Assessing Change in Adolescents’ Art-Making Over Time: A Methodology

• In Event: Arts-Based Research: At-Risk Youth and Special Populations

Abstract

Abstract. We present a novel data analytic approach used to analyze changes in visual artworks over time. Drawing on principles of art historical criticism, we devised a comprehensive coding scheme that captures both technical and content attributes. After establishing inter-rater agreement, the researcher team applied the coding scheme to 414 pieces of adolescent artwork published in a teen art and literary magazine between 1990 and 2011. Analyses of the occurrence of each code revealed notable changes in adolescent creative production over the twenty-year period that we investigated. Applying this analytic approach to a portfolio of visual art can yield insights into artworks, their creators, and nuanced changes in creative production over time.

Authors

• Donna Jeanne DiBartolomeo, Harvard University

• Zachary Clark

• Katie Davis, University of Washington