Abstract :
The origin of this article is an investigation of an
academic course, Graphic Arts and Design for
students of natural and social sciences. The article
describes the benefits of attending the class
for the science students, which were an
increased ability to solve problems, new and
different ways to observe the environment,
greater self confidence, and a higher understanding
and valuing of the working process. The
participants considered that the artistic activities
affected their academic courses since the exercises
were seen as creative and meaningful,
which led to a changed attitude towards their
studies. The exercises developed a comprehensive
view and an ability to concentrate, which
were conducive to problem solving. The article
compares the process of drawing with the cognitive
approach of philosophical pragmatism
described by Charles Peirce and John Dewey.
Michael Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowing and
some theories on the function of metaphors are
also discussed in relation to some concrete
pedagogical examples.
The connections or transfer effects between
artistic skills and academic understanding have
been the subject of pedagogy and research in a
lot of articles. Eliot Eisner, for instance, asked in
this journal for a theory that links experience in
the arts with academic achievement [1].
As an architect and a lecturer and researcher
at the Department of Urban and Rural Development,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
in Uppsala, I have since 1994 been giving classes
in Graphic Arts and Design for students in natural
and social sciences. Since I have observed and
defined connections of the kind Eisner seeks, I
would now like to pick up the relay race baton and
further pursue Eisner’s idea. My contribution
toward integrating a theory of knowledge and
artistic experience is an exploration of the following
claim:
Creating a picture enables the transformation of
imagination into a concrete object. This does not
indicate a depiction of an idea, but a direction of
imagination into an articulation in a form other than
verbal expressions. The picture shows a moment
in the ongoing process of imagination. The act of
drawing transforms hitherto unarticulated forms of
experience into non-verbal artefacts that invite
reflection. The reasoning for this is this: We usually
try to make sense of a confusing situation by turning
to old and familiar categories. It is by overcoming
the resistance to leave these categories we can
reach new insights or knowledge. The range of
imagination increases and, with more alternatives
at hand and an enhanced ability to formulate and
solve problems, the world appears more complex.
The act of drawing can fulfill this role, since drawing
often connects seemingly incompatible categories
of experience, and through this act the world
is being articulated in new shapes. Such a process
entails that when the world is accepted in a new
articulation, knowledge has grown and the relation
to the world has changed.
This article will compare the process of drawing
with the cognitive approach of philosophical
pragmatism described by Charles Peirce and
John Dewey, Michael Polanyi’s concept of tacit
knowing and some theories on the function of
metaphors and it will present some concrete
pedagogical examples. To make clear that this article focus on the process of making a picture
or an artefact, not the result of making it, I will
hereafter use the concept ‘pictorial process’.
