Visual Expressions of Beauty and Ugliness in Adolescent Art

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ETA 9 (2) pp. 155–171 Intellect Limited 2013

International Journal of Education through Art Volume 9 Number 2

© 2013 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/eta.9.2.155_1

Keywords

adolescent artvisual languageself expression

AndreA KárpátiELTE University, Hungary

LisA KAyTemple University, USA

Visual expression

of Beauty and Ugliness

in Adolescent Art

ABstrAct

In this article, we present preliminary findings of a cross-cultural pilot study undertaken on the common borders of education and therapy through art. We exam-ine images of beauty and ugliness drawn by adolescents in Hungary and the United States. Using beautiful and ugly drawing tasks as a personality test was first devel-oped by researchers at an interactive digital testing site in Hungary. However, this method had not been used as a research tool, so with the developers’ permission, a small pilot was performed to facilitate standardization of the task. The described research method is especially useful for adolescents and young adults whose verbal communication is richly supplemented by their creative imagery. Our analysis focused on themes, emotional responses in the drawings, which are vital signs that express adolescents’ perceptions about the two extreme aesthetic experiences. The use of the Ugly and Beautiful Image Task (UBIT) as an educational and therapeutic assessment tool is also addressed.

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Andrea Kárpáti | Lisa Kay

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KULcsszAVAK

kamasz-rajzvizuális nyelvénkifejezés

ABsztrAKt

A tanulmány egy kultúraközi összehasonlító vizsgálat elso eredményeit tartalmazza, amely a muvészetterápia és a vizuális nevelés közös határain mozog. Magyar kamas-zok alkotásait hasonlítjuk össze, akik a szépség és a rútság fogalmát próbálták meg kife-jezni képi eszközökkel. A két ellentétes minoség megjelenítését pszichológiai tesztként alkalmazták eloször a Psychogalaxy weboldalt megalkotó kutatók. Korábban ezt a feladatot kutatási célra még nem alkalmazták. A fejleszto k engedélyével egy kismintás pilot kísérletet végeztünk, amelyben a feladat értékelési rendszerének finomításához kívántunk hozzájárulni. A vizsgálati módszer különösen hasznos kamaszok és fiatal felno ttek esetében, akiknek a szóbeli kommunikációját gazdag információs háttér-rel egészíti ki kreatív képi közléseik. Elemzésünkben a rajzok témáival és az alkotók érzelmi reakcióival foglalkoztunk, melyekbo l kitunik, hogyan vélekednek az esztétikai ellentét-párról. Írásunk végén a Rút és Szép Képalkotó Feladat (RSZKF) pedagógiai és muvészetterápiás alkalmazási lehetoségeit is felvetjük.

the reseArch context

Art education and art therapy seem to have more and more common concerns in the twenty-first century. Professionals rely on the expressive potentials and healing power of visual expression and benefit from the insights of both. In some countries, art education curricula include methods adapted from therapy that may enrich the educational potentials of art education (Uhl Skrivanova 2011). The purpose of this article is to report on a pilot study using drawn images of beauty and ugliness to better understand visualization processes of these emotionally challenging concepts and reveal individual/ cross-cultural symbol systems in four groups of adolescent students in the United States and Hungary. The Ugly and Beautiful Image Task (UBIT) creative, self- expressive drawing method for children and adolescents presented in this article offers educators and therapists opportunities to observe motives, themes and compositions of visual language that may provide useful insights for classroom lesson planning and treatment intervention purposes.

One of the authors of this article introduced the UBIT drawing task during a presentation to the Graduate Art Therapy Students at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where the other author was on faculty. This procedure was first presented as a drawing task on Psychogalaxy, which is an interac-tive digital personality testing site developed by Zoltán Vass and his research team at the Association for the Study of Creative Expression in Hungary. (Vass, 2011). The procedure had not been used as a research tool, so we conceptualized a small pilot and, with the developers’ permission, performed the first international pilot to facilitate standardization of the task. Each of us selected two sites in our home countries to test the drawing task.

cULtUrAL And psychoLogicAL interpretAtions of meAning in the VisUAL Arts

In art history and aesthetics, the study of ugliness and beauty is part of stylistic analyses and iconographic interpretations. Umberto Eco (2004) compiled two collections of images that represent changing concepts of appealing and repul-sive content and form in painting and sculpture. Eco showed the immense role culture plays in both the creation and perception of beauty and ugliness. He also indicated how content influences perception of form and how colours


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and shapes change their meaning and aesthetic value through a new interpre-tation influenced by the personal and social history, geographical location, or actual mood of the beholder or critic. His analytic method is a cross-cultural comparison, an approach that helps us understand the role of society in the interpretation of visual communication. A similar approach is taken in the UBIT, as a cross-cultural comparison of images and subsequent interpreta-tions of beauty and ugliness support the understanding of individual symbol systems.

