Abstract
When photography was widely introduced as a tool for documentation, the art of mimetic drawing was challenged as a main activity in art education. This raised the question: Why bother with mimetic drawing in art classes when any object, person or event can be documented with a camera? The question of mimesis in painting and drawing existed long before the introduction of cameras, and it raised philosophical questions in relation to the ideals of pictorial representations. This paper problematises some issues that have constructed a counterproductive contradiction when it comes to training mimetic drawing in general art and design education. This topic relates to stakeholders with agendas for art education, which in some ways is different from the agendas held by stakeholders within design education. The issue of training mimetic drawing in primary and lower secondary education is seen as part of building design literacy as a future competence for all.
Keywords
visualisation, mimetic drawing, design education, design literacy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.103
Citation
Nielsen, L.M.(2013) Visualising ideas: a camera is not enough, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.103
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Visualising ideas: a camera is not enough
When photography was widely introduced as a tool for documentation, the art of mimetic drawing was challenged as a main activity in art education. This raised the question: Why bother with mimetic drawing in art classes when any object, person or event can be documented with a camera? The question of mimesis in painting and drawing existed long before the introduction of cameras, and it raised philosophical questions in relation to the ideals of pictorial representations. This paper problematises some issues that have constructed a counterproductive contradiction when it comes to training mimetic drawing in general art and design education. This topic relates to stakeholders with agendas for art education, which in some ways is different from the agendas held by stakeholders within design education. The issue of training mimetic drawing in primary and lower secondary education is seen as part of building design literacy as a future competence for all.