Reading paintings and looking at texts –

the art of translating texts

 Resources for developing literacy
The texts used at school could be divided in three groups:

1. Fiction: poetry and prose;

As for prose we can talk about two kinds:
short stories and tales which should be necessarily read during lesson

longer texts (books) to be read at home.

2. Non-fiction: popularized scientific, journalistic;

3. Iconic : paintings, pictures of sculptures, installation, posters, photos,

animations and movies, advertisements (connecting verbal and non-verbal
ideas)
 The (changing) conceptualisation of literacy

Being literate now implies

having the ability to decode information
from all types of media.
Adams and Hamm (2000)
 The (changing) conceptualisation of literacy
Visual literacy
A great deal of environmental print is visual. Road signs and logos
associated with particular products are pictorial.

Pictures play a significant part in the message communicated by other

environmental print such as food wrappers, advertisements and greeting
cards. Packaging and advertisements use color, choice and style of
illustration and overall design to appeal to different audiences.
 The (changing) conceptualisation of literacy
Visual literacy
Visual literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and interpret the
meaning of illustrations, symbols and images.
Children live in homes and communities filled with visual stimuli and their
experiences with visual images of all kinds mean that they have a sophisticated
implicit knowledge of visual literacy from an early age.

In a good picture book both the illustrations and the text tell the story and
reading the illustrations can dramatically alter the meaning and our interpretation
of the book. If readers skip the illustrations they are likely to miss a great deal of
the story. Illustrations in books do not just provide entertainment and enjoyment,
they contribute significantly to the narrative by setting the scene, emphasising the
plot and creating an atmosphere. They reveal aspects of the story that are not
covered in the text.
Visual literacy does not just apply to fiction, it is also used when reading
information texts. Non-fiction contains photographs, line drawings, diagrams and
charts all of which need to be read and interpreted.
 The (changing) conceptualisation of literacy
Visual literacy
Comics and magazines are a central part of many children's reading diet
out of school.

In 1996 a Children's Literature Research Centre survey discovered that up to

the age of seven, 76 per cent of boys and 73 per cent of girls regularly read
comics. Visual literacy does not just apply to fiction, it is also used when
reading information texts. Non-fiction contains photographs, line drawings,
diagrams and charts all of which need to be read and interpreted.

Using comics in school can boost the literacy development of boys or

poorer readers.
 The (changing) conceptualisation of literacy
Visual literacy
Works of art such as paintings, drawings and photographs lend themselves
to interpretation in the same way as pictures in books.

Four stages of looking at paintings:

1.Looking at the picture as a whole, getting an overall impression of the
picture including the subject matter, the use of colour, the shape and size and
the composition.
2.Looking more carefully at the image noticing more details.

3.Once the viewer is familiar with the picture he can start to make connections
between the picture and his own experience and begin to ask questions about
what he sees.
4.Re-examining the picture finding details that were perhaps overlooked and
coming to some personal conclusions about the painting.
This is a useful framework to use with children when looking at visual
images.
Jacek Yerka
Jacek Yerka
Tomek Baran, bez tytułu
Leon Tarasewicz
Leon Tarasewicz
René Magritte
Marc Chagall, Paryż widziany z okna.
Johannes Vermeer, Mleczarka.
Pieter Bruegel Starszy, Myśliwi na śniegu, 1565.
Quint Buchholz, Książkowa latarnia.
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Plecy