“Semiotics and the Study and Teaching of Drawing”
Seymour Simmons, III, Ed.D. Associate Professor of Fine Arts, Winthrop University.
Once the unassailable foundation for professional preparation in art and design, drawing
instruction has suffered more than half a century of abuse and neglect. Initially, the cause
was modernism’s rejection of “realistic” representation and other academic traditions
within which drawing was paramount. More recently, the digital revolution, especially in
architecture and design, has made sketching and hand rendering seem anachronistic, thus
prompting some to ask the ultimate question: “Is drawing dead?” (Yale, 2012)
Fortunately, for now at least, the answer is still “No!” Many designers and architects
continue to value hand drawing for ideation and communication, while, in fine arts, the
postmodernist revival of figurative imagery has helped keep drawing alive both in
schools of art and in K12 art education. Even so, another question remains to be
answered: what philosophy will guide drawing instruction in the 21st century? Will it be
an “anything goes” attitude reflecting the unprecedented pluralism of contemporary
culture, or something more substantial, providing a firm but flexible conceptual
framework for art and design education now, and into the unforeseeable future?
This paper supports the latter scenario by defining an approach to the study and teaching
of drawing based on semiotics, the branch of philosophy that examines how meaning is
made and conveyed through signs and symbols. As I argue, semiotics, broadly conceived,
not only can accommodate pluralist visions of art and design (Kindler and Durras, 1998),
but also other postmodern phenomenon like the importance of visual information in
nearly every sphere, the proliferation of visual imagery through the internet, and the
constantly evolving means for manipulating such information and imagery through
digital media. Most important, it supports postmodernist trends to break down
disciplinary boundaries, providing a conceptual framework for linking subjects like
science and art. As such, semiotics supports the alignment of thinking through drawing
with kinds of thought employed in S.T.E.M. subjects, among others.
To make my case, I will begin by introducing the semiotics systems of C. S. Peirce
(2007) and Nelson Goodman (1968), two philosophers whose work refers directly to
drawing of one sort or another, and whose larger theories have, in my view, important
implications for the teaching of drawing, today. I will then consider what drawing
instruction based on semiotic principles might look like in higher education referring
primarily to Josef Albers’ approach to drawing as a “Graphic Idiom” (Horowitz and
Danilowitz, 2006), and in pre-K12 art education referencing Judith Burton’s use of
reflective dialogue to foster conceptual development for children and adolescents (1980).
In the process, I will suggest ways semiotics might help address such practical concerns
as curriculum design, critique, and assessment of student work. To conclude, I will
formally propose semiotics as a philosophical base for turning S.T.E.M. into S.T.E.A.M.,
complementing recent findings in cognitive science and neurobiology to align
“graphicacy” (Garner, 2010) with literacy and numeracy as co-equal, interdependent
symbol systems at the core of education.
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