LEARNING OUTCOMES

The activity of the Image Education laboratory focuses on two interconnected moments, one theoretical, the other practical. With the theoretical phase we intend to investigate the concept of image in its broadest sense, thus understanding Gestalt that go beyond the concept of visual art. With the practical phase, the ideas developed through manual experience are given substance with the production of creative material of a graphic, pictorial and plastic type. It is with this dimension of the image that we have to confront, that is to pay attention to the concept of 'image' separate from that of 'art', thus excluding judgments of both aesthetic and formal value. Our goal is not to train artists or art critics but to formulate logical bases for understanding the learning processes of children through the language of drawing. Then acquire a critical awareness that allows us to work with consciousness to design image education courses for both kindergarten and primary school.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

For artistic education it has always been considered the learning of drawing, painting, construction and other techniques to learn also to express one's feelings as well as to know in a more detailed way the panorama of Cultural Heritage.

Today we more properly intend to investigate the meaning of education to the image, because "image" is, or has become, a larger and more comprehensive concept of what "art" is.

The contemporary language of visual art has taken on such a wide and diverse dimension, beyond any rule and code, that any aspect of mass creative production has the license to be able to define itself as artistic.

For clarity with respect to the poetic, philosophical, stylistic and historical content of the art product it is, from the critical point of view, more correct to talk abut image, as this concept does not have the aesthetic and ethical implications it has, or should have , the art.

It is with this dimension of the image that we must confront ourselves; a form that contemplates art and something else that art is not, therefore a concept that considers objects dealing with art as it has always been understood but also something that differs from this definition.

We therefore think of visual communications that refer to functional values such as advertising or signs that enter into everyday linguistic jargon without aesthetic or ethical value but valid in terms of communication.

In short we can say that when we refer to the image as an art we are expressing a  judgment value, whereas considering the image as an abstract concept that visualizes a form, whatever it may be, we can avoid expressing aesthetic or poetic or ethical judgments .

The student's learning must therefore highlight a critical conscience that allows him to read the images in their most objective value and the ability to arouse, with their use, a communication that contemplates both the objective and emotional aspects of its content, this in order to develop the logical-cognitive abilities of their future students.

TEACHING METHODS

Classroom lessons, with connection in Teams for those who cannot be present, with the use of PCs for projection of cards with Power point program.

Classroom activities for the production of manual graphic experiences for the construction of didactic images with the use of graphic-pictorial material.

Production of an essay of about 30 pages, through the critical processing of images belonging to one's personal experiences.

•    “Students with DSA, disability or other special educational needs are recommended to contact the professor at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and exam methods which, according to the course’s objectives, take into account the modalities individual learning and provide suitable compensatory tools”

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The lessons will be held in the presence, in a classroom suitable for a group of 25 people respecting the health indications following the Covid 19. Therefore some activities will be carried out with the changes relating to the contingent situation.

The activity of the Image Education laboratory focuses on two distinct but interconnected moments, one theoretical, the other practical.

With the theoretical phase we intend to investigate the concept of image in its broadest sense, thus understanding Gestalt that go beyond the concept of visual art according to traditional canons; this through the study and comparison of the signs of rock art, children's drawing, the art of madness and the expressive methods of contemporary art.

With the practical phase we want to give substance to the ideas developed through the effective manual experience with the production of creative material of a graphic, pictorial and plastic type both within the laboratory and with possible stages in educational workshops present in some city museums.

The program is spread over four meetings of 4 hours each.

1- U.D. Meaning of the L.E.I. and setting up the work on the image.

Art and image, connections and differences. Comparisons and considerations on the image and its meaning in relation to the concept of art.

The total image.

Practical theoretical indications on the construction of a book of meaningful images and their critical definition.  On the basis of this work, the students' evaluation will be partially formulated.

 The importance of drawing in the evolution of the child.

The stadial theories. Luquet, Lowenfwld and Brittain.

Practical phase:

1- self-portrait with pen, time 10 '. on A4 sheet

2-. self-portrait with an unusual hand, in pen, time 10 '. on A4 sheet

3- self-portrait with eyes closed, with pen, time 10 '. on A4 sheet

4- cut-out in strips max 1 cm wide of the drawings made previously and recomposition on A3 sheet of your self-portrait by joining, optionally, the strips produced by the cut-out of the three drawings made.

2- U.D. The drawing of children in their physical and psychic development. The stages of development and their representations in kindergarten and primary school.

Kellogg's "aesthetic-formal" school, comparisons with Lowenfeld's "psycho-creative" school.

The birth of culture and conceptuality in the graffiti of homo sapiens.

Considerations on the sign and the form through comparisons between the stadial theories of Kellog and the proposals of Anati and Leroi-Gourhan.

Pictograms, ideograms, psychograms and mythograms. The tale of graffiti.

Practical phase.

a-: for primary: La Chimera. The complex image. The concept of Chimera; association between man and animal in children's and paleolithic drawings. Anthropozoomorphic elements to be reconstructed in a visual representation using collage and mixed media.

b-for childhood: description of two zoomorphic anthropomorphic fantastic characters, one positive and one negative, defining them with a name appropriate to their characteristics.

Drawing composed of graphic stroke and collage of different elements providing children with only black and primary colors. (yellow, red and blue).

3- U.D. The creativity factor in the drawing of the sick. Psycho-projective tests as a method of observation of infantile expression.

Self-reflection and care related to the release of energies through the creative act. Considerations on the psychopathological sign. Art Brut.

Comparisons with elements of the language of modern art.

  Practical phase. Personal verification of projective tests.

a- for primary: two ex. of your choice

1- the rebus as a verbovisual language.

The game of metaphors:

2- drawing of a tree as if it were me, my father, my mother, my brother / sister.

b- for childhood:

1-choose 10 different types of fruit and draw them as they remember, without copying them.

-compose a human figure using only the drawn fruits as basic elements. (Arcimboldo technique).

 4- U.D. Modern and contemporary art; its birth as a liberation from canons and official rules. The new materials, new senses and meanings of the work. The new languages.

Practical phase: Works related to the different languages ​​of contemporary art.

1-Group work on the drawing shown by the shadows projected on 70 x 100 cm sheets.

2-Description of an intervention project in the environment suggested by different groups.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

These are the recommended reference texts, although some are out of print. In my lecture notes, which I will publish after the lecture, a summary of the concepts elaborated by the cited authors can be found.

As for Munari and Dorfles, republished, the acquisition is suggested.

L’arte dei folli e l’arte irregolare ,G. Mangiapane, A.M. Pecci, V. Porcellana (a cura di) Arte dei margini. Collezioni di Art Brut, creatività relazionale, educazione alla differenza. Milano : Franco Angeli, 2013.

E. Anati, Le radici della cultura, Jaca Book 1992.

E. Anati, Origini dell’Arte e della Concettualità. Jaca Book, 1988.

A. Leroi-Gourhan, Le radici del mondo, Jaca Book, 1983

Wiktor Lowenfeld, W. Lambert Brittan

Creatività e sviluppo mentale, Ed. Giunti Barbera 1984

Claire Golomb, L’arte dei bambini, R. Cortina Ed., Milano 2004

R. Kellogg  Analisi dell’arte infantile, Il Punto Emme edizioni. 1979, Milano.

Gillo Dorfles, Il divenire delle arti, Reprints Einaudi,1975, Torino.

Gillo Dorfles Fatti e Fattoidi,  Gli pseudoeventi nell’arte e nella società, Neri Pozzi 1997,Vicenza.

AA.VV. Manuale di disegno infantile. Vecchie e nuove prospettive in ambito educativo e psicologico. UTET

97, Vicenza.