Sigmund Freud ([1911] 1985) described the meaning of dreams in terms of the production, processing, and interpretation of visual signs and symbols. He theorized that hidden messages are conveyed in dream imagery and examined unconscious symbols as a way to understand and reveal his patients’ conflicts and problems. Carl Jung (1968) further elaborated this idea through the inter-pretation of symbolic feelings, actions and situations. He described the personal meaning of religious symbols, myths and archetypical images his clients experi-enced and showed the social role and the cultural context of the symbolization process. Jean Piaget (1955) discovered the process of symbolization in child-hood and introduced symbols as tools for the recollection and interpretation of reality. He analysed the symbolization capacity of individuals, pointed out the significance of symbolic play for learning, and realized the existence of the personal language of symbols. The projective tests used in psycho-diagnostics are based on his research. The UBIT may be perceived as a creative drawing task but may also be used as a supplement to psycho-diagnostic tests.

The meaning of child art has always been in the focus of art education research. Herbert Read’s (1954) ‘creative types’ and Victor Lowenfeld’s (1963) stages of creative and mental growth both refer to universal, culturally bound and individual components of child art. Both authors describe the development of the visual language of children as it evolves during the phases of biological growth, but they also mention the importance of researching culturally biased symbols to interpret the meaning behind the visual form of a drawing.

Rhoda Kellogg (1969) was among the first researchers to compare children’s images from all over the world. She focused on the evolution of form from the scribble and conscious composition to the random placement of visual elements and realized there were signs and symbols in a variety of cultures that often have different meanings although they appear to be the same (Kellogg et al., 1977). Brent Wilson’s (2003) Visual Narrative Task requires the production of a six-frame narrative drawing with a theme freely selected by the child. In Hungary, this task is employed both by art educators and art therapists because it shows worries as well as events that frighten, embarrass, excite or please children. In cross-cultural studies, the images influenced by local visual icons, customs or rules of representation are also observable (Wilson and Wilson 1987). The UBIT method presented in this aticle manifests a similar approach. A task that is intriguing for children and adolescents provides students an opportunity for self-expression and educators and therapists opportunities to observe motives, themes and compositions of visual language.

importAnce of symBoLizAtion in Art therApy And Art edUcAtion

Visual imagery, metaphor and symbolism are core components of art ther-apy and art education. Imagery is employed to stimulate creativity and imagination, memory and fantasy, and conscious awareness of feelings and



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ideas. Symbolization is critical for expression of cognitive representations. These ideas stem from the work of psychoanalysts, art therapists and psychologists. For example, S. Freud and J. Breuer (1955) used visual imagery to evoke repressed or forgotten memories. Jung (1966) encouraged the use of ‘active imagination’ as a technique to help patients access archetypal symbols in dreams and images as a form of visual expression. Similarly, Margaret Naumberg (1955, [1958] 1980) wrote about the use of clients’ spontaneous visual expression projected in imagery as a form of symbolic language, espe-cially in dreams, in art therapy. Rudolph Arnheim (1969) emphasized visual imagery and the processes of creating, visualizing and symbolizing as forms of cognition that enhance thinking. When language is difficult, whether due to emotional, cultural or developmental reasons, symbolization – the making or reading of visual images to represent another form – can improve communication, understanding, learning and development (Wilson 2001).

