Browsing by Author "Kamau Wango"

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    How Students Think: Efficacy of Surrealism as an Avenue for the Generation and Expression of Thought among Fine Art Students at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
    (EAJASS, 2024-12) Kamau Wango
    Surrealism is one of the most fascinating expressive genres of Art and seems to engage students in a very profound manner in the way they perceive themselves, the essence of their individuality, their inherent ideas, emotions and thought processes. In retrospect, it can be viewed from the perspective that it provides a unique opportunity for individual students to express points of view from imageries that emanate from the state of their minds. At the University level, surrealism particularly in drawing, has emerged as a potent visual consolidation of the ability of students to galvanize thoughtfulness that applies to their personal psyche and general outlook towards occurrences and upheavals in their lives. This study sought to examine how students think through surrealist inspirations as a basis of their imaginative work and the extent to which they were able to internalize and embed the basic tenets of surrealism such as distortion of forms, bizarreness of composition or grotesqueness in artistic compositions of their own. The study also sought to determine if indeed these new surrealist compositions carried any social message that was derived from the drawings themselves in order to underscore possible contextual meaning. The final year cohort of students involved in this study had not done any surrealist work before and were introduced to the concept of surrealism and its potential for individual expression through the discussion of selected previous works of past students at the same level. This was deemed useful as they were able to initially internalize the nature of compositions and the possible derivation of surrealist images such as those that manifest in the subconscious mind and other dreamlike dispensations. The students subsequently produced a significant body of work from which pieces were selected for this study using the criteria of visual impact such as profoundness of the surrealism, level of execution using pencil and social message. The analysis of the work was done using the analytical framework provided. The students were engaged in weekly class presentations of their individual work that provided the opportunity for critiquing
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    Use of Elements and Application of Principles of Art and Design in the Creation of Pictorial Compositions among Fine Art Students at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
    (EAJASS, 2024-04) Kamau Wango
    In the creation of any work of art, whether in two or three dimension, the use of elements and principles is fundamental. It has been acknowledged across ages that the purpose of the creation of any work of art is to create some form of defined meaning or express some artistic phenomenon. It has also been acknowledged that elements and principles have a symbiotic relationship. In examining the paintings and drawings presented by students, this study seeks to explore the relationship between elements and principles as they are applied in the paintings and drawings to determine the effectiveness of this synchrony in terms of visual enhancement and the eventual creation of meaning. The study features students' work at various levels where they spontaneously created their paintings and drawings with focus on the use of elements and principles. However, their usage and application were spontaneous and not geared towards specific responses, which was necessary for the outcome of the study. From preliminary enquiry, it emerged that although students had received adequate tutorials about the use of elements and principles in the creation of artwork, they did not apply them from an academic perspective but instinctively. It was therefore envisaged that focusing on the quality of their work would ultimately yield better results about their comprehension of the use of elements and principles as featured in their work. This study, therefore, used the execution and analysis of their practical work as testimony to their comprehension. The selection of 35 presentations, including black and white pencil drawings, provided a wide spectrum and depicted how students used and understood the application of both elements and principles and were deemed adequate for the study. The paintings featured the use of colour as an integral element, and the pencil drawings were strong in depicting textural effects and using value. The presentations featured different subject matter which was important for the creative essence of work.