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In lieu of an abstract: Anita Tarr’s monograph, Lying, Truthtelling, and Storytelling in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, addresses how the portrayal of liars and lying in children’s and young adult literature reflects the relationship between language, storytelling, and lying. Tarr claims that “language itself […] is more conducive to lying than to truthtelling” (2) and argues that fiction should not be considered a medium that fabricates tales for the readers’ enjoyment. Furthermore, Tarr does not just elucidate what depictions of lying look like but demonstrates, through reading different kinds of fiction, how telling stories is one form of “slanted” truthtelling. Through her reading of Aesop’s Fables, the 1949 film The Windows, and The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), Tarr establishes in the Introduction how children’s practice of storytelling is not only about reporting truths objectively but also employing a certain degree of embellishment to capture the audience’s attention. Using Emily Dickinson’s phrase to “tell it slant” (1), Tarr argues that this skill of embellished storytelling comes from a practice of lying and twisting facts to suit the purpose of good storytelling.

In this article, the author explores children's destruction of their artwork as it occurs on paper or digitally via an interactive whiteboard. Sociocultural accounts of children's art-making and social semiotic approaches to meaning-making offer a theoretical lens for understanding children's acts of destruction as meaningful and the way in which different semiotic resources shape the meaning-making involved in destruction differently. In order to explore this further, the author considers two episodes of art-making: firstly, an episode of child-parent art-making that ended in a five-year-old child scribbling over a drawing on paper with a black crayon, and, secondly, an episode of a five-year-old child using touch to cover over the drawing she had made on the classroom interactive whiteboard during free-flow activity time. A comparison between these two episodes is used to explore how digital and paper-based semiotic resources may impact differently on the experience of destruction and the affective and relational work that it can achieve. In this article, the author argues that a social semiotic exploration of destruction can help to move discussions of children's art-making beyond developmental preoccupations with individual intentions and towards a post-developmental account that engages with the richness of children's experiences and actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses change in focus of the ideas towards cultural differences and domain-specific factors from the developmental course of children's drawing. Topics discussed include three principal reasons behind writing the book "The Arts and Human Development" such as arts to be considered a valid end state for human development and interest in arts both contemporary and historical, inspiration from the work of psychologist Jean Piaget and duplication of human behaviors from computational devices such as robots and intelligent machines.

