Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985 Page: 36
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(1982, p. 37). He, like Arnheim (1969), has
emphasized that perception is a cognitive
event. Also, Eisner has pointed out that
there are different forms of representation of
knowledge and asserted that cognitive ac-
tivity is present in all forms of experience.
In building a broader cognitive perspec-
tive, the need for more information on the
relation between artistic and cognitive devel-
/36 opment has been recognized by researchers
and writers in the field. The early work of
Harris (1963) in revising the Goodenough
Draw-A-Man Test has been acknowledged as
the dominant research example which ex-
plored the relationship between visual art,
specifically drawing, and cognition. Golomb
(1983) and others have described the course
of development in children's art as a cognitive
process. Hardiman and Zernich (1980) and
Lansing (1966) have examined the relation-
ship of artistic learning and development to
the theory of cognitive development ad-
vanced by Jean Piaget. Studies by psychol-
ogists Bruner et al. (1967), Olson (1970,
1983), Werner (1957), and Werner and
Kaplan (1963) have also contributed to the
developing understanding of artistic and cog-
nitive development.
A number of art educators have encour-
aged and identified art critical strategies as
an important component in the visual arts
curriculum within a cognitive framework. As
strategies and structures for art criticism
dialogues have developed (Feldman 1973,
Mittler 1982), art educators have begun to
see the value of promoting the interaction of
visual/verbal methods in the acquisition of
skills in art criticism. In these dialogues stu-
dents are involved in formal analysis, a cog-
nitive process which includes describing,
interpretating, and evaluating.
Books such as The Arts and Cognition
(Perkins and Leondar, 1977), The Arts, Cog-
nition, and Basic Skills (Madeja, 1978),
Cognition and Curriculum, A Basis for De-
ciding What to Teach (Eisner, 1982), In-
vented Worlds: The Psychology of the Arts
(Winner, 1982), and Art, Mind, and Brain
(Gardner, 1984) have been significant in
broadening the cognitive perspective. An an-
notated bibliography by Ives (1979) and a
special issue of Art Education (1983) which
explored "Art and the Mind" have also been
valuable.
The Arts, Cognition, and Basic Skills
(Madeja, 1978) is a compilation of confer-
ence papers delivered by a number of well-
known art educators and psychologists
which has raised important research ques-
tions. In this publication, Martin Engel pro-
posed a framework for cognitive research in
TRENDS / fall 1985the arts. He challenged researchers to look
at "the perception theory school, the semio-
tic or symbolic school, the artificial intelli-
gence and information-processing theorists,
many of the empirical and scientific aestheti-
cians, the linguists, and the Piagetian de-
velopmentalists, as well as those other
theorists and researchers concerned within
the creation or development of mental struc-
tures" (Engel, 1978, p. 29). In other pub-
lications Engel (1977, 1981, 1983) has
discussed art and cognition and has de-
scribed the mind as "unified, active, con-
structive, self-creating, and symbol making"
(1983, p. 7). He goes on to say that: "Among
the things the mind does are: structuring,
conceiving, thinking, feeling, knowing, imag-
ining, emoting, believing, intuiting, creating,
storing, playing, dreaming, reflecting, judg-
ing, perceiving, fantasizing and symbolizing
(1983, p. 7).
David Perkins and Barbara Leondar
edited The Arts and Cognition (1977) which
includes papers by individuals associated
with Project Zero, a group located at Har-
vard University whose work has centered on
the arts, human cognition and symbol pro-
cessing. In this book Perkins and Leondar
have stated that "cognition involves knowing
how as well as knowing that" (p. 2). In their
view the cognitive approach "holds that all
human activity occurs relative to a knowl-
edge base which guides perception, emo-
tional reactions etc." (p. 2). Thus, cognition
is integral to the creation and appreciation of
art. Elsewhere, Perkins (1983) has con-
tended that it is easy to overlook the cog-
nitive processes and strategies used in visual
arts activities, that these skills or strategies
may be general to "a whole range of com-
plex cognitive skills", and that indeed "art
can even help us to see clearly what makes
many cognitive skills difficult to learn"
(p. 39).
The studies and publications of individu-
als associated with Project Zero have been
particularly important in setting forth no-
tions of Nelson Goodman, as well as others
who have helped to demystify artistic cogni-
tion. Goodman (1976) has been recognized
for his extensions of seminal ideas intro-
duced earlier by Ernst Cassirer and Suzanne
Langer, and his work has been described as
a breakthrough which has helped art edu-
cators and others think more precisely about
the arts and cognition. Goodman has re-
ferred to symbol systems which ftinction as
conceptual instruments, a view which has
been continued in the writing of Howard
Gardner, as well as David Perkins. In speak-
ing of these symbol systems, Gardner (1984)has stated that "one special feature of human
thought is its ability to create and sponsor
commerce through the use of various kinds
'of symbol systems. These symbol sys-
tems- these codes of meaning-are the
vehicles through which thought takes place."
(1984, p. 5). Gardner (1983) has also ex-
plained that:
Artistry centers on the use of certain
kinds of symbols (for example, paint-
ings rather than chemical formulae),
which are used in certain kinds of prop-
erties. To attain competence in the
arts, it is necessary to gain literacy
with these symbol systems ... (p. 47).
Summary
In art education our growing cognitive per-
spective has created an awareness of the
importance of "knowing how", as well as
"knowing that". Yet, a large portion of art
learning which may be identified as cognitive
skills or cognitive activity, remains trans-
parent or unrecognized. Perhaps, as Olson
(1983) has pointed out, "skills are frequently
rendered invisible by our habitual focus on
knowledge specified through the activity."
(p. 62-3).
This review of selected, recent publica-
tions has attempted to call attention to writ-
ing which has contributed to the broader
view of arts and cognition and the recogni-
tion of cognitive skills or activity within that
view. Although a comprehensive list of these
cognitive skills used in artistic learning is yet
to be delineated, a cursory review of this
literature has suggested the following broad
array: perceiving, conceiving, intuiting, de-
scribing, interpreting, evaluating, recalling,
comprehending, applying, analyzing, syn-
thesizing, structuring, imagining, emoting,
believing, creating, storing, playing, dream-
ing, reflecting, judging, fantasizing, sym-
bolizing, reacting, gaining insight, mastering;
recognizing, inventing, organizing, rearrang-
ing, transforming, elaborating, extending,
expressing, exploring, representing, ab-
stracting, refining, selecting, completing,
simplifying, combining, correcting, separat-
ing, and comparing.
As we consider these skills and identify
others, we may begin to ask the following
questions: How can we help students be-
come more aware of the cognitive skills or
activities they are using in making and re-
sponding to art? Can we view a number of
these skills as discrete, and are clusters of
these skills broader thinking processes such
as problem solving, conceptualizing, critical
or reflective thinking? What part does each
play in different types of art learning? Are
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Texas Art Education Association. Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985, periodical, Autumn 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279681/m1/38/?q=architectural+drawings: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Art Education Association.