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Let's Talk: An Art Dialogue with Young Children from 3 to 5
A research project presented at the National Art Education Association Convention in Los Angeles, California, March 31-April 4, 2000.

The focus of this study was to design and create a child-centered art curriculum that introduces young children to work of art and encourages them to express their feelings. This research was conducted by providing hands-on studio activities, looking and talking about two artists' works, and offering two field trips that one at an artist's studio and another at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. As a qualitative case study, the significance of this research were to engage an art dialogue between the artwork and children, and to record intriguing stories of children's personal expression toward their own artworks. The limitation of this study was the unpredictable events that might happen anytime during the preschool daily activities, which might intervened the proceeding of an art dialogue. The results of this study were based on 10 weeks of observation data at the A. Sophie Rogers Lab School at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, which indicated:

  • Young children could response well to an artwork and their own work of art by using their imagination, fantasy, living experience, and interactive social behavior with other children.
  • Young children could attend an art tour in an art museum and have good responses during and after the trip especially by asking good questions to engage the conversation and providing comfortable interactive environment.
  • Young children would be able to integrate hands-on activities and field trip experiences into their daily art creation process.

The conclusions of this study were the value of a child-centered art curriculum, which would inspire young children to explore different ways of art creation, and expand their thinking and imagination to the unlimited world of art.

Children's Artwork:

* Click on an image to see a larger picture

Visit an Artist Studio:

* Click on an image to see a larger picture

Visit the Wexner Center of the Arts:

* Click on an image to see a larger picture

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