Picasso once famously said “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” This visual inquiry is engaged through a community of creative practice in two rural children's centers where the researchers along with 4- and 5-year-old children collaborated to create a large-scale canvas and several smaller artworks developed from the children's shared interests. By investigating the site where uninhibited and intuitive creative practice is expressed—that of early childhood education—the authors explored such questions as “What can we learn from the art making of young children?” and “Why is this important?” In this visual essay, it is recognized that children are indeed artists, rather than merely children who enjoy painting; issues of practice are explored and honored. It is further acknowledged that children are also theorists, experimenting again and again as learning occurs; they are also often our teachers. Collaborating with children as a community of embodied artists honors their creative authority. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This qualitative study looks at how an art studio run by children in crisis impacts what we can learn about art and relationships. Room 13, an art studio on school grounds managed by children ages 7-11 years old, began in Scotland in the 1980's and is now worldwide. Room 13 young artists manage the studio, raise funds, and even hire an adult studio artist. In Room 13, the children's art making is expected to be experimental and self driven. West Rise Junior School and Hareclive Primary School in England both each have a Room 13 as well as a large population of children at risk. This research study explores how art can serve such a population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of this article creates a semblance between Deleuze and Guattari's conception of a politics of desire and the four realities, as outlined by Brent and Marjorie Wilson. By making this theoretical move, the author advances the idea that children's drawing unfolds from one moment to the next through the assemblages of desire that are most immediate to its scene of production. The four realities--as material-compositions of desire--are exchanged and negotiated by those participating, the things and objects of which the scene is composed, the figuration of the scene itself, and the events and dramatizations that surface. As a result, the author argues that children's drawing is an assemblage of desire that is always assembling on behalf of the immediacy of its political and material conditions. Drawing from case study data collected during the spring of 2011 at Penn State's Saturday Art School, this theoretical essay leans curiously into those moments when the drawing of two children is leveraging and being leveraged in particular ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider the changing landscape of art education and explore potential directions for the field to situate itself within the spaces of early childhood education. I position that current understandings of child art and its use in both research and practice in the early childhood classroom are limited by a lack of connection to contemporary art practices. Working from the perspective of relational aesthetics, I examine children's drawing practices to suggest an extension of sociocultural theories of child art. To do so, I provide descriptions of young children's voluntary drawing events that illuminate the convivial nature of their productions, as well as nomadic processes involved in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A leftward spatial bias in drawing placement was demonstrated by Heller (1991) using the draw-a-person test with right-handed American children. No such bias was observed in left-handed children who are assumed to be less lateralised than their right-handed peers. According to Heller the leftward spatial bias is primarily a reflection of the right hemisphere specialisation for spatial processing. However, an alternative explanation in terms of directional trends may be put forward. In the present study we first confirm Heller's findings of a handedness effect on drawing placement using the draw-a-tree task with a large sample of right- and left-handed French children aged 5–15 years (Exp. 1). We then provide evidence that a similar leftward bias occurs in right-handed Moroccan children aged 7–11 years with opposite script directionality and opposite preferred drawing movement directions (i.e., right-to-left directional trends) to the those of right-handed French children (Exp. 2). Taken together these findings suggest that directionality trends arising from learned cultural habits and motor preferences play little role in determining spatial bias in the centring of a single object drawn on a page. Rather there may be a cerebral origin for drawing single objects slightly on the left side of the graphic space. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This field report tells the story of a critical pedagogy of place educational program that was implemented with primary school children in Athens, Greece, during a period of economic, political, and social crisis. This program, entitled "Creating the Environment Where I Would Like to Live," was designed to develop children's critical thought and imagination and to empower their self-confidence and action-competence regarding their ideas for the city. The program focused on transforming children's low self-esteem and passiveness into a powerful creative process of critical reflection, collaboration, and action. Art was the tool that was used in the empowering pedagogical process. The program treated children as artists and urban designers with the ability to analyze their environment, synthesize their thoughts, and propose new ideas for the improvement of the city. The children who participated in the program asked for political change, solidarity, and a stronger connection with nature in the city. They were also involved in the improvement of their school environment. The research explores the dynamic role of art in a critical pedagogy of place and the benefits that it can confer to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the literature on children's engagement with art and identifies a gap in the field that is concerned with the relationship between making and judging art. A project that sought to examine this is reported, focusing upon three case studies of 11 year olds attending a primary school in Cyprus. The data were collected through a variety of methods, including interviews, art class observations, document examination and questionnaires. It was found that the way these children created and responded to other children's artworks was determined by the significance and the role they attributed to art. We conclude that individual differences play a significant part in determining children's artistic and aesthetic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how children's drawing ability may vary between different educational approaches. This study investigated the expressive and representational drawing ability of British National Curriculum, Steiner, and Montessori pupils aged 5 to 9 years old. Ability was measured from performance on specified drawing tasks. One hundred and 35 children participated, 45 from each educational establishment consisting of 15 from each of the three age groups, 5-, 7- and 9-year-olds. Participants completed three expressive drawings (depicting a happy, sad, and angry mood) and three representational drawings (observational drawing of a wooden mannequin, a house from memory and a free drawing). Results indicated that for expressive drawings Steiner pupils generally depicted more content themes, used formal properties more expressively, and produced higher quality expressive drawings than Montessori and National Curriculum pupils. Where there were differences between National Curriculum and Montessori pupils the Montessori children tended to do better than the National Curriculum pupils on these measures. Although representational drawing development varied in younger Steiner pupils compared to their National Curriculum and Montessori peers, no differences were observed among the oldest children attending the three schools. The positive relationship between expressive and representational drawing performance was the strongest in Steiner pupils. The results suggest the art program in Steiner education is more conducive to nurturing expressive drawing ability than those delivered in Montessori and National Curriculum education, with seemingly no disadvantage in representational drawing ability in the primary school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concept: Few empirical studies have investigated the influence of teachers, parents and children on children's drawing experience. The current study aims to examine the attitudes and practices of these three key players that shape children's drawing experience. Method: A survey methodology was used, as typically found in previous research in this area. Participants were 270 5-14 year old children, 44 of their teachers of the National Curriculum for Art and Design, and 146 of their parents. The teachers and children participated in individual interviews and the parents completed a postal survey. Responses to most interview questions were transcribed and content analysis used to identify salient themes. The other questions involved responses on five-point scales, these were analysed by reporting percentages. Results: The findings are discussed in five sections. First, the positive perceptions of children's drawing behaviour and attitudes. Second, the perceived importance and principal aims of the National Curriculum for Art and Design Education. Third, the numerous sources of encouragement and support for drawing development. Fourth, the differing perceptions of what constitutes a good and bad drawing. Fifth, issues surrounding an age-related decline in children's drawing activity. Conclusions: The findings are related to theories of drawing education, and implications for children's drawings and drawing pedagogy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role and influence of the 21st century women in the development of the creative ability of children in art. It notes the influence of women in the overall development of children and the challenges of child art. It cites the strategy of developing women's creative ability in order to help children develop thier creative prowess through creating an awareness for art inside the woman and allowing woman to understand the potential of every human to become an artist.