the UBit drAwing tAsK protocoL

The UBIT drawing task was adapted in the following manner. The UBIT drawings were administered individually or in small groups. Both the drawing tasks and the post-drawing interview took 40 minutes to complete. Drawing materials (regular and coloured pencils, markers and pastels) and white draw-ing paper were provided. These materials and themes offered participants the potential to engage in a creative task that used cognitive and emotional capaci-ties (Rubin 2005: 113). Drawing directives were as follows: Task 1: please draw something beautiful – something that you find appealing! Use colours you like. You may choose the theme; draw whatever comes to your mind. Please give an expressive title for the picture that explains what you aimed at present-ing and write it on the back of the paper. Task 2: now please draw something ugly – as ugly as you can! Use colours you like. You may choose the theme; draw whatever comes to your mind. Please think of an expressive title for the picture that explains what you aimed at presenting and write it on the back of the paper. Post interview questions: what can we see on the picture? Why is it beautiful/ugly? Why did you make these choices? How did you feel when you drew the beautiful/ugly drawing? Responses to questions were written by the researchers and repeated to the artist to check for accuracy. The drawings were analysed using criteria that focused on formal elements of art (the use of movement, space, colour and form), emotional tone, harmony/tension and personal drawing style. We decided to base some of the criteria in our study on the visual expression of beauty and ugliness because these formal charac-teristics include expressive means that contribute to the visualization of these abstract ideas.

the UBit piLot: settings And pArticipAnts

The drawings were collected in four school settings: two in the United States and two in Hungary that serve adolescents. This article presents the cross-cultural pilot study with a description of the method employed. The study was supported by the Fulbright Commission through research grants for the authors to work at Northern Illinois University, US, and at ELTE, Hungary, in 2009–2011. During their investigations of adolescent art, these authors realized that socially disadvantaged youth in both cultures tended to express emotional states (conflicts as well as happy moments) in visual forms much better than in any oral or written form of communication, which parallels



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a recent study of visual culture communities by K. Freedman et al. (2012) that also indicates the importance of visual expression of social problems in adolescent groups and points to the use of informal method of visualization in art education outside of school settings. The UBIT drawing protocol may have similar implications. Comparative studies like the pilot reported here show universal as well as local features of youth art and may contribute to a new theory of graphic development. Drawings of beauty and ugliness address ideas that are highly relevant to adolescents worldwide and thus can enable art educators to study the new, media saturated visual language of youth.

the AmericAn sAmpLe

The two American institutions were selected due to their accessibility and proximity to the researcher, who had previous clinical relationships with the social worker and director. Therefore, the drawings collected were samples of convenience. The students in both settings either attended an alternative school or regular public schools in a rural Midwestern community. Some students lived at home, while others lived in transitional shelters with their families. The students in the study had issues that included learning differences, relationship conflicts, social/emotional and psychological diffi-culties, behaviour and psychiatric disorders, and homelessness. The total American sample included sixteen students: eight males and eight females, ages 12–19, from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. The first American institution ( abbreviation in Table 1: AM 1) is an alternative school in a rural Midwestern town, which serves 130 students in Grades 7–12, ages 13–18. The AM1 sample included twelve students: six male and six female, ages 13–19. The students’ learning issues were complicated by social, emotion and behaviour problems. The twenty person staff included adminis-trators and office staff, regular teachers and a truancy officer. Art, an elective, was taught by a science teacher. Students volunteered to participate in the study; parental permission was obtained.

The second American institution (abbreviated in Table 1: AM 2) is an emer-gency shelter and transitional housing centre for families and youth in a rural Midwestern town. The shelter has a staff of 25. A total of 65 people, includ-ing families, live in the temporary housing for varied lengths of stay. The AM2 sample included four students: two male and two female, aged 12–18. School age residents in the shelter attend regular public school. There are no formal art classes offered in the shelter. Participation in the pilot study was voluntary.

the hUngAriAn sAmpLe

Two very different types of Hungarian schools were deliberately selected – one with students who have ‘problems’ (low socio-economic status, learn-ing differences and/or behaviour difficulties) and another with students who had fewer identified problems. Drawings were collected by Judit Bergmann, art educator. The first Hungarian institution (HU1) is a special primary school for the mentally and/or physically challenged students with behaviour and/or learning problems and/or psychiatric disorders. Many of them had been expelled from other institutions and were over-age for their grades. The HU1 sample included seven boys and five girls, aged 14–17 years.

