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Identifying Artistically Gifted Students:
Three Areas of Giftedness in the Visual Arts
Hope E. Wilson, Ph.D.
University of North Florida
Doing:
Seeing:
Technical Skill
Visual Thinking
The ability of students to
manipulate materials to convey
an intended purpose.
The ability of students to understand
and interpret visual information.
What does it look like?
• Advanced drawing skills
(realistic drawings, use of
perspective, foreshortening,
etc.)
• Elaboration and inclusion of
many details in visual
representations
• Attachment of complex
meanings to visual
representations
What does it look like?
• Conceptually rich understandings
of visual images
• Understanding of the visual
organization of images (elements
of design and composition)
• Interpretation of the meaning of
visual print (advertisements, web
pages, and photography)
• Mathematical and conceptual
understanding of ideas when
presented as graphs or charts.
Creativity:
New and Novel
The ability of students to think flexibly and generate novel ideas.
What does it look like?
• The student’s ideas are different or unusual, prolific, and/or
adaptations of old ideas in new ways.
From: Wilson, H. E. (2009). Picasso in your classroom: How to meet the needs
of talented artists in elementary school. Gifted Child Today, 32, 36-45.