The study of children's art spans the disciplines of fine art, history, social and political sciences, and psychology. There are relatively few cohesive children's art collections. One such collection, the International Collection of Child Art (ICCA), comprises more than 10,000 works from the latter half of the twentieth century and resides at Illinois State University's Milner Library. This article describes the collection, discusses its acquisition by the library, and presents specific uses of this collection in research and teaching. Recent grant-funded initiatives, which have helped to successfully fund research and development of the collection and enhance access for users through digitization, are also featured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, artwork of child artists from the Carrolup settlement school in Western Australia was rediscovered in the archives of the Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University. The young artists were among what was then called the half-caste children and now known as the Stolen Generation. Between the late 1800s and mid 1970s the Australian government forcibly removed children from their famillies with the purpose of not only assimilating them into European culture, bat also eliminating Aboriginal culture. With the support of a dedicated new headmaster and teacher Noel White (1946-1951), a group of male children became proficient artists. Through the efforts of Florence Rutter, who later co-authored the book Child Artists of the Australian Bush (Miller & Rutter, 1952), the children became internationally known. Tragically leading short and sometimes violent lives most of the children went on to menial jobs. Their style, however, has remained an enduring influence on the local artists of southwestern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes children's drawings that achieve the status of work of art. Drawing one which is dragon parade, functions as a language by describing the annual Chinatown dragon parade, an important event in the artist's life. Another drawing on rain forest is the key to stimulating the flow of words, spoken and written. When children draw they engage their thoughts and feelings and project psychological situations that adult caregivers can learn to read and respond to.

The text of this article was originally presented in a public lecture in February 2008. It presents a description of earlier research on children's drawing practices which considers the ingenuity of learning and meaning-making through drawing. Then the focus moves to the language of assess-mentto consider how, art practices, such as drawing, as well as learner and teacher identities, are constructed and regulated within such linguistic practices (discourses). Bearing in mind the regulatory effect of such practices (and that all discourses are in some way regulatory) the final section introduces the idea of pedagogy against the state in order to think again an ethics of pedagogy concerned with becoming; an ethical imperative for pedagogy concerned with expanding our grasp of what learning is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on an art education model called Room 13. It examines the original Room 13, an artmaking studio managed by students at Caol Primary School, and describes how the classroom functioned under the administration of students. The possible methods of teaching contemporary art are explored and the importance of collaboration in art education is discussed. The benefits of teaching children management skills at a young age are noted and comments from various students on their experiences in Room 13 are provided.

The article focuses on early childhood art education. It discusses a paper put out by the Early Childhood Art Educators Issues Group (ECAE) titled "Art: Essential for Early Learning." The book "In the Spirit of the Studio" is examined as well. The importance of art in child development and early education is addressed and the presence of art in an integrated curriculum is explored. The impact of art on education in general is analyzed and the concept of an atelier, or an artist's studio, is also unpacked.

The article profiles the art teacher Freidl Dicker-Brandeis, who taught drawing and painting to children in concentration camps during the Jewish Holocaust. The psychological aspects of art classes for the children are discussed and information about Dicker-Brandeis's life is provided, including her decision to follow her husband, Pavel Brandeis, to a concentration camp. The camp, Theresienstadt, is discussed and the role of art in the camp is described. Examples of artwork by children in the camp are provided and explored.