The second school selected, HU2, is a secondary grammar school owned by the Hungarian Catholic Church and situated in a country town in the vicinity of Budapest. The HU2 sample included fourteen boys and seventeen



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girls, aged 13–14. The total Hungarian sample included 43 students: 21male and 24 female aged 13–17, from two cultural groups: the Hungarian majority and the Roma (Gypsy), the largest minority group that constitutes about one ninth of the population of the country.

The total sample included 59 students, aged 12–19. The multicultural diver-sity of the sample was enriched by selection of different cultural backgrounds of the families. Gender distribution is 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female. One third of the sample is American and two thirds are Hungarian. The table below shows the distribution of the American and Hungarian sample accord-ing to country, sex and age.

resULts And discUssion

Visual responses from the American sample

Preferred themes and symbols of beauty in the American sample were images representing family; spirituality and religion, like crosses and churches; and favourite objects related to sports and natural phenomena like butterflies, flow-ers and animals (Figure 1). Pictures with hearts, rainbows, suns and peaceful nature scenes (Figure 2) were prevalent and depicted in a stereotypical manner, which often appeared to be below the participants’ developmental levels. Some students’ drawings illustrated complex schemata and complete scenes of ‘beauty’, while others drew quick, simple and stylized graphic responses.

Preferred themes and symbols of ugliness in the American sample were images that represented fears (fire, monsters, spiders, clowns, natural disasters and death – Figure 3) or things they disliked (trash, pollution/toxic waste, war, drugs, cigarettes, alcoholism or homosexuality – Figure 4). Images were drawn in varied styles depending on developmental level, skill and talent, with the majority drawn in a simple, stereotypical and stylized. Attempts were made at realistic depictions of objects and themes; however, the majority of draw-ings appeared developmentally below age level at a schematic level. Some students drew scribbles and/or simply abstract lines to represent ‘ugly’ while others completed more complex renderings of realistic objects and scenes.

Due to the small number of American participants, sixteen, no generaliza-tions can be made in this sample. However, the following observations are of interest. First, some students drew stereotypical, stylized and concrete images

Country Male Female Age Ethnicity (%)

HU1 (special needs) 7 5 14–17 Hungarian Roma (20%)

HU2 (talent development school)

14 17 13–14 Hungarian (50%)

AM 1 (alternative school)

6 6 13–19 Latino (5%) and African American (5%)

AM 2 (homeless shelter)

2 2 12–18 Caucasian American (20%)

Total 59 29 30 12–19

Table 1: The distribution of the UBIT Pilot sample according to country, gender and age.



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Figure 2: The Park, beautiful drawing, American male, age 15.

such as rainbows and stuffed animals or spiders and scribbles to represent their perceptions of beauty and ugliness, while others drew their ideas through more complex metaphors and symbols. Second, there were differences in the effort student’s put forth on their drawings. Some students were quick to create their responses, while others invested considerable time and energy

Figure 1: Hearts and Flowers, beautiful drawing, American girl, age 16.



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to produce their drawings. The level of execution may be influenced by their drawing skills, visual vocabulary and/or their emotional maturity. However, all participants were able to depict their perceptions about ‘beautiful or ugly’ and describe their drawings during the post drawing interview. Finally, most students liked the task, especially creating the ugly drawings.

Figure 4: Toxic Waste, ugly drawing, American male, age 13.

Figure 3: Tornados, ugly drawing, American female, age 18.



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When presenting the directive, one of the students, Dante, listened and thought for a few minutes. Then he picked up a marker and, without a word, grinned and began to draw. Other students were surprised and asked, ‘You want me to draw something ugly? No one ever wants me to do that!’ Jereme questioned, ‘Is it really okay to make something ugly? I won’t get in trouble?’ This may be due to their age or to what is deemed acceptable content in schools and art classrooms – artwork that is pretty.

VisUAL responses from hUngAry

In UBIT, theme influenced style and also to some extent drawing level. Images of beauty and ugliness are depicted in a profoundly different manner by the adolescents of both Hungarian groups. Most ugly drawings were done in a speedy, sketchy manner, with fewer colours, stronger pencil strokes, and without regard to the rules of spatial representation. Ugly images were usually black or red, always in contrast with the surroundings, not too elaborate, but were recognizable. Non-representational drawings were mostly those that depicted ‘ugly’ moods. Body language accompanying ugly drawings showed dissatisfaction and anger. ‘Ugly’ drawings often depicted repulsive animals that cause anxiety, even during depiction. Several drawings show ‘nothing’ and ‘darkness’ – an interpretation of passing out, even dying, when the world drifts away at a frightful speed. People with strange looks – an old lady with artificial teeth, a boy with dentures – are represented in the few sheets that do not show aggression.

