Visualisation and art articulation of high school students

When a child enters adolescent age, his or her art development is coming to an end. That is, in this period their wish for expression in the field of art is dwindling, however, at the same time the wish for individual visual expression becomes stronger and often also the tendency for clichéd artistic representation. Using an appropriate teaching method and especially through transposition and alternative techniques, the teacher can succeed in greatly boosting the imagination of young people guiding them towards seeking their own original ideas and artistic solutions. The objective of the research was to study the aforementioned methods of art expressiveness with the help of visualisation that have not yet been properly scientifically verified. On the basis of selected verbal stimuli the high school students consciously formed visual representations in their minds while keeping their eyes closed. Within these visual representation they seek creative artistic solutions, which express their personal traits and artistic (aesthetic) sense. Due to specific characteristics the visualisation also contributes to deep relaxation and eases the emotional tensions typical of youths. To reach the objectives and the set hypotheses we used a quantitative research approach following the pedagogical experiment method. In addition, we used a quality approach since we conducted quality analysis of the high school students’ artworks and their responses to the essay survey questions. The research confirmed the general hypothesis that artworks which the high school students produced using visualisation would prove more original than the artworks created using no such method. Moreover, artworks would exhibit greater flexibility and sensitivity of students with regard to artistic expression. Through visualisation the students have developed a more positive attitude towards visual expression as compared with visual expression achieved in a traditional way. The research has shown statistically significant differences within the results of artworks of both compared groups with regard to originality, flexibility and sensitivity of visual expression. The group which used the visualisation method when creating artworks also showed a different attitude towards visual expression. The quality analysis of artworks has also shown elements which are particularly noticeable when using visualisation. The research identified the role of visualisation in the field of visual art didactics in a clearer way offering new possibilities of encouraging individual visual expression of youths and new methods of teaching visual art