In this article the author focuses on drawing-related interaction among 5-6-year-old children in two Year One classes in Norwegian primary schools as they engage in teacher-initiated learning activities involving drawing. Inspired in particular by Gunther Kress' semiotic perspective on drawing, the author presents four interaction categories to explore social aspects of young children's engagement in the process of forming visual-graphic signs that convey meaning. The author proposes that while the children's interaction can add support to the drawing process, it may also produce some risk for the children's confidence as drawers. It is the role of the practitioner to manage and facilitate interaction so that support is maximised and risk minimised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined developmental changes in children's ability to understand the emotions expressed in other children's drawings. Eighty participants, at each of four age groups - three, four, five and six years - were, presented with a series of child drawings, each expressing a different emotion (happiness, sadness, anger or fear). All drawings had been previously rated by adult judges on an emotion-intensity scale as being good exemplars of the emotions examined. Next, participants were shown pictures of child artists each expressing one of the designated emotions on her/his face and were instructed to identify the artist who created each drawing. The results showed that: (i) by age three, children demonstrated an understanding of the emotions expressed in drawings; (ii) happiness, sadness and fear were the emotions most easily recognized by participants. Overall, these results provide support for the assertion that the ability to understand the emotional meaning of drawings is present from the preschool years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work we describe here concerns children's developing appreciation for photographs as expressive, aesthetic images, and their developing skills at manipulating qualities of photographs for specific effects. We describe a sample of empirical work relevant to two broad arguments. The first concerns normative processes of development. The argument is that developmental processes in general contribute to aesthetic development in particular, and, simultaneously, that aesthetic development in particular contributes to development in general. The second concerns individuating processes of aesthetic development. The argument is that even as there are developmental phenomena that have fairly universal effects in supporting children's aesthetic development, there are also factors tied to child qualities and experiences that result in significant individual differences in aesthetic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the action, representation and transformation of children's art as symbolic language. It examines the social underpinnings that lie beneath Reggio Emilia's "hundred languages of children." The important role played by artistic activity in children's lives and in exploring and expressing their experiences in the world are discussed. The article also discusses an interpretation of children's art that suggest alternative images of teaching-learning processes related to art education.

The article focuses on child art, the visual culture of childhood, and some collaborative images between children and adults. It talks about the historical, philosophical and pedagogical aspects relating to this visual culture. Two distinct types of childhood visual culture, which includes the self-initiated story-laden drawings for enjoyment and images that are initiated and directed by adults, are discussed. The article also offers information on school art that is questionable child art and adult visual cultural production.

This qualitative study describes how Filipino grade school pupils in a private, sectarian school in Manila, Philippines identify their views and images of the librarian. Two hundred fifty-eight (258) pupils were asked to fill out a robotfoto box for illustration and to fill in a diagram. As a result of the data gathered and analyzed, two (2) faces of the librarian came into view, based on the children's doodling, the desirable and the undesirable librarian. On the one hand, the desirable librarian represents the enticing, enduring and engaging type. On the other hand, disappointing, depressing and depriving types characterize the librarian who is undesirable. The doodlings indicate that being desirable attracts library clients to visit the library and develops interest in using the library facilities more often. The undesirable qualities make students hesitate in entering the library. This study shows the need for librarians to be concerned with improving their images to develop desired qualities for the benefit of their student clientele. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores and examines a case study based at Ivy Bank Business and Enterprise College, The Imperial War Museum North, and Liverpool John Moores University. This collaboration took place from November 2004 until February 2005 culminating in an exhibition of children's artwork as part of the ‘Moving Minds’ project at the IWM North. This project was built upon a firm foundation of common goals; an investment in educational and curriculum development; learning through an engagement with contemporary art practice; learning within the context of the museum and a belief that working collaboratively can act as an effective antidote to a perceived orthodoxy in art and design education (Steers 2004). Through practitioner enquiry this paper presents three distinct perspectives. The voice of the trainee teacher, the classroom teacher and the university lecturer demonstrate both elements of commonality and difference within the shared experience of this enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on findings from a research project designed to explore ways in which creativity can be fostered through interactions between selected children, particular environments, materials, techniques and key adults. The Young Designers on Location (YDoL) project was funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), and brought together selected groups of 11 year-olds with‘design-related professionals’ (DRPs) to work together intensively for a week in two locations (Bath Spa University College and Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Shropshire) then subsequently in participants' schools. The findings from case studies of selected individuals within the Bath location include key messages about the quality of environment and relationships in unlocking children's creativity. The study has exemplified aspects of Harrington's model of a‘creative ecosystem’ [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]