In the first Hungarian school, HU1, many adolescents considered the task an invitation to be aggressive. Some students even yelled and gestured while drawing. Others did not act it out, but they depicted aggressive scenes, mostly from the angle of the victim. None of the scenes showed anything fantastic; no fantasies or crime scenes from comic books were imitated. All ugly scenes came from real life. Preferred themes for symbols of ugliness included

Figure 5: Ugly drawing, Hungarian Roma boy, age 14.



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expressions of darkness, sexual symbols (penis) and rude (sexual) expressions (sometimes in Roma language), funny or ugly persons (e.g. a woman with braces on her teeth or a boy from the class), or animals usually associated with ugliness (e.g. a pig).

In HU2, ugly images came from popular youth culture and literature and were depicted in a more detached mood. Apparently, these children seemed to have much less anger and frustration to elaborate. The task of the UBIT clearly provoked emotions that were normally expressed through aggressive





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acts. But in the context of the art studio, where the ‘opponent’ is the paper only, the produced image provoked more anger and discontent.

The researcher observed a definite change in attitudes, motivation and interests between the two drawing tasks. Depicting beauty seemed to be a self-rewarding activity. While the first topic brought forth sad memories, the second topic had a soothing effect. When drawing something beautiful, the

Figure 8: Beautiful drawing, Hungarian Roma girl, age 16.

Figure 9: Beautiful drawing, Hungarian girl, age 16.

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use of a pencil was more sophisticated, the lines were calm and gentle, and the details were elaborate. Words were added to express positive emotions and were embellished to add to the decorative quality of the image.

In the Roma minority school (HU1), socially disadvantaged and mentally and/or physically challenged Hungarian students surpassed their everyday visual language and engaged in a long process of depicting beauty. In HU1, even those boys who intended to provoke a conflict with their ugly image handed in their concept of beauty with a shy smile or a friendly murmur. In HU2, on the other hand, this second task was perceived as an exercise in the aesthetics of rendering. Beauty was not a special phenomenon in their lives. While they experienced the ugly drawing task as an emotional turmoil, the group, especially the girls, depicted something beautiful as an opportunity to show their drawing skills. Preferred themes for the symbols of beauty were similar for both groups: a rainbow, flowers, stars, graffiti, self-portrait, hearts, landscapes, favourite animals (a dog), a young/ beautiful woman, houses, tree, heart, favourite things or religious symbols.

For HU2, the task was a technical challenge – one that they might encoun-ter with success; for HU1, it was an opportunity for self-expression. However, the drawing level of HU2 adolescents was also significantly better for the ‘beauty’ task. The images were balanced, symmetric and represented an effort to represent harmony. Thus, the two tasks together provided an authentic documentation of drawing skills – technical as well as expressive.

simiLArities And differences Between UgLy And BeAUtifUL drAwings in the two cULtUres

The number of drawings collected from the four sites does not allow for in-depth cross-cultural comparison. However, previous studies show similari-ties in the visual language of European and American youth subcultures (e.g. Polhemus 1996, Kárpáti and Kovács 1997), so it seems appropriate to note some observations based on drawings of the groups. Colour choices were similar in the creation of beautiful drawings in samples from both countries. While ugly drawings were often created with a limited palette of colours: grey, brown, red and/or black, the colour scheme for beautiful drawings was bright and varied. Often a full spectrum of primary and secondary colours was used by students in both cultures. Some of the images of the adolescents are clichés: motifs or compositions adapted from the media or derived from the work of peers. For example, a cloud of hearts, bunches of flowers, a starry sky or the face of a pretty young woman for beauty, aggressively scratched scribbles, a clown, a hand sign or a weird face of a man ready to fight for ugliness. Media influence is observable in the works of both American and Hungarian adolescents. We live in a global media village where the expres-sion of emotions is most often filtered through images of similar meaning encountered in the media. Therefore, it is not surprising that cliché-like solu-tions come up in the UBIT task, but in most instances, we witnessed the indi-vidualization of media schemes.

