Contextual Worlds of Child Art: Experiencing Multiple Literacies through Images

Abstract

This article draws from a larger study that examines the multiple literacies inherent in children's drawings. The author discusses a qualitative research project conducted with a split grade one and two classroom in Toronto, Canada. She argues that pictorial images can be read as a form of literacy, where thought is made public through visual narratives. The author's prime focus was to interpret the children's artwork as communication on a par with other semiotic modes and to explore the images as an important vehicle for teaching and learning.

Reading Art: Multiliteracies and History Education

“…Though my students may not have experienced the excitement of self-discovery through their encounter with aesthetics, they read the painting as a print text. Muliteracy equates print text to image text (Binder, 2011;Crafton, Silvers, & Brennan, 2009;Hagood, 2008;Leland & Harste, 1994;New London Group, 1996;Unsworth, 2008;Wright, 2007). Print is words, or a piece of reading in the traditional sense.…”

“…According to proponents of multiliteracies, print text is not the only text that can be read (Binder, 2011;Crafton et al, 2009;Hagood, 2008;Leland & Harste, 1994;New London Group, 1996;Unsworth, 2008;Wright, 2007). One can also read images (Binder, 2011;Cowan & Albers, 2006;Crafton et al, 2009;Hagood, 2008;Leland & Harste, 1994;New London Group, 1996;Unsworth, 2008;Wright, 2007). Reading is looking at a symbol or image and deriving meaning and understanding from it.…”

“…Art can best enhance history learning if seen through a multiliterate lens, as the goals of multiliteracies and history education are similar and have an interwoven process. When one looks at art through a multiliterate lens, this means that one sees art as a text that can be read and that one sees art as equitable to print text (Binder, 2011;Graham & Benson, 2010;Hagood, 2008;New London Group, 1996;Unsworth, 2008;Wright, 2007). One is reading when one analyzes art for historical purposes, such as historical understanding and historical thinking.…”

Bringing the Arts to the Everyday Lived Experiences of Young Children

“…Artistic expression provides openings for spiritual discussions to become visible as part of the process and validates the search for meaning and understanding of the mystery of being. (Binder, 2016, p. 295) The arts as a way of being and doing in the teaching and learning of young children, offer a more holistic approach in establishing mindful and creative spaces through mind, body, and soul connection (Bentley, 2013;Binder, 2011, Binder & Kostopolous, 2010McArdle & Boldt, 2013;Miller, 2007). According to Steele (as cited in Binder, 2017), there is an aesthetic energy, the emotional connection one makes to a work of art observed, from the one who creates or the viewer.…”

“…The opportunities to not only observe and experience some of these art forms opened my eyes to how many of the art forms functioned and were woven together historically and spiritually in the Balinese culture. This rich experience offered important insights into the interconnection between the arts as a paradigm that shapes culture and identity; informing the importance of the arts as part of the everyday of young children's experiences through different modes of meaning-making (Binder, 2011). Such cultural and artistic experiential understandings offer implications for change when working with children from diverse populations, including Indigenous populations in Canada (Archibald, 2008;Dion, 2009;Kelly, 2016).…”