Seeing in Art
Developing the Artists Eye
Teaching students to see is very important. Observation is the keystone of art. Artists usually have a keen sense of sight. They notice things in the world around them that many people walk past. What they usually see are colours, shapes, textures, light and shade and patterns.
An
artist might spot the way the light catches the water in a pond, or the
tiny bud on a tree. They might see patterns of lines and shapes in a building
or the textures of old painted walls. An artist sees these things because
they have been trained to look for them. By drawing and painting every
day the artist is developing a keen sense of sight.
The hardest challenge an art teacher faces is to make the student look harder and maintain the effort of seeing and interpreting. They nearly always want to give up and finish. An art teacher will constantly show the students things they have missed; they will keep pushing and pushing the students through this barrier. This barrier is very hard to break down, because students with little confidence will think I cant do this. That is the challenge that the Art teacher faces.
The Art teacher should always praise first, and then suggest ways to improve. They should build confidence all the time, not destroy it. Find the strengths of the work and praise, praise, praise. Confidence is the key. Just make sure that the praise is genuine, not false.
When untrained students draw, they often resort to drawing simplified symbols for things. They do not actually LOOK, their brain tells them what it thinks is there. So we need to get the students to go through a series of exercises to teach them how to develop artistic sight.
And finally, It is important to get across the message that all any artist can ever hope to achieve is THEIR OWN interpretation of something. The struggle for realism is not often the most creative route, so try to get across the fact that the students own work is just as valid as anyone else's.
The following Art lessons focus on improving the art students ability to SEE. There are five lessons in total and they are well worn, tried and tested art lessons:
