WHAT CHILDREN MAKE OF THINGS AND WHAT WE MAKE OF THEM PROCESS, INTENTION & INTUITION IN THE VISUAL WORKS OF YOUNG CHILDREN & THE ADULT ARTIST

The thesis is in two parts: the first is an empirical and philosophical investigation of children's drawing practices, with particular reference to an interpretation of the work of Georges-Henri Luquet 1876 – 1965. Luquet's work is interrogated first by additional empirical evidence, and second by drawing philosophical resources from both Bergson, and from the phenomenological tradition. The second part of this thesis is a body of work, which explores types of process (some of which are derived from observations of children's processes), through experimentation in my own Fine Art practice; and reflection upon its development and significance is found throughout the written thesis, but especially in Chapter 3. Additional empirical evidence, documentation, and papers on both parts, are found in the
Appendix and in an exhibition timed to coincide with the doctoral examination.
The first chapter both presents and critically examines the elements Luquet identified of 'intention', 'interpretation', 'the type', 'the internal model' and 'predilection' in relation to attention and intentionality. Luquet's analysis and observations will be used to construct an initial model of process, which is critically re-examined and expanded in Chapter 2 through a historical revision of process in Fine Art and analyses of material made by children spontaneously and without instruction using found materials.
Chapter 3 is comprised of a series of reflections on series in my own practice, and experiments derived from the taxonomy of processes constructed from analysis of the material presented in Chapter 2. It raises questions about the nature of certain types of intuition and attention, which are then discussed in Chapter 4 through examining the relation between attention and intentionality, and 'categorical intuition' as defined by Husserl. Luquet's term Circumspection will be compared with Heidegger's use of the term (Umsicht),in Being and Time, and reference will be made to the later development of Heidegger's thought in 'The Origin of the Work of Art', in particular the concepts of Ereignis and Gelassenheit. A fully revised model of process is proposed at the end of Chapter 4. It will be argued that the questions raised can only be answered if at all, through our embodied relation with the world via late Husserl, and Merleau-Ponty's concepts of operative intentionality; the practical cogito; and the pre-cognitive realm. The Conclusion presents the findings of the enquiry, what Phenomenology has brought to it, and directions for future research.