Stereotypic responses may also be due to other factors. First, artwork may appear stereotypic due to psychological or emotional causes. During times of stress, adolescents may regress to earlier developmental stages and create images that appear more conventional (Rubin 2005). That is why we could observe scribbling, tadpole figures, incomplete representations of objects or compositional structures typically observable in the drawings of young



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children. Second, adolescents’ selection and use of signs and symbols is strongly affected by subculture related preferences (cf. Freedman et al. 2012). Research found that adolescents in different countries use stereotypical images from the media that they adapt to their own expressive needs to show their individual feelings. Therefore, personal and cultural stereotypical images in adolescents’ visual language are an important consideration for both the art educator and the art therapist.

More similarities between the four adolescent pilot groups were noted in the beautiful images and themes than in the ugly drawings. In both groups, images of hearts, flowers, people, houses, rainbows, favourite material culture objects and religious signs/symbols were drawn. In the ugly drawings, both groups represented funny looking or ugly people. Sexual images and expres-sions were represented in HU1, the socially disadvantaged Hungarian sample, but not in the overall American sample; while symbols of destruction, war and violence were represented in the American sample but not in the Hungarian sample.

In the American sample, drawings were administered individually and in small groups of two or three. In the Hungarian sample, drawings were completed in whole classroom groups. Drawing in the presence of peers and post drawing interviews in groups may have influenced the outcome of the UBIT drawings.

impLicAtions of the stUdy: the roLe of symBoLizAtion drAwings in BUiLding connections Between Art therApy And Art edUcAtion

The role of symbolization in adolescence can be ambiguous. Adolescents can both hide personal messages and reveal themselves to those who ‘speak’ the same symbolic language. Images of ugliness and beauty seemed to offer the socially disadvantaged adolescents in this pilot a method to express themselves using visual language and symbols and to communicate through metaphor and direct dialogue. Visual symbols provided a means of expression that may be understood by those aware of the unique iconography in their drawings. Drawings were supplemented by conversations during the post drawing interview about students’ visual expressions – their meaning, moods, ideas, memories, associations and perspectives. The students entered this dialogue not as a ‘patient’, a victim or an aggressor, but as an artist whose work was discussed in terms of tranquillity and anger, happiness and sorrow, beauty and ugliness. For educators and therapists, the symbolic images in the UBIT drawings offer an opportunity to challenge stereotypes and negative attitudes, if needed, to encourage understanding; and to promote healing.

Educating adolescents in visual arts means in many countries reaching the unreached. Compulsory art education at schools most often finishes after the age of 12, although the need for visual expression reaches new heights with teenagers (National Guild for Community Art Education 2010). One of the main issues in adolescent art education is finding themes for expression that are authentic (relevant for the lives of the students) and empowering (promoting visual expression and developing skills and abilities) at the same time (Smith 2000). Representation of beauty and ugliness seems to be an appropriate tool for engaging youth in authentic visual expression, which may also reveal social or behavioural concerns. Other research using UBIT and similar methods of visual expression (the so-called ‘Five Drawing Tasks for



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the Study of Aggressive Behaviour’) with Roma youth in Hungary was found beneficial for revealing behaviour problems not expressed verbally by socially disadvantaged students. The study that invited adolescents to complete a series of symbolic images illustrating the story of a quest showed that expres-sive drawing tasks may gather information on value systems and conflicts and thus provide a method of developmental assessment for art education (Schönau in press) and a diagnostic tool for art therapy (Bergmann 2013). Thus, creative tools such as this drawing sequence and UBIT assist in the identification of emotional and behavioural concerns without stigmatizing the person under study. Both methods are especially important in adolescent communities at risk.

