evaluation and analysis of childrens outcomes

The inclusive atmosphere meant the children weren't afraid to show me their work throughout the process and ask me questions throughout about what colours might work well together, or simply what I thought of their work so far. Although some children worked quicker than others and to different levels they were open to the idea of helping other classmates and often suggested it themselves, with many students helping each other cut out letters or volunteer positive ideas for each others work once they had finished their own posters and with no student ever expressing to me that they were bored.

Throughout all three lessons we discussed how text could be used creatively to make the work eye catching and exciting, specifically focusing on examples of work from Bob and Roberta Smith and the way bright colours and bold letters had been used. In my own practice I developed a series of hand lettered alphabets as a teaching aid for the children to use in their own posters, inspired by the hand generated independent nature of anti establishment art. I created all my alphabets using black ink or cut paper which could then be used to make collaged words for posters. I found the children were mainly drawn to the cut letters or really thick black letters as opposed to the more delicate type faces when they came to make their posters which showed me the really understood the idea of visually communicating a message boldly. A lot of the children also opted to create their own typefaces or cut out letters and did so very creatively with very few using their normal handwriting for their slogans. I think this was partly because of the supportive and inclusive learning atmosphere I worked hard to create which meant students felt more comfortable taking personal risks. The option of pre drawn letters or creating their own from scratch was another example of how I tried to incorporate stretch and challenge - this worked well will the higher ability students creating complex cut letter forms (1) and the lower ability students still achieving a successful poster in the time frame by using pre cut letters (2).

It is clear that children create very different pictures to most adults but it is often incorrectly perceived this is simply a less skilled form of drawing as opposed to a separate form of visual language. Professor Primadi Tabrani describes two major approaches when it comes to drawing, the space time plane (STP) and the naturalistic perspective moment (NPM) . The STP represents ‘multiple angles, multiple distances and multiple moments within one picture’ (source) it does not simply describe an object or scene, but instead it becomes a visual language which can communicate a message, this is the plane in which most young children draw. The NPM however is the one most often used by adults and works more like a camera, ‘drawn from one particular angle, one particular distance and one particular time, producing a descriptive picture’(source). picture 3 below shows a side by side contrast of the STP approach on the left to the NPM approach on the right, the picture on the left does not use accurate colours or proportions but it elicits more of an emotional response from the viewer and therefore makes it more involving and communicative.

The categorising visual language of the STP approach was clearly shown in the protest posters that were created in the classes, for example fig 4 shows objects drawn as though they are ‘flying in the sky in various positions’(source) with elements like the heart drawn bigger than its surroundings to signify its importance. This kind of visual language actually works very successfully in the context of protest posters as the STP approach is actually much more effective at capturing a mood and an expression in contrast to the NPM approach. This is another reason I believe that it's important for children to become involved with protest art, not only to be able to express themselves and to exercise their creative skills, but also because they are naturally skilled communicators of their own form of visual language often using simplified imagery and symbols to express complex concepts.

Throughout the children's outcomes there was a lot of common visual themes, the one I saw the most being simple smiley faces. I think it is lovely to see that although approaching serious and sombre topics in their posters such as war and racism, the children tackled these by often using very positive imagery, this use of simple imagery also meant that the message of the poster was effective in its immediacy and quick communication of message. An example of this is an anti war poster (fig 5) which uses the imagery of a smiling earth with people holding hands around it, if we focus on the drawn imagery it shows a good example of the emotive STP and shows how children use simple devices such as smiley faces to personify objects and therefore make the work more emotionally relatable. Another common visual theme I noticed in the work produced was the use of multiple colours, in almost all cases the children could not help but use as many colours as possible in their posters (fig 6). From analysing all the work produced an affinity for many different colours seems to be a key part of primary school children's visual language and a technique which both draws them in and engages them when they consume existing artwork and design.

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