#treediagram

The visual diagram above is an illustration of a tree with three major parts namely, the roots, the trunk with branches, and the leaves. These parts represent the three theories illustrated above respectively. I think that Lowenfeld’s Stages of Art Development can not be neglected even though more holistic and practical views and theories have emerged from it. This is because every learner starts to be a child before he or she becomes an artist. Every child undergoes different types of development as they grow up. Throughout time their cognitive, perceptual, psychomotor, and psychosocial skills develop. Therefore this linear progression of art skills is like the backbone that cannot be set apart, thus is represented by the roots.

I appreciate how later theorists of art education were able to collaborate and therefore come up with more encompassing views of how a learner develops artistic skills. This allows the learning process to become more central to the learner’s agency and individuality while considering a constructive approach. Using June McFee’s Perceptual Delineation Theory in explaining the artistic development recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of a learner in processing a certain type of information presented to him/ her. In this way, learners are more understood when some are good at one thing and better at another or vice versa. I think this is also a humanitarian way of evaluating a learner’s progress and output. This theory is represented by the trunk with branches in the illustration above as the perception of the learner delineates as the information presented is processed subject to his or her cultural and holistic background.

The leaves on the other hand represent the Visual Signs Narrative Theory of Brent Wilson and Marjorie Wilson. In my view, this is the most advanced of the three theories presented because it involves accounts of connected events; a story of what has been perceived by the learner’s senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, touching, smelling, etc. just like through the leaves we can see the whole tree’s reaction to wind and sunlight and different seasons. As we know, the more senses are involved, the higher-order thinking skills are being used. However, this does not mean that higher-order of artistic skills are also involved. I just think that taking into account that a learner can use his or her artwork as a visual representation of connected ideas even at an early age is like making a visual synthesis of what he/ she wants to record and communicate.