Multiple Interpretations of Child Art–The Importance of Context and Perspective

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Research mapping out children’s artistic development has largely followed what Wilson (1997a) has termed a modernist framework in which standardized rating scales are used to uncover universal laws of drawing development. This article researches the interpretation of children’s artwork from a postmodern framework and addresses how aesthetic values shape the way art is conceptualized. A viewer centric analysis focuses on case studies of masks created by 10–11-year-old children in an English Year 6 art lesson. A qualitative thematic analysis is utilized to examine the interpretation of the masks from the perspective of the child who created the mask, the teacher who took the art lesson, the researcher, and a professional artist. An exploration of multiple perspectives presents the interpretation of children’s art as socially constructed concept; that is, an active, context dependent activity which raises questions for the use of objective rating scales in this area.