piLot stUdy oUtcomes

In the UBIT pilot study, the drawing protocol initially designed by Hungarian Creative Expression Research Group was adapted. Our interest was to test the procedure. Simple directions, basic materials, themes of beauty and ugliness engaged the students. Both drawing tasks offered many of the adolescents in this pilot a way to express themselves symbolically and metaphorically through visual language and to communicate verbally through direct dialogue. Researchers in both countries studied drawings with regard to approaching to the drawing task, themes, emotional responses and vital signs that the adolescents expressed about their perceptions of the two extreme aesthetic experiences. We were surprised how much students enjoyed the task and the ease with which they shared their personal topics, concerns, thoughts and feelings – a trait adolescents do not normally exhibit. While the opportuni-ties for visual and verbal expression were positive after conducting this pilot and testing the drawing procedure, we learned that the criteria for assessment were not as effective. Clearer guidelines for analysis are needed. In further research efforts, it will be helpful to revise the evaluation criteria.

perspectiVes of the UsefULness of UBit for Art edUcAtion And Art therApy

Art education and art therapy have shared concerns and roles in understand-ing and nurturing youth, which requires unique and innovative approaches to communication. Using UBIT drawings can be particularly advantageous. The drawing series is useful in fostering a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere for art making. The UBIT is relatively easy and quick to administer and can serve as a visual interview that encourages self-disclosure and self-expression. Both the drawing tasks and the subsequent interview questions help establish trust between art teacher or art therapist and students and encourage a range of personal expressions. The art teacher may inspire a series of expressive drawings and their explanations, while the art therapist may use drawings in assessment, treatment planning or in developing group art therapy sessions.

Students can express their personal perceptions about the two extreme aesthetic experiences of beauty and ugliness while simultaneously dealing with social and emotional concerns. Art teachers might consider using both drawings as themes for lessons to critique social concerns in the classroom. Making ugly artefacts, like ‘ugly dolls’, and explaining what makes them appalling could be one possibility for confronting visual metaphors associ-ated with uneasy emotional states. Discussing a world press photo exhibition with powerful representations of ‘ugly’ images may result in the acceptance of



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a different aesthetic credo. Learning to appreciate artwork that is difficult to enjoy because of its unfamiliar style or finding beauty in images perceived as repulsive may help students appreciate cultures different from their own.

Art therapists could expand the beautiful and ugly drawing task and use students’ verbal responses and associations during the interviews like happy/sad or good/bad as themes for adolescent art therapy groups. Students might collab-orate on paintings, collages, murals or sculptures to creatively interrogate these dichotomies. Both the process and discussion about the art products can explore themes more deeply and be fruitful therapeutically. To provide information about students for assessment and treatment planning, art therapists could employ the UBIT as a projective drawing task. However, if used diagnostically in this way, more research is needed with larger samples to test for validity and reliability.

The UBIT can be adapted to specific contexts. Students can create spon-taneously and associate freely to their drawings as potential catalysts for in-depth discussion about troubling and/or uplifting emotions and thoughts. The UBIT has utility as both an educational and therapeutic tool because it can bring social and personal issues to the forefront, which can be critically examined and discussed through continued art making and dialogue in the art classroom or therapeutic context.

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sUggested citAtion

Kárpáti, A. and Kay, L. (2013), ‘Visual Expression of Beauty and Ugliness in Adolescent Art’, International Journal of Education through Art 9: 2, pp. 155–171, doi: 10.1386/eta.9.2.155_1

contriBUtor detAiLs

This is a true co-authored work with equal contributions from each of us and no first author. The order in which we list authors is based on a rotation we use in our collaborations on publications.

Andrea Kárpáti is Professor and UNESCO Chairholder at Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Science. Her publications include 23 books and about 90 studies in five languages on creative and perceptive visual skills, cultural characteristics of the visual language of youth, ICT in education, and digital literacy. She is recipient of the Ziegfield Award. She served two terms as Vice President of InSEA, 1990–95, and as Executive Committee member of EARLI (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction), 2001–2006.

Contact: ELTE University, Faculty of Science, UNESCO Chair for Multimedia in Education, H-1117 Budapest, Pázmány sétány 1/a, Hungary.E-mail: [email protected]

Lisa Kay is Assistant Professor, Art Education and Community Arts Practices, Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She is an artist/researcher, art educa-tor, and art therapist whose work bridges art education and art therapy. Her current research examines resilience and art making with adolescent girls who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, including trauma. She serves on the board of the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University and the Research Committee of the American Art Therapy Association.

Contact: Tyler School of Art, Temple University, 2001 N. 13th Street, B090J, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.E-mail: [email protected]

Andrea Kárpáti and Lisa Kay have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.


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