’t know what that i s . . .

Graham: I do, it’s a lady. It’s got black hair. Stuart: What’s that? Graham: I think it’s a man with a cloak on, because they do

Stuart: What’s that bit? Graham: I think it’s a car, no a steam engine because it

have cloaks in the old days, some of them.

points u p . . . and I like the food. I t makes me feel hungry. Undaunted, Stuart chose this painting as his favourite.

The delicious pleasure of knowing what other people do not, can also work as a way of engaging with paintings. When some children painted portraits of each other, Janet suggested they keep the identity of the subject a secret, but give as many clues as possible within the painting. This gave an opportunity for the children to view each other’s work with a quizzical eye, and when they had discovered the subject of the portrait, to consider what that subject was doing, or was feeling. Identifying with the secret or the hidden certainly played a big part in the strong feelings children showed about Tiger, Tiger. Duncan-who, as was men- tioned earlier, used the process of painting itself as a form of

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hiding his creature (Fig. 9)-held fast to the identity of his animal, revealing only at the very end of the session, that

It’s a green and brown crocodile, and it’s eating the grass.

Conclusions Looking back on the project, Margaret sees it as the beginning of what might become for children, a long-term engagement with paintings. A more immediate value is the way it stimulated and extended her class’s listening and oral abilities. Focusing on the object before them, they were able to develop skills in describing with precision, expressing their thoughts, feelings and opinions, and sometimes giving reasons for their views. The paintings were open enough to interpretation to encourage the children’s imaginations to work, but contained enough references sometimes for a common consensus to be reached. This provided the motivation for children to listen to each other’s views.

We both recognise the importance of the practical activities related to each original, in providing children with a chance to express their engagement with the painting, often in greater depth than they can manage in language. The related activities provide

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an opportunity too for a longer engagement with the original, returning to it to consider its meaning, its colours, its shapes. In

F I G u R E 9. Duncan’s painting: It’s a and brown crocodile, and .. it’s eating the grass. addition, when children were able to recall paintings several weeks

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after they had first seen them, it was often the activities in which they had taken part which they remembered first.

A benefit for us, the teachers, is that looking at a painting with children helps us to see it afresh, and to find more of interest in it. We both felt our own involvement with the paintings growing as the children opened up possible new interpretations for us; other teachers in the school who have borrowed paintings for occasional sessions have had a similar experience. This is important, since it both motivates the teacher, and provides new avenues for helping other children to find ways of seeing paintings.

In this description of our project, we have outlined three ways of introducing paintings to young children. Using narrative provides a structure with which to view the painting, offers the chance of imaginative involvement which can also sustain children’s interest, and provides a link with the way many young children perceive their own pictures. Finding a consensus from many different views is perhaps the approach which requires the most direction from the teacher, but which can develop many language skills. Building on a shared experience offers a way into engaging in a painting which goes beyond merely looking, and the example we gave illustrates how the remembered feelings of an experience like ‘hiding’ can intensify the enjoyment of the painting and charge the children’s own expressive work with excitement.

Our analysis of the children’s responses suggests something of the possible kinds of engagement children can have with original paintings. Using these three approaches, we found, first, that children became involved through imagining themselves in the narrative (as in the story introducing the Aborigine Bark Paint- ing), or in the narrative painting (as in Tiger, Tiger). Sometimes, they become tellers of stories, in their own paintings, and particularly when able to use ready materials like the objects and the sand trays. Narrative form is well established in most infant classrooms, it is familiar to children and an important mode of expression for them. Paintings which can be introduced or interpreted by a narrative are a good choice for use with this age-group.

Second, original paintings provide a fascinating focus for inves- tigative skills, in which children (as keen observers of the world) are able to apply the knowledge they have of the appearances of things, to make sense of the picture. The process of matching colours is heightened with the knowledge that the colours in the original have been mixed too. At this age, their range of discern- ment in visual perception is expanding rapidly, and is accompan- ied by tremendous excitement and pleasure in the world around them. This is an opportunity then, to extend their awareness by introducing not only paintings which stun by their brilliance, as with Speranza Regards her Son, but also those which impress through their subtlety, as with Tiger, Tiger. As we described in our account of children’s engagement with this painting, it was in their own colour mixing and composition that they were able to indicate their appreciation.

Third, children get involved with original paintings whose

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meaning is not immediately obvious because they enjoy the challenge of trying to unlock their secrets. All three approaches to introducing the paintings provoked this kind of response, but it was particularly evident where there was a fairly long introduction before the painting was shown. Janet’s strategy of shifting ‘the mantle of the expert’ onto the children by asking speculative questions about the paintings and then accepting every answer was important in this respect. After a few weeks, children came to expect to put forward ideas and not always agree with each other. Some children continued with this approach even when left alone with a tape-recorder and asked to talk about the painting. How- ever, it was where the introduction suggested a perspective from which to see the painting, as with the Aborigine story, or the dramatic play about hide and seek, that children were able to have their longest engagement with the painting.

We think this short project has been useful in identifying some of the ways in which it is possible for young children to engage meaningfully with original paintings. What is needed now is some systematic research, to establish the precise nature and value of a continuing acquaintance with original works of art throughout the Primary years. Ours has been an introductory project, but we hope that the engagement with original paintings will support children in accepting and continuing to use a variety of visual representation methods. We hope too that some of our comments about the selection of paintings for this age-group, and suggestions of methods of approach, will encourage other teachers to bring original paintings into the classroom.

References 1 See for example PARSONS, MICHAEL (1987) Talk about a painting: a

cognitive developmental analysis. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 21, 1. 2 CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION (1982) The Arts in Schools. 3 TAYLOR, ROD (1986) Educating& Art. Longman. 4 ANDERSON, TOM (1986) Talking about art with children, from theory

to practice. Art Education, January 1986.

Paintings borrowed for the study, and here reproduced, by courtesy of the Trustees, Bishop Otter College Art Collection.

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