Children's Conceptions of the Arts

Abstract

the spontaneous speech of preschool children is often replete with similes and metaphors;2 that effective teaching can inspire gradeschool children to use language in a fluent and unusually sensitive manner;3 and that the child artist, without educational buffeting, may often produce paintings of notable originality and visual attractiveness.4 Even when more delimited tasks are posed, the preschool and primary school youngster often exhibits considerable skill. Children of these ages have, for example, succeeded in making metaphoric matches and in grouping paintings by style.5 Often, however, the same child who can speak of an object which is soft as quiet displays little conceptual understanding about art. Similarly, the young child who can look closely at two Impressionist paintings and detect fine textural differences between a Renoir and a Bonnard may reveal, when questioned, startling misconceptions about what a work of art is, how it is made, or what distinguishes it from a machine-made or a natural object. What children know and do not know about the arts is a much